Like 7th chords, each can come in various ‘flavors’ such as dominant, major, and minor. The V chord tends to create the tone for the entire sequence by setting up the resolution to the tonic; altering the V chord, therefore, can color the whole sequence with just a few well-placed notes. Since there are four notes in a seventh chord (1-3-5-b7) I normally work with just four voicings. Chordal soloing incorporating the notes of extended chords can be an interesting and unique style. Moving on to 11th chords, the 11th (which is the same note as the fourth) and the 3rd are only a half step apart. Because of this, we often describe these chords as more “colorful“ compared to more basic jazz guitar chords.. Because we don’t have 10 fingers to play chords as a pianist would do, guitarists have to leave some notes out when adding extended notes to their chord shapes. Normal extended chords create a stronger sense of impending resolution to the root note, thanks to the added seventh. A 13th chord can theoretically have dozens of different fingerings – so it’s understandable that many intermediate guitarists figure enough is enough, they’ll just stay intermediate. Ninth chords are the most common type of extended chord. Landing on an extended chord and wrapping up your line on an offbeat part of a measure sounds much better than coming to a dramatic stop at the end of your solo with a squeaky, unresolved extension. Within blues guitar, 13th chords can modify each chord or simply highlight the changes — the choice is up to you. Ninth chords create a deliciously thick sound that’s loaded with rich harmonics. In many cases, the two types of extended chords are basically interchangeable, especially depending on the finger position and voice leading required for the tune you’re playing. The ninth and eleventh are often omitted, which contributes to the more airy sound of the 13th chord when compared to the tight, clustered structure of the 9th chord and internally dissonant 11th. Three most common voicings of the min13 chord. Just like 9th chords, the root is optional, but so is the 5th – and the easiest way to form these chords is to drop a 5th by two frets, making it the 11th: Last, we have the 13th chords. Just as you can raise the eleventh note to a #11 in order to voice a dominant eleventh chord with the third note included, you can also adjust maj11 chords to a maj#11 to remove the dissonance. Chords with Extensions. In minor keys, the minor eleventh is a common extension for iv chords, resolving back to the tonic. Just like in “Twist and Shout,” you could carve out space in your songs for striking ringing extended chords. Whether you’re a songwriter looking to spice up your new compositions or a budding guitarist who loves to play jazz, learning extended chords will improve both your physical playing skills and your sense of tone, harmony, and feel. To reflect this adjustment, raise the seventh note by a half step (slide your finger up one fret on the third string). Hendrix was also prone to “tonicizing” the dominant seventh sharp nine chord — that is, using this chord in place of the more vanilla I chords found in major-key songs. Chart showing four common voicings of maj13 chords. While this technique is certainly a bit more on-the-nose than some others — it’s hard to generate real melodic ambiguity or intrigue when every melody note is spelled out in the chord underneath it — but it’s a good start to help beginners voice-lead properly without struggling. The dominant chord in a ii-V-I sequence is often thought of as the harmonic fulcrum of the progression, merging a minor chord (the second, or “supertonic” chord) with a major chord (the tonic). Major thirteenth and minor thirteenth chords are also popular extensions for conveying the luscious, spacey sound of the thirteenth in a more suitable manner for different chord progressions. In addition, the interval between the chordal third and the fourth (eleventh) note creates a direct “rub.”. Led Zeppelin’s “Rain Song” and James Brown’s “I Feel Good” are some other great examples of songs that use dominant ninth chords. Some of these links are affiliate links meaning we may earn commissions on purchases. “Add” extended chords remove the tritone tension by including only the three notes of the major triad in addition to the extended note: the root, third, and fifth. Minor ninth chords just shift one note (the third) down by a fret from the dominant ninth shape to move from the major third found in the dominant ninth to the minor third interval that builds the minor ninth chord. The most common note to sacrifice in any extended chord is the root. Ending your lines on extended notes, therefore, will sound odd or unfinished to many guitarists who typically just play styles like blues and rock. If you like the combination of the dominant seventh and the eleventh note, omitting the third can be a good idea to preserve that tone. The extra sound doesn’t disturb the fundamental tension inherent in a seventh chord, fueled by the infamous tritone interval between two of these notes (namely the third and seventh). Extended chords are infamous for their more complex fingerings, though many extended chords aren’t hard to fret. This is especially important with extended chords, as you’ll be playing notes that are far more rare than other notes in a certain chord. Ninth chords (and extended chords in general, really) also work great as a loud, ringing chord played to grab an audience’s attention. One great benefit of these chords is that they can be swapped out for seventh chords practically at will — the addition of the ninth note doesn’t affect their function in a progression and preserves the classically unstable “seventh” sound. Major 13th chords copy the same general style of dominant 13th chords with the substitution of the major seventh interval for the dominant’s flat seventh. “Add” chords, by contrast, are often simpler and more straightforward to play. Most guitarists choose to tuck their first finger back to play the high eleventh note on the first string, leaving their second, third, and fourth fingers to cover the other notes in the line. Unless you’re aiming for a sharp, raw feeling in your song, try to eliminate this dissonance to preserve a harmonious progression. Sharp eleventh chords are a very common extension for seventh chords; they offer all of the moodiness and spice of a classic eleventh chord without the unpleasant grating. As discussed above, these chords don’t include the seventh or extra extended notes found in basic extended chords — quite literally, they’re just formed by “adding” one extended note to the standard root-third-fifth major triad.