Aug 16, 2013

Playing the traditional form of the 9th chord

The Formula for the 9th chord basically is as follows: 1 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 9

When playing an open C major chord you simply raise the open G string to finger the 7th note on the chord.  We will use the b7th.  

When playing the 9th note on the same mentioned chord you would play it by raising it from the high C you would have played on the 2nd string.

Therefore, the fingering should be as follows:

5th string 2nd finger on 3rd fret  (1st note or root of chord)

4th string 1st finger on 2nd fret (3rd note of chord) --lower it half a fret for the minor form with same finger...

3rd string 3rd finger on 3rd fret (7th note of chord)

2nd string 4th finger on 3rd fret (9th note of chord)--last but not least!!!

So why don't we play the 5th.  Simply put because the guitar's voicing being used does not require it.  Again, why?  Well, because what we want to worry about are the 3rds and 7ths of the chord.  This gives us the chord quality whether major/minor (in this case major).  Also the 7th lets us know if the chord is dominant or not.  In this case the b7 tells us is a dominant chord.

If you really really really need that 5th note of the chord or the G, then bar with the 4th finger down to the 3rd fret on the 1st string and you got the G.  There!  A full 9th chord!!!

This voicing showed here comes from a traditional voicing that when played in its triad open form (open position C major chord), we get a very nice and traditional sequence of a root-3rd-5th-root kind of chord.  Therefore the voicing that we showed on top as our example comes from this other open traditional voicing.  

In other words, we are playing a 9th type of chord without using the drop 2 or drop 3 voicing shown on a prior blog.  By the way this whole chord is movable to any place on the fretboard. 


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