Frank J Peter Chords, Jazz School

Jazz School: Chord Voicings: Dominant 7, add #9, drop 5

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For a dissonant edgy sound, drop the 5 and play the two definitive tones (3, b7) plus “the #9″…

Notice that “sharp 9” is the very same note as “flat 3”. The distinctive major-minor harmonic tension between the natural 3 (major sound) and flat 3 (minor sound) gives this voicing some real teeth in down and dirty Blues, Rock, and Funk contexts or as a colorful V7 chord in a tonal minor context…

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Homework

Using your ears and knowledge of scales and chord structure, “transpose” this voicing to all spellings in three musically-useful patterns:

  1. Chromatically Ascending: C > Db > D > Eb > E > F > Gb > G > Ab > A > Bb > B > C.
  2. Chromatically Descending: C > B > Bb > A > Ab > G > Gb > F > E > Eb > D > Db > C.
  3. Cycle of Dominants: C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G > C.

Doing so will develop an enormous chord vocabulary that you will know by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle… laying a rock solid foundation for fluent improvisation.

learn more… Jazz School: Chord Voicings: Dominant 7 “Killer Joe”