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Chord Construction

xNFx

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Dec 29, 2002
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1,336
Online I found a list of some basic chord construction, like 7th chords, major7, etc. For a 9th chord, it says 1,3,5,9 for the scale degrees, but I just picked up a little chord book that says 1,3,5,b7,9. So now Im confused and I don't know which way is right. Can someone help me out?

Thanks!:hippy
 

Rig James

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Jun 18, 2003
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IM NOT 100% SURE AS I AM STILL LEARNING MYSELF BUT I BELIEVE A CHORD SPELLED 1 3 5 9 IS A MAJOR ADD 9 BUT A 9 CHORD IS A DOMINANT 7 CHORD WITH A 9(MAJ 2 AN OCTAVE UP)WHICH MEANS IT HAS A MINOR 7 (b7). I THINK THERES A THREAD ABOUT THIS EXACT TOPIC CALLED C9 OR CADD9. ANYONE HAVE ANY CORRECTIONS OR ADDITIONS PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS I SAID IM LEARNING THIS MYSELF AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE IM RIGHT AND DONT GIVE SOMEONE THE WRONG INFO.
 

sixty2strat

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Jan 5, 2002
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2,390
great concept to learn. I learned it from the first guitar player mag I bought in the early 80's

.Using C as the root

a major triad(135) is written C

the major7( 1357) is C maj7

the dominat 7th is C7 (1 35 b7)

wiht me so far. now if it is a ninth chord
you can add

1359......C add 9

13579...Cmaj9

135b79 C9


now this is were is gets tricky, since the 5th will be played by anothor instrument or implied a lot of chords will drop it so 13579 will get reduced to 1379 or 13b79....since these notes more critcal to the sound of the chord also some notes, to many 5ths will crowd the sound,muddy it up.
 
Last edited:

xNFx

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Joined
Dec 29, 2002
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1,336
Thanks,
is there an add7 chord? Anywhere I can find a whole bunch of formulas online?:hippy
 
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