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altering chords

Ask Jermaine: “How To Play #9 #5 Chords”

by Jermaine Griggs · 8 comments

in Chords & Progressions

This week’s question comes from Sunny: “Thanks Jermaine, please can you spell out the C7 (#9#5) chord?”

My answer… Great question Sunny because tons of people still struggle with altered chords.

When you see a “#” (sharp) or “b” (flat) appended to a chord, it’s signifying that…

How to use my secret 9 trick to add flavor to your chord progressions

by Jermaine Griggs · 20 comments

in Playing songs

In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to improve your dull, “overused” major chords by adding the “9th” tone. Instant spice!

If you haven’t read yesterday’s post, stop what you’re doing and review it first! This post won’t make much sense as it is a continuation from yesterday.
In my last post, I left you with this nice ballad-style chord progression…

The secret behind “big picture thinking”

by Jermaine Griggs · 10 comments

in Experienced players

bigpicthinkignsmall.jpgOur last radio show was awesome! We took several callers, gave away tons of prizes, and delved into some more music theory concepts!

One of our callers had a question about a particular altered chord and I spent some time unraveling it with her. In this post, I just want to take some time to review what I told her on the air. I think this will be extremely helpful for people in the same situation.

Her question had to do with playing a C diminished 7 chord over F bass. She wanted to know what type of chord it was. So we broke it down…

Another altered chord progression you can try

by Jermaine Griggs · 1 comment

in Chords & Progressions

Here’s another combination of “altered” chords: “Cmin11 — F7 (#9#5) — Bbmin9″ In the key of “Db major” Here’s how to play it: 1) Bass = C Right hand = Eb + G + Bb + D + F 2) Bass = F Right hand = A + Db + Eb + Ab 3) Bass [...]

Chord progression with various altered chords

by Jermaine Griggs · 6 comments

in Chords & Progressions

Here is a chord progression which utilizes a series of “altered” chords: In the key of “Db major”: “Fmin7 (b5) — Bb7 (b9) — Ebmin7 (b5)” 1) Bass = F Right hand = Ab + B + Eb 2) Bass = Bb Right hand = Ab + B + D 3) Bass = Eb Right [...]

An altered chord you can try

by Jermaine Griggs · 1 comment

in Chords & Progressions

“The Bb7 (b9) Chord” Here is where I introduce “altered” chords to you! An alteration occurs when a note is raised or lowered by a half step. Above, you will see that there is a “b9″ in parentheses. The flatted 9 is an example of an alteration. This chord is simply a: “Bb Seventh chord [...]