Other Chord Types

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

All the chords discussed until this point have been based on the interval of a third. In classical harmony, these are the only ones universally considered to be true chords. Other combinations of notes are considered to contain non-chord tones, and the non-chord tones are analyzed in terms of their melodic function more so than their harmonic function. This model is useful for analysis of composed music, as it allows the musician to relate all sounds to a few simple harmonic functions.

In jazz, however, the primary goal of harmonic analysis is to aid the improvisor in inventing new melodies to fit the composition. Any collection of pitches that suggests possibilities for melodies is worth naming as a chord. Often, the names of these chords are derived from the classical theory, but classical musician often scoff at the notion of, for example, a "sus" chord, pointing out that a suspension, from which the abbreviation "sus" occurs, is a melodic device not a harmonic one. It is therefore important to keep in mind that terms such as these are only labels, and they are useful to the extent that they allow musicians to communicate and understand. It is acceptable to have different groups of musicians - classical and jazz - using similar terms in different ways, as long as they use them consistently among themselves.

Since we have already brought it up, the first chord we will consider is the sus chord. This is a major triad in which the major third has been replaced by a perfect fourth:

[EXAMPLE]

The term comes, as was noted above, from classical harmony, but the term "suspension" there refers to a device in which a chord tone is played in one voice and then held over to the next chord, where it is not a chord tone, and then resolves to a chord tone a step away. The most common example is the 4-3 suspension:

[EXAMPLE]

The collection of notes formed by the suspended note sounding with the root and fifth of the second chord is what jazz musicians simply call a sus chord. Actually, the sus chord is most often used in a dominant seventh form, notated 7sus, and in fact, even when the 7 is not specified explicitly, it is generally assumed:

[EXAMPLE]

The 7sus chord often serves a dominant function, resolving the same way as an ordinary dominant seventh chord:

[EXAMPLE]

The chord may first resolve to an ordinary dominant seventh chord before resolving to the tonic. This mimics the usage in classical harmony:

[EXAMPLE]

In jazz, however, this chord might be used at any time, and the fourth is not necessarily held over from a previous chord nor does it necessarily resolve to the third. For instance, the Herbie Hancock composition "Maiden Voyage" consists of nothing but unresolved sus chords:

[EXAMPLE]

A sus chord is called for when its particular sound is desired; it is up to the improvisor to decide what to do with this chord melodically. The sus chord actually implies the same scale as an ordinary dominant seventh chord, as will be seen later, but the notation suggests to the improvisor that the fourth should be emphasized rather than the third. Also, there are some alternate scales that are appropriate only for regular dominant seventh chords, and others appropriate only for sus chords.

A chord related to the major chord is the sixth chord. This is simply a major triad with an added major sixth above the root, and is notated 6:

[EXAMPLE]

This chord does not actually suggest a different scale than an ordinary major or major seventh chord; like the sus chord, it suggests instead that the sixth should probably be emphasized over the major seventh. In practice, many arrangers and improvisors use the chords interchangeably. One fakebook in particular seems to use a 6 chord whenever the melody to the head includes the sixth, and a maj7 chord when the melody includes the seventh:

[EXAMPLE]

The improvisor should be free to ignore the melody note used in the head and use either the sixth or the seventh or any other notes in his improvisation as he sees fit. The function of the chord is the same in either case - usually a tonic:

[EXAMPLE]

Or a subdominant:

[EXAMPLE]

Power chords are a device most commonly used in heavy metal rock music but they are seen in jazz as well. These are simply open fifths - a root and fifth with no third. These may be notated either as "pow" or "no 3":

[EXAMPLE]

Because they lack thirds or sevenths, they are ambiguous harmonically, and can be used in any function. For example, they may be used as tonic chords:

[EXAMPLE]

Or they may be used as dominant chords:

[EXAMPLE]

Often, a progression that contains power chords will use only power chords:

[EXAMPLE]

One other chord that is sometimes given a special name and symbol is the phrygian chord, often abbreviated phryg. This chord is simply a collection of notes from the phrygian mode, which is discussed later. The scale and chord look like this:

[EXAMPLE]

This chord might also be notated m7b9, since this is the most straightforward way of representing the phrygian mode, but it is more often notated 7susb9, since the chord itself has a fourth rather than a third. The chord tends to serve a dominant function, resolving to a major chord a fourth above:

[EXAMPLE]

A broad category of non-standard chords is the polychord. A polychord is a combination of two or more chords played at once. Usually the two chords are kept as distinct as possible; their notes are not intermixed. Usually one chord is played in a lower register than the other - for instance, one chord in the left hand of the piano and one in the right. A polychord is notated with a slash between the chord symbols, and for this reason they are sometimes called slash chords.

There are two general types of polychords. In the simpler type, the bottom chord is actually only a single note, also called an alternate bass. For example, the notation F/C# indicates a C# to be played in the bass and an F triad on top:

[EXAMPLE]

Sometimes, to avoid ambiguity with the more complex polychords described below, the above is notated F/C#bass.

Some chords played over alternate bass notes are actually just different spellings of other chords. For example, the notation F/C is just an F chord in second inversion:

[EXAMPLE]

F/G is similar to a G9sus, except that it is missing the fifth. Many arrangers use these two notations interchangeably:

[EXAMPLE]

Another similar notation is Dm7/G, which describes the same chord:

[EXAMPLE]

The more complex type of polychord uses two full chords. In order to avoid conflict with the alternate bass note notation, the chord on the bottom is usually specified in an unambiguous manner. If the chord on the bottom is something other than a major triad, than this is already unambiguous. For example, G/F#m:

[EXAMPLE]

If a major triad is to be used on the bottom, then the notation "triad" or "major" is often used to emphasize that an entire triad is specified, not just an alternate bass note. For example, D/Ftriad:

[EXAMPLE]

One particular system used by some musicians to notate non-standard chords is called cell notation. In this system, a root is given along with a list of intervals above the root. For example:

[EXAMPLE]

You will probably begin to discover that each arranger has his own system of notating even the standard chords. When in doubt, use your own ingenuity and ears to help guide you.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Other Chord Types