This first sentence is probably the most important thing to remember:
Context is everything.
I will come back to this idea a lot as we explore chord construction and the hierarchy of notes.
The notes in a chord all have different functions.
The root note defines the chord name.
The third defines the chord quality, major or minor.
The fifth fills out the chord and smooths the sound.
The extension gives the chord it’s sound and quality.
Starting with basic triad construction, our old friend the Major scale shows us the notes to play for major and minor triads. Starting on the root note, the first third and fifth notes of the scale form a major triad and the second fourth and sixth notes form a minor triad. Obviously there’s a lot more to it than that but now we have a start.
From the C scale these notes are C ,E and G. You can play them in any order (inversion) and they sound a C major chord.
Since the majority of pedal steel players use a thumb pick and two finger picks I will stay with this three note concept for awhile while we get into chord construction.
Modern sounding chords found in jazz and contemporary music use extensions based on the major scale notes that occur above the triad we just created. The first of these is the Major Seventh chord, which adds the seventh tone of the scale to the chord. So now we have C-E-G-B.
Back to the concept we said at the beginning, you are probably playing with a bass player or some other instrument that is playing a C note so you can skip the C note in your chord, which leaves you with E-G-B. which is also an E minor triad. When you play the notes of a Em triad over a C bass you have a C Major 7 sound. Since chords don’t exist in isolation, in the example I’m showing a iim7/V7 /IM7 progression in C to illustrate. The progression ends on an E minor triad which serves as the C Major 7 chord. The bass line fills in the C note.
Listen to Example A.
Example B is a chord scale in C using the concepts we just discussed. The chords are not constructed in quite the same way but the top notes follow the C scale to guide the listener’s ear.
It starts with the Em substitution from the last example and moves up the scale to the four chord, F Major7, then descends from the G7 chord through the scale ending on another form of the home chord, C.
Listen to Ex.B
Here are a few ideas that work well for creating contemporary chords:
Over a Major chord start with the mandatory third tone, that’s E in a C chord, and then add the Major 7 tone (B) and then the ninth (D) or the fourth (F) or the sixth( A). Mix these notes up to get the sound you like.
I’m sure you will recognize some of these sounds as you create them.
Over a C minor chord, for instance, start with the Eb which is the minor third in C minor and then add a Bb for the b7 and a D for the ninth or an F for the 11th.
Dominant chords are almost an entire subject but the basics are to start with the major third and the b7 and then adding an altered tone which can be almost any other note. These creations are called altered dominants and once you get to know them you will see them in many tunes in chord charts in jazz Fake Books.
Example C uses a beautiful set of four note chords to illustrate the use of extensions and voice leading.
The first chord is a Dm11 voiced with the third tone F, which is the minor third of the chord, on the bottom. The stretch to the top string might be a bit long for you but well worth it when you hear the results.
The second chord is a G7#5b9 often called just a G7alt and keeps the F note, which is now the dominant 7 tone on the bottom. Notice how the two chords melt into one another.
The F note resolves to an E which is the third of the home chord C. This is one of the main principles of chordal voice leading. The ear hears the dissonance of the F against the G chord and wants resolution.
The C6/9 chord is very common in bossa nova songs and ballads. By playing it at the third fret with the ninth string lowered to an E note for the Third we get the A note on the 7th string for the 6th tone and D note on the 5th string for the Ninth.
Listen to Ex.C
