6/9 chords

[AZanshin]

How are these chords constructed? and when would you use them in a jazz progression?

Why would you use this chord instead of a 6th or a 9th

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Constructed 1 3 5 6 9

So: C6/9 has C E G A D,
Cmin6/9 has C Eb G A D

I used them for the sake of variety, instead (or alternating) with other major/minor chords. If the root is in the melody, you might want to avoid playing a CMaj7, for example, and play a C6 or C6/9 instead.

They may also make sense for voice leading reasons, but if you're looking for a deep reason to use them, as opposed to a 6th or 9th chord, I don't know of one, but I'm more of an ear guy than a theory guy.

EDIT: you can also stack up the notes for a quartal sound:

C6/9: X(3)2233

So if you are playing quartal chords, they can pop up for that reason, but really, in that case, going for quartal sounds is the primary motive, and a 6/9 chord may just happen to fit.

[Reg]

I live with maj6/9 chords, I rarely use maj7ths or dom 7th chords, ex. I VI II V, I usually play, Key of C, starting ... wait I'll make quick PDF file...
Best Reg
The last chord in 1st ex. is G7b13

[randalljazz]

that m3 (#9) with the natural 9 on top--the D9sus--is really pretty. i wouldn't have thought of it.

[JohnRoss]

Why would you use this chord instead of a 6th or a 9th

Good question. Just because, I suspect, most of the time. Also, it sounds a tiny bit more dissonant, jazzy. Then, a 6/9 has no seventh, which makes it a bit ambiguous - you can't tell if it really represents a major chord or a dominant except in context.

(And you can do really fun things cycling them around in (depending on the context) fourths (and fifths, by extension), and even seconds. The fourths is probably something to do with the relationship between a maj 6/9 and quartal harmony that BDLH points out. I have not much idea why cycling a 6/9 in seconds works, except it's a kind of whole tone thing, but it does, usually, or seems to.)

[derek]

As the fellas mention, it is an alternative to a maj7 chord, and is just another tool for the toolbox, or different color for the palette. As jazz players, we need as many of these sorts of things as we can so we can offer our audience different sounds. Good luck

[mr. beaumont]

Don't end a beatles tune without one!


They can actually be a little less dissonant than a maj7 at times...If you put that 7th and root in the same octave, a good ol maj7th can sound pretty hip. I think of the 6 and 6/9 as very consonant sounds...

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Then, a 6/9 has no seventh, which makes it a bit ambiguous - you can't tell if it really represents a major chord or a dominant except in context.

6/9 chords sound major to me, not dominant. Or rather it doesn't sound right to replace a dom7th (or variation) with a 6/9.

For example:

x5x56x Dmin7
3x34xx G7
x3x45x CMaj7

^^^ Standard.

x5x56x Dmin7
x55455 G6/9
x3x453 CMaj7

^^^ ???? Meh

Maybe in a modal tune...

ALSO: Min6/9 chords sound very gypsy jazz to me (6th, in general, I guess...)

[JohnRoss]

x5x56x Dmin7
x55455 G6/9
x3x453 CMaj7

That's sort of what I was getting at, if you replaced the G with an F, you would have a common-or-garden G13, but like this it sounds a bit exotic. It's probably only because you and I expect to hear this chord as a variation of G major, though. Hang on a sec, though, now that I look at it, it's got two perfect fourths in it, and only a second apart, so it's almost like moving in parallel fifths/fourths - but without moving. Wow! Psychedelic!

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I didn't mean to blow your mind!

[Reg]

Don't end a beatles tune without one!


They can actually be a little less dissonant than a maj7 at times...If you put that 7th and root in the same octave, a good ol maj7th can sound pretty hip. I think of the 6 and 6/9 as very consonant sounds...

Great point... Reg

[ubiguitar]

Hi all,

This is a complete list of 4 note C6(9) voicings:

--------------------------------3------10--10--10
--------------------3---3---8---3---3---8---8--10
---7---7---7--12---2---2---7---2---0---9---9---9
---5---7---7--12---2---5---7-------2------10----
---7---7--10--12---3---3-------3---3------------
---8---8---8---8-----------8-----------8-------8

--10--10--10
--10--10--10
---9--12--12
--10------10
------------
-------8----

If you're interested in deeper analysis for 6(9) voice leading I can suggest this book:
Major Tonic Chords

Regards

[jeffstritt]

The good thing about 6/9 chords... they are as fun to say as they are to play!

[tcrisalida]

I play a lot of Brazilian music - hardly a tune without 6/9's all over the place.

[Klok]

Even Metheny uses the 6/9 chord. For example in 'Bright Size Life' the BbMaj7 chord in the A-section (Not to be altered with the BbMaj7b5/A) sounds, at least to me, like a Bb6/9 and not a Maj7-chord.

The 6/9-chord is also good for scale substitutions between the major scale and the lydian scale.

[Claudi]

I'm teaching "normal music" (I mean music with the diatonic, pentatonic and blues scales) on line to a guy and I'm teaching him to be able to construct chords of all kinds by himself. He only played major and minor chords with some 7th around there, but I believe in the variety of chords. He already has learnt all the notes on the fretboard and where the intervals are on all strings when you have the root on whichever the string. Soon he'll enjoy the 6/9 chords too.

[wolflen]

the major 6/9 pent scale 12356 produces some very nice 3note chords that can enhance solo lines with harmonic support and break the anticipated single line for the listener...nice effects....also the minor 6/9 and the minor b6/9 pent scales and the chords formed from them are good to explore

play well

wolf