CMaj.7#9 chord

[Mick-7]

This one is new to me.... certainly doesn't sound major, more like altered dominant.

From the Charles Mingus Fake Book:


Don't see many voicings on the guitar I'd want to play, here are a couple:

CMaj.7#9:
8-x-5-8-5-7 {weird vamp worthy}

(3)-3-2-4-4-(0) -{notes in parentheses are optional}

[pamosmusic]

This one is new to me.... certainly doesn't sound major, more like altered dominant.

From the Charles Mingus Fake Book:


Don't see many voicings on the guitar I'd want to play, here are a couple:

CMaj.7#9:
8-x-5-8-5-7 {weird vamp worthy}

(3)-3-2-4-4-(0) -{notes in parentheses are optional}

bVI in the harmonic minor.

B/C

[Mick-7]

bVI in the harmonic minor.

B/C

Ah, I see that, thanks.

So a more accurate name would be: min.#7b6, but it sounds better with the b6th in the bass, thus the name Cmaj.7#9 rather than Em#7b6.

Do you use it at all? Maybe a good (but weird) final chord.

[pamosmusic]

Ah, I see that, thanks.

So a more accurate name would be: min.#7b6, but it sounds better with the b6th in the bass, thus the name Cmaj.7#9 rather than Em#7b6.

Do you use it at all? Maybe a good (but weird) final chord.

Hmmm… I’ve definitely used it before. The only tune that I play a lot where I actually use it a good bit is Beatrice. That F to Gb makes that F triad mixed in with the Gb maj7 sound pretty good. But that really feels like a specific situation where that half step planing in the accompaniment makes that dissonance work in a way it might not otherwise. So on the regular, I can’t say I use it much.

Improvising I use that B triad with an added C a tonnnnnn but usually for a C diminished rather than for a C maj7.

And then I guess just incidentally … playing Em cadence junk over a bVI V7 i cadence would imply that sound with D# showing up over the Cmaj7, but that doesn’t really sound out to me. It’s more an overall minor sound rather than really adding that color to the chord deliberately.

So I guess I don’t use it a ton, though it’s a really cool sound.

[Mick-7]

Improvising I use that B triad with an added C a tonnnnnn but usually for a C diminished rather than for a C maj7.

I don't see a B triad, it has the 4th (E) but no 5th (F#).

With the two semi-tones (D#-E & B-C for this chord), it could be very dissonant, but you could only play them with open strings on a guitar. It's what I call a "Derek Bailey" chord.

[pamosmusic]

I don't see a B triad, it has the 4th (E) but no 5th (F#).

With the two semi-tones (D#-E & B-C for this chord), it could be very dissonant, but you could only play them with open strings on a guitar. It's what I call a "Derek Bailey" chord.

Gives the 7, #9, #4

So like … for Cmaj7 … you play B as the upper structure.

[James W]

I'm currently composing a piece that uses B/C. EDIT - slightly different to B/C. The voicing is as follows -

2
4
4
2
3
X

The piece also uses A-major9-flat9, which is a surprisingly lush chord, voiced as follows -

6
0
6
6
0
X

... but I also subject it to various techniques, such as deriving rotational arrays from it, transposing it etc.

[rpjazzguitar]

I used it in an arrangement where, ordinarily, there might be hit on D7#9, played, perhaps, as x5456x. But I preferred the sound with the C raised to C# x5466x.

D F# C# F. aka R 3 ^7 #9.

I thought it sounded fine in that situation although I can't recall using it for anything else.

[Mick-7]

I like that, kind of a whole tone sound....

| x-5-4-6-6-0 | > | x-7-6-8-8-0 | > | x-9-8-10-10-0 | -- etc.

[Mick-7]

Would you say the first chord* below is serving a subdominant function? - say, Gm(alt), or does it even matter?

*| x-(5)-5-3-2-2 | > Ab13 | (4)-x-4-3-1-1 | > FM7#11 | x-0-3-2-0-0 |

[rpjazzguitar]

Would you say the first chord* below is serving a subdominant function? - say, Gm(alt)

*| x-(5)-5-3-2-2 | > Ab13 | x-(3)-4-3-1-1 | > FM7#11 | x-0-3-2-0-0 |

Without the D it leads reasonably gently to Ab13 played maybe 4x4311. With the D, though, it strikes me as something else.

[Mick-7]

Without the D it leads reasonably gently to Ab13 played maybe 4x4311. With the D, though, it strikes me as something else.

Yeah, it's funny how changing only the bass note of a chord can really alter its character....

P.S. - I was working on an ending for Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most and that line of harmonic thought was too extravagant so I pared it down. With A (or C#) in the bass and the Bb raised to B, I'd call the chord A13 but I don't know if the move to C7#9 (V7) makes sense theory wise.