How To Turn A 7th Chord Into A Rootless 9th Chord - Theory Lesson For Guitarists
- By jazz-guitar-licks
- On 2023-02-15
- 2 comments
This chord theory lesson focuses on how to transform a dominant 7 chord (drop 2, drop 3 and related inversions) into a rootless ninth chord by replacing the tonic (1) with the ninth (9).
This technique will help guitarists expand their harmonic knowledge and also explore their neck in more depth. This can be a useful trick when composing or for chord melody arrangements.
What's A Dominant 7 Chord?
Dominant seventh chords have a very important role in jazz and blues music, they are the most versatile. Indeed, they accept a lot of extensions as 9, 11, 13 and also altered tones as b5, #9, b9, #11, b13.
Firstable, you need to know that dominant 7 chords are built on the basis of a major triad (R - 3 - 5). A minor seventh is added to this triad to get a dominant seventh chord, thus giving the interval formula R (root), major third (3), fifth (5) and minor seventh (b7). For example a C7 chord is made of C (R), E (3), G (5), Bb (b7).
C7 | C | E | G | Bb |
Intervals | R | 3 | 5 | b7 |
What's A Ninth Chord?
A ninth chord is seventh chord with a supplementary note, the ninth (9). There are three main types of ninth chords that are : Major ninth ( 1 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 9), minor ninth (1 - b3 - 5 - b7 - 9) and dominant ninth (1 - 3 - 5 - b7 - 9).
Even if the following technique works for any type of ninth chord, we will take the dominant 9 chord as example. As shown in the chart below, to create a dominant ninth chord from a dominant seventh chord, just add the ninth (D in the example).
C7 | C | E | G | Bb | X |
C9 | C | E | G | Bb | D |
Intervals | 1 | 3 | 5 | b7 | 9 |
What's A Rootless Chord Voicing?
The answer is in the question. A rootless chord is simply a chord whose root as been removed.
How To Build A Rootless 9th Chord From A 7th Chord?
To build rootless dominant 9 chords, just remove the root of a dominant seventh chord and replace it by the 9th. Remember that it works for any type of seventh chord (minor 7 to rootless min9 and major 7 to rootless major 9 for example)
Rootless Dominant 9 Guitar Chord Shapes (drop 2)
Here are four dominant 9 guitar chord shapes built from four drop 2 dominant 7 voicings (1 root position and 3 inversions) with bass notes on low E string. R being the root note, 3 the major third, 5 the perfect fifth and b7 the minor seventh.
The root of the 7th chord is simply raised by a whole step to get the 9th of the dominant 9 chord.
This summary table show the interval formulas related to the next guitar neck diagrams.
Dominant 7 (root in the bass) | R | 5 | b7 | 3 |
Dominant 9 (9 in the bass) | 9 | 5 | b7 | 3 |
Dominant 7 (3 in the bass) | 3 | b7 | R | 5 |
Dominant 9 (3 in the bass) | 3 | b7 | 9 | 5 |
Dominant 7 (5 in the bass) | 5 | R | 3 | b7 |
Dominant 9 (5 in the bass) | 5 | 9 | 3 | b7 |
Dominant 7 (b7 in the bass) | b7 | 3 | 5 | R |
Dominant 9 (b7 in the bass) | b7 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
Rootless Dominant 9 Guitar Chord Shapes (drop 3)
Let's tackle the dominant 9 chords based on the drop 3 dominant 7 shapes. You'll find below a recapitulative chart and the related guitar chord shapes with bass notes on the low E string.
Dominant 7 (root in the bass) | R | b7 | 3 | 5 |
Dominant 9 (9 in the bass) | 9 | b7 | 3 | 5 |
Dominant 7 (3 in the bass) | 3 | R | 5 | b7 |
Dominant 9 (3 in the bass) | 3 | 9 | 5 | b7 |
Dominant 7 (5 in the bass) | 5 | 3 | b7 | R |
Dominant 9 (5 in the bass) | 5 | 3 | b7 | 9 |
Dominant 7 (b7 in the bass) | b7 | 5 | R | 3 |
Dominant 9 (b7 in the bass) | b7 | 5 | 9 | 3 |
Comparison With Half-diminished Chords
One interesting thing which can be useful for chord substitution is that rootless dominant 9 chords shapes are actually the same as half-diminished (m7b5).
For example you can see and hear that a m7b5 chord with root in the bass is the same form as rootless dominant 9 chord with major third (3) in the bass.
Here are eight shapes to illustrate this theory, which applies to any drop 2 or drop 3 half-diminished chord.
Comparison With minor 6 Chords
Rootless dominant 9th chord shapes can also be compared with minor 6 shapes. Let's take the minor 6 shape with the root in the bass, you see that it is actually a rootless dom9 chord with 5th in the bass.
This applies to any m7b5 drop voicings. So try to make the conversion and find the positions on the guitar.
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Comments
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- 1. Brian On 2023-04-20
Hi,
54 year old OCD hard knowledge seeking person here. I always complete my projects and assignments that are realistic.
quick summary as I am rather long winded: I started playing at age 19 have natural tendency to soloing/Melody weaker on understanding of Chords/harmony. I played around a few years later had guitar equipment stolen. I just now bought acoustic Taylor and electric fender.
I have been studying some online courses its started clicking about harmony is just same really as a melody and you can play harmony in scales just like a melody. online stuff was great but then he departed from theory and I as an engineer and seeker of knowledge was bothered by this. He had started using Minor 7th flat 5th chords on the 7th chord for the 7th note in the scale/chord progression instead of the dim that he had used on the triads. This was fine except I wanted technical reasons I have desire to learn and understand things. This is not just for music this is for everything in life its just who I am.
This brought me to a google search which led me to your pages and you used some term called drop chords but basically you explained what a dim 7th was: https://www.jazz-guitar-licks.com/pages/chords/diminished-seventh-chords.html
I then saw all these pages and as a learner was overwhelmed because to me knowledge is legacy and is precious and you built all this out so donated 10 bucks to your website from my paypal probably listed under my email:
Thanks for donating $10.00 USD to
Stef Ramin (Jazz Guitar Licks)
I really wanted to thank you for this but also I was wondering if there is method to learning sequentially? Meaning there is so much information that its a bit overwhelming as you have put years of work into this.
I want to have Mastery of music theory and the guitar not saying I want to be some Master of the guitar which I do of course but I am more realistic in that I am ok with being decent guitarist but mentally I want to have full Mastery if my timing is a bit sloppy or my strumming or I make quite a few mistakes thats fine but I want understanding.
is there like a course or lessons or something that I can follow in order here in my learning in sequential order? from your site. I would like to have structure so I can work on this and achieve goals with efficiency.
In any case great site as a scholar and scientist and seeker of knowledge I really appreciate what you have done here as sharing knowledge is very important as noted I see it as as legacy that lives on past us to anyone we touch with it so thanks again!-
- jazz-guitar-licksOn 2023-04-20
Hello Brian, Thanks for the donation. I can't really know your guitar level but as a beginner you should start by learning : - Basic triads (maj, min, dim, aug), basic positions first , then inversions. - Basic arpeggios (maj7, min7, 7, m7b5 and dim7). These are important basic tools to learn how chords are built and very useful for improvisation. - Basic scales as Major (Ionian, Dorian, Mixolydian, pentatonics, etc...) - Common progressions as major and minor 251, turnarounds. (solo and chords). - Jazz standards where you can apply all that is listed above. There is a lot of articles, mini lessons and PDF, check the search bar at the top of the website. Thanks Stef
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