suspended chords

You're probably right about that... and to each their own, I suppose.

However, if you ever want to write charts for other people to play, and you note a chord as D9, you may not get the results you want.  They'll all be using a C natural in any key, you'll be using C# if you're playing in the key of D or A.

Tom

Ohhhhhhhhhh

I wasn't talking about dominant 9th chords, I was talking about 9ths in general. Maj/min/dom... but not altered. I still can't get my head around how 7#9 chords work.

They're both related topics...

All chords are named from the root of the Major scale that starts with the root of the chord.

A 7#9 chord has notes 1-3-5-b7-#9

The 7th is flatted because extended chords have a b7 unless otherwise noted.

So a C7#9 has C-E-G-Bb-D#, no matter what key the song is in.

Tom

Yes, I understand HOW they're made, I just don't understand WHY they're used. Why is it used in certain progressions? What role does it play? And what's with those 7b9 chords?

What I mean by that is the way dominant 7ths usually resolve to something.

Any chord is used in a progression because the writer liked the way it sounded.

'Altered' chords -- that is, those that aren't naturally occurring in thirds -- are substitutes for 'natural' chords in progressions.

You might use a 7#9 chord as a substitution for a dominant 7th chord in a progression... the 7#9 is an altered dominant chord, since it includes a b7 to begin with.

As you probably already know, a dominant 7th chord wants to resolve down a fifth.  If you're playing a C7#9 chord, it wants to move down to some sort of F chord (a fifth below C).  This could be an F major type chord (or a substitution for one), an F minor type chord (or a substitution for one), or an F dominant type chord... which would want to move down another fifth to a chord with a Bb root.

Here's a couple of progressions containing a 7#9 chord.  Since you're already using an extended chord substitution, the chords in the progression will likely also be extended or altered chords:

Bm7 to E7#9 to Am7/11 to D7#9+

or try...

G7+ to C7#9 to F7+ to B7#9

Notice how both of those are a series of chords with roots descending by a fifth... and both span more than one key as they go down...

7b9 chords use the same principles.

Tom

A little while ago I posted a link ("Laying Tracks" thread) to a recording I made yesterday of a new original slide Dmin arrangement of "The Star Spangled Banner." Originally had an Asus4 chord resolving to an Amin (on the 2-syllable word "wave" near the end of the first verse, if you know the words.) Came up with an alternative that I used, that could be thought of as an Asus2/4-5. Root, root (octave), 2, and 4. No 5. I sort of arpeggiated it, but it sounds cool strummed altogether, too. Gave a nice hanging, tense sound as "suspended" chords are supposed to, resolved nicely by going back to the V (in this case v) chord.
8)

Came up with an alternative that I used, that could be thought of as an Asus2/4-5. Root, root (octave), 2, and 4. No 5.

Yeah, that sounds pretty interesting. You'll have to be careful as to how you write chord names though, I read that as a flattened 5th.

Yeah. There are too many systems for naming chords that are inconsistent with one another.

Interesting rendition, Ric.  I'd probably call the chord a Bm7 (you've got B-D-A, leaving out the 5th) resolving down a step to Am... but harmonic analysis is open to some interpretation, and even more so when the music is as sparse as your piece.

I enjoyed it!

Tom

Thanks, Tom!