Understanding Ninth Chords

Before you play Blue Funk, I'd like to talk a little bit more about ninth chords.

Recap of Previous Lessons

Now, we did use these in the blues in F that you just played, but let's dive deeper.

How to Form a Ninth Chord

• If you were playing a first inversion C7, you don't really need the fifth.
• The ninth is obtained by raising the root to the upper tone:
  • There's C9.

Major Chords

• You can also do this with major chords.
• For instance, here's a C6 chord (first inversion):
  1. Take out the fifth.
  2. Move the C up to D (tone up).
  3. You get a 3, 6, 9 shape (classic major, quartal voicing).

These are rootless shapes. Whether you play C9 or C69, they're rootless shapes. The left hand will be taking care of the roots, or if you're in a band, that will be the job of the bass player.

Inversions and Shapes

You can do this with any inversion:

• F7 chord (root position):

  • Leave all the notes there and just move the root up to the second or the ninth.
  • This gives us a nice F9 shape without the root.

• G7 (third inversion):

  • Seventh on the bottom.
  • Move the G to an A.
  • This gives you a lovely G9 shape.

In general, these ninth shapes sound better, or at least more jazzy or bluesy, than the shapes they're derived from. Moving the root up to the ninth adds sophistication to the harmony.

Flattening the Ninth

One more thing: we already talked about flattening the ninth.

• For instance, C9379 could be 3 7 b9, but it could also be C7,9.
• If you move the D up a semitone instead of flattening it, you get a C7 sharp nine chord.

The Sharp Nine Chord

• You'll hear this extensively in the next piece; it's a very funky-sounding chord.
• One way of thinking of that chord is that it has the major third at the bottom and the minor third at the top.

However, technically, we shouldn't refer to that note E flat as a minor third because the chord is still C7. It has a major third in it.

• So, it's better to call the E flat, or maybe even think of it as D sharp. This clarification ensures you understand that it's a sharp nine chord.

Application in Blue Funk

We're going to use that C7 sharp nine chord as our I chord, our tonic, in Blue Funk.

However, when we go to IV and V (F7 and G7), we'll be using the ninth chords that we just discussed.

Comping Pattern

This comping pattern is a pretty standard funky type of accompaniment or groove.

• You don't need to play the melody.
• Get a friend or your teacher to play that on the top half of the piano, and just get into the groove with these funky comping rhythms.