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25 Altered Guitar Chords - Theory and Diagrams

25 Altered Dominant Guitar Chords

Stef Ramin By On 2018-03-04 1

In Chords

Altered dominant chords are used to bring tension and an outside flavor to jazz chord progressions. 

They generally resolve to an inside chord as the I or a substitute as iii or vi.

They have one or more notes lowered or raised by a half-step, in other words they contain one or more alterations.

These alterations are b9,#9, b5 (#11) and b13 (#5).

Altered Chords are generally used by jazz musicians, composers and arrangers as substitutions for diatonic chords for adding dissonance and spicing up the harmony.

Altering The Fifth

In jazz music, alterations are used for all types of chords however, they are most often applied to dominant chords.

Let's start with the fifth of V7, that can be altered with a sharp (#) or a flat (b). So we can get two altered chords named 7b5 or 7#5.

Please note that the b5 and the #11 are the same notes, they are enharmonic like the #5 and the b13 that are enharmonic too, so there are two other possibilities, 7#5 and 7b13.

However, it is better to use the b5 and #5 extensions as shown in the shapes below.

Dominant Flat Five Drop 2 And Drop 3 Voicings

Here are four guitar neck diagrams to play 7b5 chords.

Dominant Sharp Five Drop 2 And Drop 3 Voicings

These four diagrams take the same voicings as above, but with an augmented fifth. Please note that 7#5 chords can be written 7aug or 7+5 or aug7.

Altering The Ninth

The ninth of a dominant chord can be lowered or raised by a half-step, thus giving two altered dominant chords : 7b9 and 7#9.

Here are eight guitar diagrams to play altered dominant chords.

Notice that there are two rootless chord voicings, meaning that the root tone is not play but simply represented by a red circle.

Dominant 7 Flat Ninth Chords

The b9 is generally used to alter the dominant 7 chord of a minor II-V-I chord progression giving a iim7 - V7b9 - Im(maj7) sequence.

Dominant 7 Sharp Ninth Chords

Now the same voicings but with a #9 instead of a b9. Please note that 7#9 chords are dominant chords with a major ninth.

One or More Alterations

Altered dominant chords can contain one or more alterations, the choice depends on the melody.

They are most of the time simplified and written "ALT", for example G7#5b13 can be written G7alt.

It means that the altered notes are not specified, you can decide which alteration you add to the dominant 7 chord.

Here are some chord shapes that will help you to hear some of these altered chords.

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chords voicings Altered chords harmony

Comments

  • Jim Kernicky

    1 Jim Kernicky On 08/09/2019

    Nice that you included the 7#9b13. I've hardly seen that chord anywhere else. I assumed that it wasn't a chord since it's so close to a 7#5#9.

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