Major Chords

For one reason or another, we've all come to consider the major chord to be the most basic of harmonic structures. It's possible this comes from early exposure to major tonalities in the form of children's music or pop songs, though exact reasons are of course impossible to pin down. As one moves into jazz, it's inevitable that the Major 7 chord assumes the same role, providing the base point to which all other chords can be compared. This is a curious occurrence, as the chord is actually fairly dissonant, and when encountered in other musics, stands out starkly; in fact, it wasn't really until the writing of Duke Ellington that the chord became common place, players frequently using an added-sixth chord in to create a major tonality before that.

Nonetheless, in our current environment, it can be desirable to find some substitute for the chord to add variety to compositions (or standards). The following is a list of some typical chords that can play the role of a major chord. As we've discussed before, chords of the same quality (major, minor, dominant) can essentially be considered interchangeable, though some of the following chords will be too dissonant for some settings. For simplicity, we'll spell everything on the root of C. While voicings are always important in the creation of musical effects, there are too many to consider at the moment, so chords will be spelled ascending from the root to the highest extension. Finally, the descriptions provided obviously cannot do justice to the sound of the chord. It's important for anyone interested in employing these chords to sit down at the piano and play them and experiment with possible voicings.

Major Triad – C E G

This may seem counter-intuitive, but a calculated use of a major triad can create drastic effects. While most of these will be accomplished through some sort of altered progression and not chord substitution, the purity of a tonic triad can be powerful and is often missing in jazz music. Of course, overuse both counteracts this and can make the music too simplistic for most player's tastes, but the option should be at least considered.

Major 9th – C E G B D

A simple extension of the Major 7th chord, this chord can be used to create lush textures without using any chromatic alterations. As with all extended chords, Major 9th chords provide the greatest effect when the upper extension is voiced in the melody.

Added 6th – C E G A

As mentioned before, until the time of Ellington, this chord was considered the basic major chord in jazz. As its structure is not third-based, it can be considered part of a family of chords that comes from the pentatonic scale rather than the diatonic scale and often invokes a mood more associated with folk music than art music.

6/9 – C E A D

This unique chord finds some of its earliest representations in the piano voicings of McCoy Tyner. Whereas the added 6th chord evokes folk music, the 6/9 chord, with its fourth-based structure, is decidedly artificial in its sound. Similar to the 6 chord though, the 6/9 chord also resides in the pentatonic scale and carries some of the qualities of that scale.

Major 7#11, or, Lydian – C E G B F#

The simplest of the chromatic major chords, the lydian chord has become commonplace in jazz today, and to some extent, may be losing its dissonant on veteran listener's due to its overexposure. The chord saw first saw frequent use in the music of Wayne Shorter and has increased in popularity ever since. The F# in the chord requires the use of the lydian scale in playing over it, and as such, when used as a tonic chord, changes the key of the piece. As it has become standard practice to improvise in the lydian scale over major chords though, this scale change is less of a hurdle than it may have been in the past.

Major 7#5, or, Lydian Augmented – C E G# B

This chromatic major chord lies outside of the standard major scale, instead finding its home in the third mode of the melodic minor scale, the lydian #5 mode. In the standard jazz literature, this chord is exceptionally rare, though it does occur in a few pieces by Keith Jarrett and Wayne Shorter. As it takes a skilled improviser to play over the chord fluently, frequent use of this chord can make songs difficult to play. As a side note, when encountered in classical music, this chord is considered to be a major chord with an added flat sixth, spelled from the third of the chord (in this case E G# B C). Debussy and Ravel use it to great effect in their pieces La Mer and Concerto for the Left Hand.

6/9#5 – C E A D G#

This strange chord is actually a personal creation. It fits in the Lydian # 5 scale, though it sounds markedly different from the Major 7#5 chord. I've provided it here as an example of a chromatic chord constructed through added tones. In practice, any chromatic tone can be added to any chord as a chromatic extension, though care should be taken to make things playable for improvisers.

6b5b9 – C E A Gb Db

And to completely ignore that last bit of advice here's a chromatic chord that offers no specific scale for an improviser to play. This chord can be described in numerous ways. If found in the music of Messiaen or Stravinsky, it could best be described as a reduced polychord, in this case Gb/C (the Bb is missing from the Gb chord). It's also possible to conceive of the chord as an added sixth chord over a chromatic bass note, here viewed as A6/C.

Hopefully exploring this list provides inspiration for compositional possibilities. Considering both the nature of harmony in jazz – as discussed in the last post – and currently accepted compositional practices, a thorough understanding of the sounds of these chords can be more useful than any traditional harmonic training.