Chord Of The Week 6/12/14 - The 'Stairway' chord

bigjon

Yes folks, the definitive, objective(!) answer to last week's quiz question 'What is the most famous mmaj9 chord in rock?' is the second chord of the intro progression in Led Zep's Stairway to Heaven!

Ammaj9: x06557

The constituent notes of an Ammaj9 chord are - 

Root - A: x0xxxx

b3rd - C: xxx5xx

5th - E: xxxx5x

maj7th - G#: xx6xxx

9th - xxxxx7

To play the Stairway progression play 

Am x07555

Ammaj9 x06557

Am7 x05558

D/A x04232

This progression contains the descending 'line cliche' beloved of Latin Jazz - 

Octave - maj7 - 7 - 6, so in A we have: xx7xxx xx6xxx xx5xxx xx4xxx

This means that you can slip a humorous quote from 'Stairway' into any jazz standard where you have to hang around on a minor chord for a bar or two!

This useful feature prompts me to set up another quiz this week - once more the prize is a 'wow' and my decision is final, although there could be more than one right answer for all I know! Which 80s UK indie-pop band inserted this humorous quote from Stairway into their cover of an unrelated US classic rock song? @viz I think I've told you this one before, so confine your answer to a message!

bigjon

Chord Of The Week Index updated with 70 discussions at http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/598/chord-of-the-week-index