Chord Of The Week 25/7/15 - The Holdsworth maj9(no3rd) chord

bigjon

Last week's search for a mystery Allan Holdsworth maj7 voicing took us to his composition The Un-Merry Go Round, and the ethereal chord sequence at 6:20 in the vid below. A bar later at 6:23 he plays a Dbmaj9no3rd that encapsulates for me what is magical about Allan's approach to chord-construction.

I'll discuss it in C to make it easier. Here's Cmaj9no3rd as most of us would play it:

Cmaj9: x3543x

with the root on the bottom, the fifth above it, the seventh above that and the ninth on the top, and a smooth sequence of third intervals between the top three notes in the chord.

What Allan does is take the second-highest note in the chord and displace it higher by an octave, so the 7th and 9th extensions sit out on their own at the top of the chord a sixth apart, and a fifth above the foundation root-fifth notes of the chord. The result is the evocative-sounding

Cmaj7no3rd: x35x37

Next week will be the 2-year anniversary of Chord Of The Week, as I started on the opening day of the Fretboard, Saturday 3rd August 2013! Suggestions welcome!

bigjon

Chord Of The Week Index updated with 103 discussions at

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/598/chord-of-the-week-index

57Deluxe

I like this chord... standard tuning... Amp right up, bit of gain... plenty of shaking...

http://www.mycity.rs/thumbs2/152099_tmb_132079515_akord.jpg

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