101st Chord Of The Week 11/7/15 - the Holdsworth madd9 2nd inversion chord

bigjon · July 2015

The last Allan Holdsworth chord I looked at (Emaj7/B: x x 9 8 9 12) generated a lot of discussion at http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/44697/99th-chord-of-the-week-27-6-15-the-holdsworth-maj7-chord

I said that the aspect of his voicing that is beyond me is his placing of the root-note of a complex chord at the top of the stack as the highest note, with the most complex harmonic element (the major 7th) voiced below it on the third string an octave plus a semitone away, and the fifth as the bottom note (so a 2nd inversion of the chord). This is most unusual, but it distinctive: here is the opening chord of "Three Sheets To The Wind", shifted up a fret into A minor to make it easier to notate -

Am9/E x (0) 14 16 13 17

The bracketed open A on the 5th string is just for reference - Allan would leave that to the bass player. The other notes going up are E (5th), B (9th), C (b3rd) and A (root). It is common to have the 9th and the b3rd a semitone apart, as here, but I can't think of another musician who would displace the voicing of the A root note an octave UP rather than down! Like I said last time, Genius!

bigjon · July 2015

Chord Of The Week Index updated with 101 discussions, natch, at

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

bigjon · July 2015

I'm realising more and more that Allan prefers 2nd inversion voicings with the 5th as the lowest note: going through the Holdsworth chords I've covered so far, the following are 2nd inversion and/or have the root at the top -

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/44697/99th-chord-of-the-week-27-6-15-the-holdsworth-maj7-chord

Emaj7/B: x x 9 8 9 12 (2nd inversion, also has the root at the top)

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/40422/chord-of-the-week-2-5-15-the-holdsworth-add9-chord

Cadd9/G: x 10 10 7 5 x (2nd inversion)

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/43094/chord-of-the-week-6-6-15-the-holdsworth-maj9-chord

Cmaj9: 8 10 12 9 11 8 (not 2nd inversion, but the root is at the top)

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/40959/chord-of-the-week-9-5-15-the-holdsworth-madd9-chord

Cmadd9/G: x 10 10 7 4 x (2nd inversion)

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/42528/chord-of-the-week-30-5-15-the-holdsworth-maj7-9-11-chord

Cmaj7#9#11/G: 332442 (2nd inversion)

bigjon · July 2015

Also there's some place where he plays (for instance) an Fmaj7 as 8x796x, anyone know which tune that one is in? It's also got the root at the top, again!

GuyBoden · July 2015

Good stuff.

GuyBoden · February 2020

I liked to change my earlier post, this is excellent stuff.

5th 9th 3rd 1st. Wow what a chord.

I've been playing the whole chord scale, some are a bit difficult.

Chord Scale using "A" Aeolian:

EBCA = Amin7

FCDB = Bdim7

GBDC = CMaj7

AEFD = Dmin7

BFGE = Emin7

CGAF = FMaj7

DABG = Gdom7

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101st Chord Of The Week 11/7/15 - the Holdsworth madd9 2nd inversion chord

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*101st* Chord Of The Week 11/7/15 - the Holdsworth madd9 2nd inversion chord

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101st Chord Of The Week 11/7/15 - the Holdsworth madd9 2nd inversion chord