Hey folks.. you thought I forgot didn't you?? No, I was waiting on just the right chord and I think I found a good one!! It is the Dominant 7th Flat 13 Sharp 9 chord.
You would use this chord as a passing chord to get to another chord within a progression. This would also be an altered chord because we've altered the 13th by flatting it and the 9th by sharping it.
Let's look at this chord:
Eb7(b13 #9) LH/RH = Eb/GCbDbF#
Chord breakdown wise: in the LH you have the Root, in the RH you have the 3,b13,b7,#9
A note here.. b13 is equivalent to #5, so in the key of Eb.. b13 = Cb or B, #5 = Bb(#) or B.. they are the same note but for the purposes of this post we'll call that note a b13.
How would you use this chord?
In a major 2-5-1 progression use this chord as a substitute for the 5 chord:
in the Key of Ab a normal 2-5-1 progression would be:
LH/RH NUMBER BREAKDOWN Chord Name
Bb/AbCDbF 1/b7-9-b3-5 Bbm9
Eb/GBbDbF 1/3-5-b7-9 Eb9
Ab/GBbCEb 1/7-9-3-5 Abmaj9
Remember that I'm adding the 9th freely here to add some color to these chords.
Here is that same 2-5-1 progression with the dom7b13#9 added
again in the key of Ab, the substitution is going to happen on the 5 chord.. we're changing it from a Eb9 to Eb7b13#9.
LH/RH NUMBER BREAKDOWN Chord Name
Bb/AbCDbF 1/b7-9-b3-5 Bbm9
Eb/GCbDbF# 1/3-b13-b7-#9 Eb7b13#9
AbG/BbCEbG 1-7/9-3-5-7 Abmaj9
note: on that Abmaj9 here added the G on top to have a smooth voice leading as you can see that top note or melody note is moving chromatically from F-F#-G that sounds really good to the ear!
Play the original progression and then play it with the change and hear how smooth the progression gets.
You can use this chord as a passing chord to get to the Imaj7 or Idom7 or..... Imin7!!!!! I'll post that minor progression a lil later..
Here is the 7b13#9 chord in every key around the circle of 4th/5ths. This is how you should practice every chord to really get them under your hands. If you print this out, dictate on the chord whether the chord starts off the 3rd or b7th!! This should help with your chord placements/voicings also as another exercise write out the number to each of the notes in the chord. This will begin to help you identify which notes are the altered ones (b13, #9) and which ones are part of the original harmony (1, 3, b7).
Tasks:
1. Write out whether the chord is off the 3rd or off the 7th.
2. Write out the numbers of the notes in the chord and then write which notes are altered ones (b13, #9) and original harmony (1, 3, b7).
I'll do the first couple of ones for you.. you have to do the rest though.
C7b13#9 C/EAbBbD# off 3rd 1/3-b13-b7-#9 Alt: Ab, D# Orig.: C, E, Bb
F7b13#9 F/ADbEbG# off 3rd 1/3-b13-b7-#9 Alt: Db, G# Orig.: F, A, Eb
Bb7b13#9 Bb/AbC#DGb off b7th ??
Eb7b13#9 Eb/GCbDbF# off ???? ??
Ab7b13#9 Ab/GbBCE
Db7b13#9 Db/FACbE
Gb7b13#9 Gb/BbDEA
B7b13#9 B/ADEbG
E7b13#9 E/AbCDG
A7b13#9 A/GCDbF
D7b13#9 D/F#BbCF
G7b13#9 G/FBbBEb
another note: this chord is really hard to write out. some of these notes should really be written "correctly" like the A# (#9) on the G7b13#9 chord or the E# (#9) on the D7b13#9 chord but I wrote it as Bb and F respectively to make it easier to read and chord.
Just another tool to add to your toolbelt!
I'm sure if you're like me and you run through the circle of 4th/5th exercise you'll notice that you play these chords already but probably didn't know what it was and it just sounded good.. well now you know!!
Any questions or comments post them!! or if you find other uses for this chord post them as well!!
