Frank Gambale Magic Chords 2

Continuing our look at Frank Gambale's "Magic Chords", today introduces another inversion of the Magic Chord constructed from intervals 1, 2 and 5 or C, D and G if we're in C.

Here's the fingering for this guitar chord:

As with yesterday's inversion, today's Chord of the Day can be considered in many different ways.

C, D, G
Csus2 (1, 2, 5)
D11(b7, 1, 11)
Ebmajor 13 (13, 7, 3)
F69 (5, 6, 9)
Gsus4 (4, 5, 1)
Abmaj7#11 (3, #11, 7)
Am11 (b3, 11, b7)
Bb69 (9, 3, 6)

We can use our one Magic Chord in place of 8 different chords all with the same fingering in the same position.

The chord can function as:
C, D, F, Bb and G dominant 7th chords
C, Eb, F, Bb, Ab, G major7th chords
C, A, D, G, F minor 7th chords
chords

Alternatively we could play this chord in several different positions and still have it function in the same way. For example, we could play this inversion in the following positions and it would work as a Cmajor7:
2nd position (B, E, A, E, A) - C major 13
5th position (D, G, C, G, C) - C add9
7th position (E, A, D, A, D) -C69
9th position (F#, B, D, B, E) - Cmajor7#11
10th position (G, C, F, C, F) - Csus4
12th position (A, D, G, D, G) - C69

Try playing through some songs you know and dropping in today's Frank Gambale Magic Chord and yesterday's Magic Chord in place of some other inversions you might use and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord of the Day.
 

Frank Gambale 'Magic Chords' 1

Some years ago, guitarist Frank Gambale had a regular monthly column in Guitar Player magazine. Some of his monthly columns looked at what he described as Magic Chords. These are advanced guitar chords that are constructed differently to regular triads and are therefore a little ambiguous. The good thing about this is that we can use this chords in several different contexts.

The first Magic Chord is constructed from intervals 1, 2 and 5 or C, D and G if we're in C. We might think of this as being a Csus2 chord:  

Here's the fingering for this guitar chord:

It's not necessary or sometimes even possible to play all of the notes in a chord, so we can also think of this same chord in the same position in several different ways. Here are some examples of how we could use this same chord - the intervals we're using from the chord are after the chord symbol:

C, D, G
Csus2 (1, 2, 5)
D11(b7, 1, 11)
Ebmajor 13 (13, 7, 3)
F69 (5, 6, 9)
Gsus4 (4, 5, 1)
Abmaj7#11 (3, #11, 7)
Am11 (b3, 11, b7)
Bb69 (9, 3, 6)

We can use our one Magic Chord in place of 8 different chords all with the same fingering in the same position.

The chord can function as:
C, D, F, Bb and G dominant 7th chords
C, Eb, F, Bb, Ab, G major7th chords
C, A, D, G, F minor 7th chords

That's a lot of possible uses for one chord. Try using this magic chord in some of the songs you usually play and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord of the Day.   

A Major 7#11 guitar chord

Today's Guitar Chord of the Day is A Major 7#11. We've featured a few other Δ7#11 guitar chords before, they all share the exotic twist that the#11 gives to a regular Δ7 chord. (A major 7#11, A maj7#11 and AΔ7#11 are all different ways of notation the same thing).
Major 7#11 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7, #11

A Major 7#11 uses the notes: A, C#, E, G#, D#
Our inversion uses the notes in this order: A, G#, C#, E

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C Major7#11 Guitar Chord

Today's Guitar Chord of the Day is C Major7#11. This guitar chord has its root note on the 3rd fret of the A string. This guitar chord can be written in several ways: C major 7#11, C maj7#11 and CΔ7#11 all mean the same thing. 

Both the 3rd fret on the guitar's A string and the 2nd fret on the guitar's E string are played with the first finger. It's an interesting chord to play- slightly curving your finger to play a barre across two frets:
We've featured an alternative C Major7#11 guitar chord here.

The #11 in the C major7#11 chord gives this guitar chord a nice sound based on the lydian mode. It can replace chord IV in major keys, though many jazz guitarists prefer the sound of #11 chords to ordinary major7 guitar chords so it can replace chord I if you want to add harmonic interest.

Major 7#11 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7, #11

C Major 7#11 uses the notes: C, E, G, B, F#

Our inversion uses the notes in this order: C, G, B, E, F#

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C major 7#11

Today's Guitar Chord of the Day is C major 7#11. The #11 adds a nice lydian flavour to the major guitar chord. Lydian mode is a favourite of guitarists Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. This guitar chord can replace chord IV in major keys and to add harmonic interest also replace chord I.
The #11 in the C major7#11 chord gives this guitar chord a nice sound based on the lydian mode. It can replace chord IV in major keys and if you want to add harmonic interest replace chord I.

Major 7#11 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7, #11

C Major 9#11 uses the notes: C, E, G, B, F#

Our inversion uses the notes in this order: G, C, E, F#, B

Record a vamp using this #11 guitar chord and the major9#11 guitar chord and practice your Lydian guitar solos over the top.

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