Lesson Seven

Building Around the Tritone

A great way to enrich your dominant 7th voicings is to build them around the "tritone". The 3rd and b7th of a dominant chord are a flatted 5th away from each other. This is the distance of 3 full tones, thus the term "tritone". For example, in a D7 chord, the 3rd is an F#, and the b7th is a C. These notes are 3 full tones apart and are considered the only essential notes in a D7 chord.

Example 1 Audio Clip (217K au)

Example 2 shows a D13 voicing. Notice that the lowest 2 notes are again the tritone, this time inverted. The very same chord fingering is used this time producing the extensions 13 and 9. The scale provided is the D Lydian Dominant or A Melodic Minor where again these extensions occur naturally. Notice it's the same scale fingering, just lower on the neck.

Example 2 Audio Clip (264K au)

These chords can also be thought of as Ab Dom7 chords. Any tritone can also be used for the chord a flatted fifth away. Our original chord was D7, so our tritone also works for Ab7. The chord in Example 1 would be an Ab13. The chord in example 2 is an Ab7(#9#5). Recognizing the dual function of these chords will double your Dom7 arsenal instantly. If thought of as an Ab13 chord, the scale in example 1 would be the Ab Lydian Dominant or Eb Melodic Minor. If thought of as an Ab7(#9#5) chord, the scale in example 2 would be the Ab Altered or A Melodic Minor.

 

Previous Lesson Next Lesson