In this lesson we'll talk about all the "other chords" and how to figure them out. We've covered fraction/inversion chords, regular triads, and seventh chords.
It turns out you can add ANY note to any chord. Try it now. Start with a plain old C major chord, and try adding notes to it. See what kind of sounds you get. Some are beautiful, and some are ugly. Some just add color or moodiness to the chord.
Here's some chords I made up just by adding a note to a C major. It's ok to replace a "normal" note. Also, you don't want to mess with your bass note - otherwise we'd be making a fraction chord.
As you can see, you can get some pretty neat chords this way (and some weird ones). But you also need to know how to write these chords down and figure them out. So below is a table that shows you what you are adding when you add different notes to a chord. I'll be using C major for simplicity.
Some of these added notes will be in the key of C, and some won't. Some of them sound awful, and some sound good. Use your ear and try them out. If you are comfortable finding notes on the guitar, try finding your own versions of these chords using the CAGED system and adding the note wherever it fits (just not in the bass).
Adding Notes to C Major
| Note Added to C Major | Common Notation | Sample Chord |
| Db | Caddb9, Cb9 (implies dominant 7th included) | x32020 |
| D | Csus2, C2, Cadd9, C9 (implies dominant 7th included) | x32030 |
| D# | Cm (if all E's replaced), Cadd#9, C(#9) (implies dominant 7th included) | x3204x |
| F | C4, Csus4, C11 | x32011 |
| F# | C(#4), C(#11) (parentheses used to show it's not a C# chord) | x34010 |
| G# | C+ (if all G's replaced), C(#5), C(b6), C7#5 (when used with dominant 7th chord) | x3211x |
| A | C6, C13 | x32210 |
| Bb | C7, Cdom7 | x32310 |
| B | Cmaj7, C∆7, CM7 | x32000 |
If added notes are played close to the bass note, the result can sometimes sound muddy to the point where you can't tell what the bass note is supposed to be. In practice it's common to add these notes up an octave so they don't clash. To communicate this, you can write the added note up one octave too - for instance, a 9th instead of a 2nd, or a 13th instead of a 6th. These different notations really come out to the exact same thing, so call them what you want.
When you are figuring out what to call an added note, always use the major or minor scale associated with the chord (even if your progression is in another key). So if you are in the key of C and adding a note to your F, or IV chord, think briefly in the key of F to determine what note you are adding.
Yes! Adding a 9th to 7th chords is very common, for instance. Experiment, but remember to keep your bass note the same. Also, when you add too many weird notes it can actually change the chord, as we'll discuss in the next lesson.
Usually when musicians write a C9 chord, it implies a dominant 7th chord with a ninth added to it. This shorthand came about because the dominant seventh is so common, and adding 9th's to the chord is also common. Writing Cdom7add9 is not as easy as just C9. So if you want JUST the 9th in your chord and no seventh, write it a different way such as Cadd9 or Csus2.
"Sus" is short for "suspension". In classical music a suspended chord would usually be followed by a resolution to a note in the chord. For instance, Csus2 (with a D) would "resolve" to a normal C. This is a very common, recognizable sound even today, although we're used to hearing these chords even without the resolution to the regular chord. Typical suspended notes are the 2nd and 4th, which can resolve to notes in the chord.
The chart above only covers a major chord and the notes that could be added to it. But you can also add notes to a minor triad. Just use the minor scale associated with the chord to figure out what note is added.