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This Issue: Murder, Mystery & Suspense

Just as we might view major chords as having a ‘happy’ sound and minor chords as bringing a ‘sad’ feeling to a song, there are many other atmospheres or moods that we can create by manipulating or altering the voices in a chord.

This can include adding or taking away, with a great example being sus chords, where the suspended note (either a 2nd or 4th) replaces the 3rd, rather than adding it (you guessed right: this would make add2 or add4).

The examples here are geared more towards the dramatic – the kind of chords that might feature in a film soundtrack to underline the gravitas or terror of the events on screen. Having said that, these chords are also a lot of fun!

Example 1

This Em6 chord works beautifully as a passing chord going to or from an Em7. It is as a static, unresolved chord like this that it develops the most tension and mystery, though. John Lennon loved this voicing – and you’ll hear it clearly in Jealous Guy.

Example 2

There are various ways this cliffhanger of a chord could be Abmaj7(#5). named, but the most logical is If you flatten the E on Eb the second string to an at the 4th fret, you’ll see why. This could bmaj7, be resolved to another chord, such as A but its real power is when it is left to hang in the air like an unanswered question…

Example 3

This Am13 is the kind of chord Brian Setzer might use at the end of a Stray Cats song and it may remind you of the minor 6th chord we looked at earlier. b7 But by virtue of the (G), this 6th is renamed 13th – still an F# but now b7, code for ‘add a too’.

Example 4

This Dm6/9 is another great chord for endings. As you can see, it’s a ringing open chord, adding a B (6th) and an E (9th) above the fretted D minor triad. You could call this Dm add6 add9, which would be correct, but a little over‑conscientious…

Example 5

What a moment it must have been when Monty Norman decided an Em/maj9 would be the perfect way to end the James Bond theme! The contradictory sounding name abbreviates E minor with a major 7th (D#) and a 9th. So the ‘major’ part refers to the 7th.