Extended Chords: Minor

NOW THAT WE’VE EXPLORED THE WORLD OF EXTENDED MAJOR CHORDS, LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE CONSTRUCTION OF DARKER, MORE COMPLEX MINOR CHORDS.

The conventions for creating and naming a minor chord are similar to those for major chords – but not the same, as we shall see. Nevertheless, the origin and point of reference remains the major scale, however counter-intuitive that may seem!

Minor chords are commonly described as having a ‘b3rd’; this means the third is lowered by a semitone, rather than necessarily being a ‘flat’ note. For example, in E minor, the third is Gn rather than G#. Extending the chords, adding further notes than the root, (b)3rd and fifth, follows the same numerical system as major chords – though gives a darker, more complex sound.

Sevenths are also dealt with in the same way.

Simply adding the seventh from the scale gives us a major seventh chord (which would result in a minor/major seventh as featured later), or a ‘b7th’ to give the more commonly heard ‘dominant’ seventh. Always remember, we are simply dealing with names for sounds here. Check out the examples, which will help explain further.

EXAMPLE #1

This Emin6 chord features the root (E), b3rd (G) and the fifth (B), though they appear out of scale sequence due to the guitar’s non-linear nature. The ‘6’ part of the name refers to the C# happening on the second string – the sixth note of the E major scale (not minor!) added to the existing chord. From low to high, we now have: E, B, E, G, C#, E.

EXAMPLE #2

By raising the sixth a semitone/fret, we create an Emin7 chord. This is actually quite a simplistic name for what could be described as Emin/b7, which actually counts as an altered chord due to the b7th not being lifted straight from the major scale. Thankfully, b7ths (also called dominant) are usually referred to by default simply as ‘seventh’.

EXAMPLE #3

If we take a minor chord and add the major seventh (D#), it is no longer an altered chord, as this note has been taken straight from the major scale. But the name needs to specify that this is a major rather than b/dominant seventh, hence this initially contradictory sounding name, in which the term minor describes the chord and major describes the extension/added note!

EXAMPLE #4

Here is a take on the previous Emin/maj7, extending it further to add a ninth (F#). For this reason, we call it Emin/maj9. We’re not ignoring the seventh – that is what the ‘maj’ is referring to – but we always name after the highest extension. Sometimes a ninth is added without the seventh, but this would be called ‘add9’.

EXAMPLE #5

Extending beyond the ninth, we add the 11th (A), for an Emin11. You will find the root (E), b3rd (G) b7th (D) ninth (F#) and 11th (A). Where is the fifth, you may ask? It’s not very practical to reach on the guitar, but you will also find it’s pretty common to drop the fifth in extended chords like this. Why? Because it sounds prettier and less harmonically ‘dense’.