SUBSTITUTE Stacked 5ths

We’re going systematic and theoretical this month, which might seem boring, but it can generate new avenues. We’re working with the interval of a 5th. You’ve encountered this if you’ve ever played powerchords, as they’re simply 5ths. E5 is E and B, root and 5th. What happens if we take two 5th intervals (four notes total) and space them differently? What chords will we generate?

THE ANSWER IS ‘a lot’, so we’ll just use the C Major scale, giving a manageable number of 5ths (C-G, D-A, E-B, F-C, G-D, A-E). Taking pairs of these, systematically varying the intervals in between, we get a palette of chords. For example, if you put D-A on top of F-C (whole tone interval between C and D), the resulting chord is a Major 6th (F6). We discounted a few results (Major 3rd, Tritone, Minor 7th) as the results were too ambiguous or had duplicate notes, but there’s still plenty of good stuff. As usual, play the ‘vanilla’ progression first, and then try the substitutes!

HERE, the two 5ths are F-C and A-E. The interval between them is a Major 6th (C -A), and that combination of notes produces a Major 7th chord.

NOW we’ve moved both 5ths down to the next notes in the scale (E-B and G-D), so the internal interval is now a Minor 6th, so we get a Minor 7th chord. Incidentally, inverting these 5ths (E-B above G-D) would give a G6 chord.

PUTTING a Minor 3rd interval between our two 5th intervals (G-D and F-C) forms a 7sus4 chord. We’ve based all these chords on the fifth string as our root, but do try other fingerings or string groups.

WITH just a semitone between the two 5th intervals (E-B, C-G), we get a first-inversion Cmaj7 (strictly Cmaj7/E). If you swapped the 5ths round, you’d have the root-position shape we used for Fmaj7 above. This shape also works as an Am9 (no root).