Hendrix chord
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G B D F A# (A#=Bb)
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| Component intervals from root | ||
| augmented ninth | ||
| minor seventh | ||
| perfect fifth | ||
| major third | ||
| root | ||
In music, the dominant 7#9 chord, now known among guitarists[1] as the Hendrix chord, or the Purple Haze chord,[2] is an extended dominant chord using the sharpened or augmented ninth, named for guitarist Jimi Hendrix.[3] While the sharpened ninth and other complex voicings built on the dominant seventh had been used in jazz and jazz harmony Hendrix helped popularize the chord's use in popular music.
Hendrix songs built around the 7#9 chord include "Purple Haze" (recorded 1966) and the chord is implied throughout "Foxy Lady" (1967)[1][4], both from his 1967 album Are You Experienced?. Though the technique is one of many that contribute to "the dirty, raw, metallic, angular sounds of...many other Hendrix songs"[3] the earliest recorded evidence of his use of the chord is on the Isley Brothers "Testify, Parts 1 and 2" (1964), one of the few known recordings he made in the years prior to his solo career in 1966.
The set type of this chord is [01469], with Forte number 5-32.[5]
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[edit] Harmony and scales
The chord is harmonically ambiguous, as it effectively is a major and a minor chord simultaneously (the augmented ninth being in effect a minor third above the tonic) and is thus similar to the chord referred to as a mixed third chord. It may also be found in the tonally ambiguous octatonic scale. It is an example of how Hendrix would embellish chords "to add new colours to the music, often derived from his own roots in black music".[3] "In essence," one author has written, the Hendrix chord is "the whole of the blues scale condensed into a single chord."[4]
The chord may also be considered "jazzy"[6] rather than bluesy, and while the dorian may be the scale most commonly used for the 7#9, the mixed third allows flexibility including the use of mixolydian, aeolian, and others modes.[7]
When performing "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" live Hendrix later used not only E7#9, the sharpened ninth chord on the tonic, but also D7#9 and C7#9 chords, the subtonic and submediant,[4] which would total nine and imply eleven notes, rather than only five.
[edit] Other uses
Though the augmented 9th dominant chord was a favorite of Jimi Hendrix, it was not his exclusively and had been used as far back as the bebop era of the 1940s, notably on the Rachmaninoff-inspired introduction to Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker's arrangement of the popular standard "All the Things You Are." Instances of the augmented ninth chord appear with some regularity in blues and rhythm-and-blues of the 1950s and 1960s, but guitarist Billy Butler’s use of the chord in Bill Doggett’s "Hold It" (1958) proved so memorable that musicians began referring to it as the "Hold It" chord. The chord is employed in the John Coltrane jazz standard Blue Train. The chord had also been used previously by Hendrix's contemporaries in songs including the Beatles' "Taxman", the opening track of Revolver (1966), and "I Feel Free" from Cream's debut album Fresh Cream (1966); both songs predate the release "Purple Haze". It is also used in the opening of "Kid Charlemagne" from the Steely Dan album The Royal Scam (1976). Additionally, this chord can be heard in Wes Montgomery's album, The Incredible Jazz guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960), in the piece "Four on Six",[citation needed] as well as throughout Muse's Hyper Music.
The chord is favored by Pixies lead guitarist Joey Santiago, with D7#9, reminiscent of the opening to "A Hard Day's Night", opening "Here Comes Your Man" and F7#9 featured on the chorus to "Tame" against the three chord rhythm guitar part's D, C, and F.[9]
[edit] Further reading
- Hanford, John. "With the Power of Soul: Jimi Hendrix in Band of Gypsys" Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, 2003.
- van der Bliek, Rob. “The Hendrix Chord: Blues, Flexible Pitch Relationships, and Self-standing Harmony,” Popular Music 26:2 (May 2007), pp 343–364.
[edit] Sources
- ^ a b Roby, Steven (2002). Black Gold: The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix, p.32. ISBN 082307854X.
- ^ (2007). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Rock Guitar Songs, p.58. ISBN 0739046284.
- ^ a b c Shapiro, Harry and Caesar Glebbeek (1995). Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, p.144. ISBN 0312130627.
- ^ a b c Perry, John (2004). Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland, p.120-121. ISBN 0826415717.
- ^ http://www.jaytomlin.com/music/settheory/
- ^ Munro, Doug (2001). Jazz Guitar: Bebop and Beyond, p.58. ISBN 0757982816.
- ^ Gill, Danny (2001). Practice Trax for Guitar[sic], p.13. ISBN 0634026216.
- ^ Radio: "Shiver down the backbone - Jimi Hendrix comes to Radio 3", The Spectator, by Kate Chisholm, Wednesday, 21st November 2007
- ^ Sisario, Ben (2006). Doolittle, p.82 and 90. ISBN 0826417744.
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