Thursday, April 26, 2018

COTD #8: D♭13#9

I plan to write a rag based on this chord someday. Hold me to it.

D♭13#9
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The rootless form of this voicing has tritone symmetry, which means the figure has the same notes when you translate it by a tritone. So, without the root the chord looks like this:

D♭13#9
XX3300

Don't worry, it's still D♭13#9 even without the D♭. The remaining notes, low to high, are F, B♭, C♭, and E (the ♭7th degree of D♭ is C♭, not B.) Now take this figure and translate it up 6 frets:

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XX9966

What notes are these? Well, B (or C♭) , E, F, and A# (or B♭). The same notes. The diminished 7th chord has this property also, but the notes repeat every three frets, not just every six. The tritone symmetry means that D♭13#9 and G13#9 only differ by their roots. All the other notes are the same. Observe:

G13#9
3X3300

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