COTD 18: E11♭9

There are a few voicings that don't have simple tertian descriptions, and are easier to conceive of as "add" chords: just some note added onto a major or minor triad. Here's one:

B-13♭5, E11♭9, or D-(#11)
X8779X

Again, not exactly inspiring. However, in the right context it might be just what you need. When I get a moment, I'll play a true E11♭9 in an A minor progression and see how the ♭9 and 11 degrees interplay with the dominant tonality:

E11♭9
08779X

COTD 17: A9

Play "Rocket Man". I don't mean the whole song, just the bar where Sir Elton first sings the words "rocket man." This tab will help. OK, got it? Great. That's an A9 chord, and it contains probably the most important 9th voice in all pop music. The tune just doesn't sound right with just a normal A7. I tend to play standard voicings for the other chords in this song, and then this:

A9
X05600

I think it sounds perfect in this context. The two fretted notes are the guide tones. The open strings, low to high, are the root, ninth, and fifth. This means you can play the other three flavors of ninth chords with minimal effort:

AΔ9
X06600

A-9
X05500

A-Δ9
X06500

COTD 16: FΔ7

A close voicing has all of its notes constrained to an octave. Close voicings are not easy to play on the guitar generally because of its linear tuning. By contrast, the ukulele’s re-entrant fourth string makes close voicings very easy to play; it’s hard to play anything else.

If you find a close voicing that uses one open string, then you can find more inversions of that voicing in close form by just playing the inversions of the fretted notes and leaving the open string to ring out. Here’s an FΔ7 ("F major seven") close voicing that you may know:

XX3210

The fretted notes form the F major triad, and the open string is the seventh. Try playing that F major triad in its next inversion up:

XX7560

And the next up from that:

XX(10)(10)(10)(0)

And finally:

XX(15)(14)(13)(0)

These are all close voicings, with the open string ranging from the highest to the lowest voice. Here’s that same concept applied to C#-7

X4210X

X7660X

X(11)(11)(9)(0)X

X(16)(14)(13)(0)X

COTD 15: A-Δ9

This chord is from Chet Atkins' version of Walk, Don't Run, a tune you may not know the name of but will probably recognize if you google it.

A-Δ9
X(0)(10)(9)(9)(7)

It's a nice dramatic ending for this tune, originally written by Johnny Smith and made famous by the most successful instrumental band of all time: The Ventures.

COTD 14: The Hendrix/Gretty Chord

Sorry about the long pause. Perhaps it will soon be "Chord of the Fortnight."

D7#9
X5456X

This is used in the Beatles song Taxman, and as such should be referred to as the Gretty chord, after Jim Gretty, who worked at a music shop in Liverpool and taught the chord to the Beatles. Hendrix used this fingering often, and sometimes added a raised fifth:

E7#9#5
X76788

Both have their place, but good luck if you're hoping for other ergonomic voicings that are similarly bluesy without becoming too dissonant. Swapping out the root note for a 5th gives you this:

D7#9
X(9)(10)(10)(10)X

Which is an F#^oΔ7, and pretty ugly out of context. Note the spelling is exactly the same as D7#9. From low to high, these notes are F#, C, E#, A. The E# is because that note functions as a #9 in D7#9 and a Δ7 in F#^oΔ7. Neither of those degrees is an F note in their respective scale.

Here's a list  of D7#9's for you completists:

Substitution	Form	Root inversion	1st inv.	2nd inv.	3rd inv.	4th inv.*
Root	Close	X(17)(15)(11)(13)X	X8453X	N/A	X(9)(10)(7)(6)X	X(15)(12)(10)(7)X
Root	Drop-2	X5456X	X(9)(12)(10)(13)X	N/A	X(15)(15)(11)(15)X	X(8)(10)(7)(7)X
Root	Drop-3	(10)X(10)(10)(7)X	2X353X	N/A	8X476X	(13)X(12)(11)(13)X
5th	Close	N/A	X8421X	X9756X	X(12)(10)(10)(7)X	(15)(15)(11)(10)X
5th	Drop-2	N/A	X(9)(10)(10)(10)X	X(12)(15)(11)(13)X	X3426X	X8757X
5th	Drop-3	N/A	2X321X	5X456X	(8)X(7)(10)(7)	(13)X(10)(11)(10)X

* The 4^th inversion has the #9 in the lowest voice. In drop-2 and drop-3 voicings, this creates a ♭9 tension with the major 3^rd. Play the chords and see if you like them. Close forms are always constrained to an octave, making ♭9 intervals impossible. So they don't have that problem, but good luck playing them!

COTD 13: E♭7♭5 again (more of the Joe Pass ii-V-I)

Joe Pass recommended that you learn everything you know in all 12 keys. So I'll give the ii-V-I progression I've named for him in a few more forms, which you can move around the neck all you need in order to follow his advice. These will be named according to the "drop" form and inversion of that final major seventh chord. We already did the drop-3 root form, #2 on the list below. I've grouped them two at a time so that the highest note will be consistent within each pairing, and you can switch between drop-2 and drop-3 voicings while preserving the voice-leading in the top voice.

I hope Virgie likes the spooky colors!

Inversion	Drop form	ii (B♭-11)	V (E♭7♭5)	I (A♭Δ7)
1st	2	X4634X	X4524X	X3514X
Root	3	6X664X	5X564X	4X554X
2nd	2	X6869X	X6768X	X6658X
1st	3	9X889X	9X788X	8X688X
3rd	2	X(10)(12)(9)(11)X	X(10)(11)(8)(10)X	X(10)(10)(8)(9)X
2nd	3	(11)X(11)(13)(11)X	(11)X(11)(12)(10)X	(11)X(10)(12)(9)X
Root	2	X(13)(13)(13)(14)X	X(12)(13)(12)(14)X	X(11)(13)(12)(13)X
3rd	3	(16)X(13)(15)(14)X	(15)X(13)(14)(14)X	(15)X(13)(13)(13)X

Note that you're only seeing four distinct fingerings for the V chord, E♭7♭5. Like the rootless 13#9 chord, the dominant 7♭5 chord type, with the root, has tritone symmetry. So if you take one voicing and slide it up 6 frets, you get the same notes in a different order. The diminished 7th chord is the only other four-note chord with this property, but it is perfectly symmetric and repeats every three frets.

COTD: E♭7♭5

 The greatest dead fingerstyle player I know of is a guy named Joe Pass. There are a couple signature guitar models named for him, which is not usually done for fingerstyle players. Here's what I've come to call the "Joe Pass ii-V-I"

B♭-11
6X664X

E♭7♭5
5X564X

A♭Δ7
4X554X

Please vary the rhythm as much as you see fit. If you like this sound, buy the book which best documents Mr Pass's style, Mel Bay's Complete Joe Pass.

COTD 13: D5(#4) from Poor Man's House

You know you've done enough
When every bone is sore
You know you've prayed enough when you don't ask anymore
You know you're coming to some kind of understanding
When every dream you've dreamed has passed and you're still standing

-Patty Griffin, "Poor Man's House" off Living with Ghosts

I should write more about that song, that album, and that artist, but for now I'll just talk about the chords she uses in the verse, in order:

D5/A
X00235

I think Patty hits that open 5th string also, not certain. This isn't a chord but a dyad consisting of root and fifth: a extended power chord with both notes doubled in octaves on the top, and the fifth doubled in the bass.

D5(#4)/A
X00234

Precisely the dissonance this song needed. In fact many extended power chords like the one above lend themselves to this diminished fifth awesomeness. I'll list them at the end. This is not a standard chord name in my strict tertian sense, but it is the best description of the chord as it functions in the song. An acceptable tertian name would be B-13, with a "(no root)" if you're so inclined.

Dsus4/A
X00233

D/A
X00232

These round out the chromatic line on the top; then it starts again. This song is deceptively difficult to sing and play; even fretting it is a little tricky because you have to decide when to swap out your middle finger for your ring finger on the second string. I typically do it between D(#4) and Dsus4.

Here are some more 5(#4)'s for you sowers of discord.

C5(#4)
X3401X

E5(#4)
022300 (Yowza! This is my favorite.)

G5(#4)
3X002X (I guess Jimmy Page used this on...Hhouses of the Holy? Not sure)

A5(#4)
X02240

COTD 12: B-Δ11

I don't know what this chord should be named. I generally think of chords as falling into four types based on their guide tones, the third and the seventh:

Major: a major third and major seventh
Minor: a minor third and minor seventh
Dominant: a major third and minor seventh
Minor Major: a minor third and major seventh (I know, that's a terrible name for it)

The only chords that get just a plain number are the ones that follow the dominant path, e.g. C9, a dominant chord, a major third (E) and minor seventh (B♭). The other three paths all need a modifier before their number to say what they are. In this case, I present a dreaded "Minor Major" chord, but I'll abbreviate "Minor Major" as -Δ.

B-Δ11
X2233X

I guess it's just a C9 with a flatted root. It's evocative of the last chord of the song New Machine by Chris Whitley.

Now that I mention it:

My Favorite Chris Whitley Albums in Rough Order
1) Dirt Floor
2) Living With the Law
3) Perfect Day
4) Din of Ecstasy (which has New Machine)

Other essential songs include Silhouette from Hotel Vast Horizon and his cover of When I Paint My Masterpiece from Dislocation Blues, released posthumously.