USING SUSPENDED AND ADD 9

Learning how to substitute chords can give your playing some variety . Let’s go over some basic principles.

There are 3 basic families of chords: Major, Minor, Dominant

Every chord ever played can be put into one of these 3 families.(suspended chords can be placed in any of the families)

When you are learning a chord you should know which family the chord belongs to. You can substitute all chords with each other with in the same family. With that said, there needs to be a certain amount of judgement when substituting chords. Always listen and let your ears tell you if the

substitution works. If you like how the substitution sounds Great! keep it ,if not try another one!

Chord Substitutions

Major Maj 7 Maj 6 Minor Min 7 Min 6 7 9 13

Maj 9 Maj 69 Add 9 Min 9 Min 69 Add 9 b9 #9 ♭5 (#11)

Maj 7(9) Maj 7(6) Maj 7 #11 Min 7(9) Min 7(6) Min7♭5 #5 (♭13) Sus 4 Sus 2

Sus 4 Sus 2 Sus 4 Sus 2 Min 7 (11)

Diminished Augmented

MAJOR DOMINANTMINOR

Above we have 3 families of chords Major , Minor, Dominant.

Below each heading we have have all the variations within each family.

YOU CAN MIX AND MATCH 7,6,9 #11,SUS2 SUS4 ,#9 ♭9 #5,♭5,♭13 etc. within each family. Heres what you need to keep in mind.

Major needs to have ♮3rdMinor needs to have a ♭3rd

Dominant needs to have ♮3rd and♭7 (with the exception of Diminished)(more on the Diminished and Augmented relationship later)

© 2013 All Rights Reserved by Jeffrey Nevaraswww.jeffreynevaras.com

© 2013 All Rights Reserved by Jeffrey Nevaraswww.jeffreynevaras.com

Example 1 The chords are C Major, G Major, A Minor, and F major.

Variation 1 and Variation 2 Add some different color to the chord progression by using some simple chord substitutions

Example 2 The chords are G Major, D Major, E Minor, and C major.

Variation 1 and Variation 2 Add some different color to the chord progression by using some simple chord substitutions

© 2013 All Rights Reserved by Jeffrey Nevaraswww.jeffreynevaras.com