need chord help please

[phynie]

Could anyone be kind enough to show me how to play a D7#5 and G7#5 chord? I am having trouble finding any versions of them in my chord book. Thanks!!

[AlanN]

3456 and 0123 are 2 voicings. Although no flatted 7th is there, another instrument can carry that tone. The key note(s) in these chords are the A# and the D#.

Commonly called Augmented chords, they usu. serve as connectors between the 5 and the 1 or the 1 and the 4.

[JimD]

What AlanN gave is the triad form of the augmented chord. 1 3 #5. It is a workable solution but gets you only part of the harmony.

The full harmony called for in the chord symbol X7#5 would be 1 3 #5 b7.

Here are some fingerings that give you the full chord:

For G7#5: 0121

The root is the open fourth course, the third is the 2nd fret-- 2nd course, the sharp fifth is on the 3rd course -- 2nd fret and the seventh is on the 1st course -- 1st fret.

for the D7#5: 7898 will give the same string (course) locations for the chord members.

These voicings give you all four of the notes called for in the chord.

A "quick fix" way to play either #5 or b5 chords is to play a chord voicing that has no 5th at all. This avoids the clash that would occur if you made the mistake of playing a regular major, minor or 7th chord while another band member played the #5 or b5. It also retains the two primary "color components" of the chord -- the 3 and b7.

This kind of 3 voice chord can be very useful:
G7 (without a 5th) --X587 or 032X (or for all four courses 0323)
D7 (without a 5th) --X032 or 545X

Many other voicings of this type are possible and quite useful.

I am not really advocating being lazy about chords. The full harmony is usually the best. There are, however, situations in which the other options are quite useful and appropriate.

[JimD]

Oops -- too early in the morning I guess. I intended to include these as well:

G7#5 -- 4363

D7#5 -- 5456

Hope this all helps.

[phynie]

thank you very much guys! This helps a ton.

[WillPick4Beer]

i dont intend in any way to sound insulting, but ive found it very important to understand how to make your own chords, and not rely on charts or other people. doing this gives a greater understanding of music and your instrument. its not hard to figure out where to find the 7th, or how to sharp your 5th, without consulting books and other people. once youve found them on your own, then consult other people to see if you got it right, or if theyve found an easier way. its real simple to figure out any chord, especially on a 4 string instrument(ok well 8) jusdt tryin to help, not belittle.

[AlanN]

WillPick4Beer, agree wholeheartedly. As you say, the mandolin is very easy to conceptualize and build chords, due to only 4 strings. And the inversions up and down the neck of the same chord are fun to find and play.

Say and Play hour http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[fiddle5]

Not sure if this is might be useful for anyone, but it gives a good idea of the basic chord structure. Though it doesn't show augmented chords...

http://www.chordwizard.com/chords_cwfg.asp


Level
At Beginner level, the following chord types are activated by default.
maj # # (1) # #3 # #(5)
m # # # (1) # #b3 # (5)
+ # # # (1) # #3 # ##5
6 # # # (1) # #3 # #(5) # #6
m6 # # #(1) # #b3 # (5) # #6
dim7 # #(1) # (b3) #(b5) # bb7
7 # # # (1) # #3 # #(5) # #b7
7sus4 # (1) # #4 # #(5) # #b7
m7 # # #(1) # #b3 # (5) # #b7
maj7 # #(1) # #3 # #(5) # #7

[elExtranjero]

I agree with WillPick4Beer on the 'find your own' philosopy. I'm including several jpg's to show how I do it. The 1st shows the G Major scale on the mandolin fretboard. The 2nd shows the same G Major scale, but as numbers representing the degrees of the scale. The 3rd shows examples of how you might use those to build chords. The 4th (as a link) shows examples of building Aug7 with the root in the bass, inverted, and without the root.

[U]Several things to consider{/U]

The 'altered' forms such as those without a root or the inversions, are particularly useful when you're playing in a combo. When you're the ONLY or primary rhythm instrument you may want to hit the full chord. But if you've got a bass playing the 1 and 5 and a rhythm guitar planing full Major chords, you may want to play an altered chord without the 1 and 5 so you're adding color rather than just muddying up the mix.

The 1 and 5 in an altered chord is generally considered 'optional'; you get the sound you need from the altered notes.

You'll find that many of the altered forms are another chord in another key!!! For example, look at the Aug7 form shown as the third example in the Aug7 jpg. Then look at the Major form shown as the first example jpg. If you drop the 3 to a flat in the Major, you have a minor. This is exactly the same form as the Aug7, just in another key! Pretty cool huh? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif So an Eb minor is the SAME voicing as a Gaug7!!! And G is the II(2nd degree) in the Major scale of Eb!!! So if you're playing a song in ANY minor key and you need the second, the Aug7 is the SAME voicing as the minor (using that particular form).

This is all really WAY simpler than it sounds at first. Focus on the patterns for a while and it starts to jump out at you.

This entire series will be posted at Fretboard Patterns (http://www.fretboardpatterns.com) at some point in the future.


http://www.latierraextrana.com/fretboardpatterns/images/standard/mandolin/gmajor.jpg

http://www.latierraextrana.com/fretboardpatterns/images/standard/mandolin/gmajornumbers.jpg

http://www.latierraextrana.com/fretboardpatterns/images/standard/mandolin/chordforms.jpg

Aug7 (http://www.latierraextrana.com/fretboardpatterns/images/standard/mandolin/aug7.jpg)