Extended piano chords – How to play them

Many a time’s basics aren’t enough and you need to add variety of spices in your performance to make it appealing for your audiences. No musician wants his audiences to get bored and thus it is important to be a versatile and dynamic musician and in order to do so there are a variety of methods. One effective method that many of the composers use to make their compositions more exciting is the use of extended chords. But what are extended chords? This you will learn now:

What are Extended Chords?

Extended chords are 7^th, 9^th, 11^th and 13^thchords over a piano and the name extended chord is given to them because these chords are extended outside an octave. All the common piano chords such as diminished, augmented, minor and major chords are within the range of an octave and when we step outside an octave; it is an extended chord.

Dominant 7^this the most common of all the extended chords where you get to add a minor 7^th to the major triad. With which when you add a minor third is become a 9^th chord. Then again addition of a minor third can extend the chord to the 11^th chord. Add major third addition will give you final 13^th extended chord.

For example you take

C7: C – E – G – Bb

Add a minor third it gives:

C9: C – E – G – Bb – D

Add a minor third it gives:

C11: C – E – G – Bb – D – F

Add a major third it gives:

C11: C – E – G – Bb – D – F – A                                   

How to play Extended Chords?

Now that you know what are the extended chords? The question arises how will you play an extended chord with more than 5 notes at a time? A simple solution is to skip one or more notes as required. You may play inverted chords meaning that you can play in different arrangements of notes within the chord. You may also prefer playing all the notes within the chord using both hands at the same time but it may appear to be conflicting.

C7 Extended Chord:

For playing 7^th extended chord, you would not need to remove any notes within the chord as there will 4 notes. However if you don’t find it feasible to play all the notes, you may omit the 5^th note. The chord would then appear like:

C – E – (G) – Bb

The note that is present between the brackets can be omitted.

C9 Extended Chord:

C9 is a chord with 5 notes. Similar procedure could be followed for 9^th extended chord too and you can remove the 5^th note within the chord. This chord would then appear like:

C – E – (G) – Bb – D

The note that is present between the brackets can be omitted.

C11 Extended Chord:

C11 is a six note chord. Usually for the 11^th extended chord, 3^rd note is most commonly omitted. This chord would then appear like:

C – (E) – G – Bb – D – F

The note that is present between the brackets can be omitted.

C13 Extended Chord:

With 13^th extended chord, you would need to omit more than one notes as it is a 7 note chord and the ones that can be omitted include 5^th, 9^th and 11^th note within the chord. This chord would then appear like:

C – (E) – G – Bb – (D) – (F) – A  

The note that is present between the brackets can be omitted.

Other Extended Chords:

Similar procedureis followed for playing other extended chords and their notes would be like:

D – Dominant Extended Chords:

D7: D – F# – A – C

D9: D – F# – A – C – E

D11: D – F# – A – C – E – G

D13: D – F# – A – C – E – G – B

E – Dominant Extended Chords:

E7: E – G# – B – D

E9: E – G# – B – D – F#

E11: E – G# – B – D – F# – A

E13: E – G# – B – D – F# – A – C#

F – Dominant Extended Chords:

F7: F – A – C – Eb

F9: F – A – C – Eb – G

F11: F – A – C – Eb – G – Bb

F13: F – A – C – Eb – G – Bb – D

G – Dominant Extended Chords:

G7: G – B – D – F

G9: G – B – D – F – A

G11: G – B – D – F – A – C

G13: G – B – D – F – A – C – E

A – Dominant Extended Chords:

A7: A – C# – E – G

A9: A – C# – E – G – B

A11: A – C# – E – G – B – D

A13: A – C# – E – G – B – D – F#

B – Dominant Extended Chords:

B7: B – D# – F# – A

B9: B – D# – F# – A – C#

B11: B – D# – F# – A – C# – E

B13: B – D# – F# – A – C# – E – G#

Conclusion:

When you are dealing with any musical instrument, it is good to practice and experience but remember that as correct use of some new tricks can help you in becoming a better musician, in correct use on the other hand can be dangerous. Learning extended chords and how to play or voice them is a skill that you will learn over time with practice on piano and it would need consistent working. The more you experiment, the more you will learn. But don’t overuse extended chords. Keep them for special performances and sessions that would make your work performance extra ordinary. Just remember important rules and notes that you need to play with each of the different types of extended chords and you will do well.