1.0Seymour Duncanhttps://www.seymourduncan.comDave Eichenbergerhttps://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/author/dave-eichenberger9Th Chords | Seymour Duncanrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="lYPuoFWgpS"><a href="https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-players-room/this-sounds-odd-understanding-9th-chords">This Sounds Odd: Understanding 9th Chords</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-players-room/this-sounds-odd-understanding-9th-chords/embed#?secret=lYPuoFWgpS" width="600" height="338" title="“This Sounds Odd: Understanding 9th Chords” — Seymour Duncan" data-secret="lYPuoFWgpS" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">
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https://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/20121019_114751-1024x7681.jpg640297Contrary to where modern guitar has gone, it started life as a rhythm instrument, bashing out chords on a large archtop (or larchtop*) in the back of the band. Yes, it is hard to believe that at one time, the idea of sweep picking lydian-dominant arps at 200 bpm was unheard of, and the idea of having a great chord vocabulary (and being able to improvise with those chords) was essential to be considered a great guitarist that could work steadily and support all of those spotlight-stealing brass players. These days, being an amazing rhythm player is downplayed in favor of other aspects of guitar playing, but understanding some small things about chords will only let our solos stand out more, and give us more interesting things to play over. If you haven't read it yet, I would also suggest reading my article about 7th chords, as this article will build on those concepts.