Altered chord

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In music, an altered chord, an example of alteration, is a chord with

one or more notes from the diatonic scale replaced by a neighboring
pitch in the chromatic scale. Thus the note must be a chord tone.
According to the broadest definition any chord with a nondiatonic
chord tone is an altered chord, while the simplest use of altered chords
is the use of "borrowed" chordsborrowed from the parallel key and Possibilities with an altered triad on C
the most common is the use of secondary dominants.

Alteration, an example of chromaticism, is compositional and/or

improvisational technique for creating greater harmonic interest and
variety. A triad has three pitches (by definition), and if each one of
which may be raised or lowered a semitone (or not), this allows the
production of 33=27 chords, including the original. Alteration is also an
analytical technique for explaining why chromaticism occurs in chord
progressions by assuming a diatonic origin and, to some extant, Altered dominant chord in C major[1]
function. V-I progression, unaltered dominant
resolving to the tonic Altered
For example, altered notes may be used as leading tones to emphasize dominant played twice then resolved to
their diatonic neighbors. Contrast with chord extension: "Whereas the tonic .
chord extension generally involves adding notes that are logically
implied, chord alteration involves changing some of the typical
notes. This is usually done on dominant chords, and the four
alterations that are commonly used are the 5, 5, 9 and 9. Using
one (or more) of these notes in a resolving dominant chord greatly
increases the bite in the chord and therefore the power of the
resolution." "The more tension, the more powerful the resolution Diatonic scale on C Play .
we can pile that tension on to make the resolution really
spectacular."[2] The five most common types of
altered dominants are: V+, V+7 (both raised fifths),
V5, V75 (both lowered fifths), and V7 (lowered
fifth and third).[3]

Chord progression with chords borrowed from the parallel minor

Contents Play .

1 Background
2 Altered seventh chord
2.1 Altered dominant
3 Jazz
4 See also
5 Sources
6 Further reading

Chord progression with secondary

dominant Play .
Background
"Borrowing" of this type is seen in music from the Renaissance music era and the Baroque music era (1600
1750), such as with the use of the Picardy third, in which a piece in a minor key has a final or intermediate
cadence in the tonic major chord. "Borrowing" is also common in 20th century popular music and rock music.
For example, in music in a major key, such as E major, composers and songwriters may use a D major chord,
which is "borrowed" from the key of E minor (where it is the VII chord). Similarly, in music in a minor key,
such as A minor, composers and songwriters often "borrow" chords from the tonic major. For example, pieces
in B minor often use E major and F (IV and V chords), which are "borrowed" from the key of B major.

More advanced types of altered chords were used by Romantic music era composers in the 19th century, such
as Chopin and by jazz composers and improvisers in the 20th and 21st century. For example, the chord
progression on the left uses four unaltered chords:[1]

Unaltered chord progression. Play Altered chord progression. Play

The progression on the right uses an altered IV chord and is an alteration of the previous progression.[1] The A
in the altered chord serves as a leading tone to G, which is the root of the next chord.

The object of such foreign tones is: to enlarge and enrich the scale; to confirm the melodic
tendency of certain tones...; to contradict the tendency of others...; to convert inactive tones into
active [leading tones]...; and to affiliate the keys, by increasing the number of common tones.[4]

According to one definition, "when a chord is chromatically altered, and the thirds remain large [major] or
small [minor], and is not used in modulation, it is an altered chord."[5] According to another definition, "all
chords...having a major third, ie., either triads, sevenths, or ninths, with the fifth chromatically raised or
chromatically lowered, are altered chords," while triads with a single altered note are considered, "changes of
form [quality]," rather than alteration.[6]

"Altered...chords contain one or more tones written with accidentals (, , or ) and therefore foreign to the
scale in which they appear, but nevertheless, from their connections and their effect, obviously belonging to the
principal key of their phrase."[4] Goldman argues that, once one accepts, "the variability of the scale," the
concept of altered chords becomes unnecessary: "In reality, there is nothing 'altered' about them; they are
entirely natural elements of a single key system,"[7] and it is, "not necessary," to use the term as each 'altered
chord' is, "simply one of the possibilities regularly existing and employed."[8]

Alfred Music argues that only fifths and ninths may be altered, as all other alterations may be interpreted as an
unaltered chord tone or, enharmonically, as an altered fifth or ninth (for example, 1 = 9 and 4 = 3).[9][10]

The 9 chord is recommended for resolution to minor chords, for example VI7 to ii (G79 to Cm7) in the I-vi-
ii-V turnaround. The 9 chord is also known as the Purple Haze chord, is most often notated with the
enharmonic equivalent 3, and is thus used with the blues. The 5 in a 5 chord is enharmonically equivalent to
a 4 or 11, but the sharp eleventh chord includes the 5 while in the flat fifth chord it is replaced. The 5
chord is enharmonically equivalent to a 13, does not include the 5, and is more common than the 13 chord.
Both the flat and sharp fifth resolve nicely to the natural ninth.[11]

Altered seventh chord

An altered seventh chord is a seventh chord with one, or all,[13] of its

An altered seventh chord is a seventh chord with one, or all,[13] of its
factors raised or lowered by a semitone (altered), for example the
augmented seventh chord (7+ or 7+5) featuring a raised fifth[14] (C7+5:
CEGB). Most likely the fifth, then the ninth, then the
thirteenth.[13] All secondary dominants are altered chords.

In classical music, the raised fifth is more common than the lowered
fifth, which in a dominant chord adds Phrygian flavor through the
introduction of .[12] (For example, in C the dominant is G, its fifth is
D, the second scale degree.) Dominant seventh flat five chord on C
(C75). Play
Altered dominant

An altered dominant chord is, "a dominant triad of a 7th chord that
contains a raised or lowered fifth and sometimes a lowered 3rd."[15]
"Generally, altered dominants can be divided into three main groups:
altered 5th, altered 9th, and altered 5th and 9th."[10] This definition
allows three to five options, including the original:
Augmented seventh chord on C. Play
C E G B Play (C E G B) Play
C E G B Play on E
C E G B Play (C E G B) Play

"Altered or 'alt' on a dominant chord refers to the fifth and

ninth being flatted and raised; (b5, #5) and (b9, #9)."[16]
"The altered dominant is a dominant seventh chord which
contains, in its complete realization, an augmented fifth
(+5), a flatted ninth (9), an augmented ninth (+9), and an Altered dominant seventh chord arising fromvoice
augmented eleventh (+11, or +4)."[17] "9(2) and 5 leading in Chopin's Sonata, Op. 35.[12] Play
(sometimes referred to as 13) appear to be the most
'characteristic' altered chord tones...since they are also
tensions [dissonances or extended chord tones] 9(2) and 13(6) on their,"
corresponding tritone substitution chords.[18]

Alfred Music gives eight options for altered dominants,[9] the last four
of which contain two alterations each:[19][20]
Play The augmented fifth often appears in the
C7: C E G B Play C759: C E G B D soprano voice, as here in Franck's
C75: C E G B Play Play Symphonic Variations.[12] Play
C75: C E G B Play C759: C E G B D
C79: C E G B D Play Play
C79: C E G B D Play C759: C E G B D
C759: C E G B D Play
Play

"The point of having an altered note in a dominant chord is to build more tension (leading to a correspondingly
more powerful resolution)."[19][20]

Jazz
In jazz and jazz harmony, chromatic alteration is either the addition of notes not in the scale, or expansion of
a [chord] progression by adding extra non-diatonic chords.[21] For example, "A C major scale with an added
D note, for instance, is a chromatically altered scale" while, "one bar of Cmaj7 moving to Fmaj7 in the next
bar can be chromatically altered by adding the ii and V of Fmaj7 on the
bar can be chromatically altered by adding the ii and V of Fmaj7 on the
second two beats of bar" one. Techniques include the ii-V-I turnaround,
as well as movement by half-step or minor third.[22]
Example of an altered chord progression
In jazz, the term altered chord, notated as an alt chord (e.g. G7alt
in jazz Play .
Play ), refers to a dominant chord, in which neither the fifth nor the
ninth appears unaltered[23]namely, where the 5th and the 9th are
raised or lowered by a single semitone, or omitted. Altered chords are
thus constructed using the following notes, some of which may be
omitted:

root (typically omitted by comping chord-playing

instrumentalists)
3rd
5th and/or 5th (the 5th is often expressed as 11)
G7alt chord. Play G7alt
7th
9th and/or 9th
13th

Altered chords may include both a flattened and sharpened form of the
altered fifth or ninth, e.g. G7(559); however, it is more common to use
only one such alteration per tone, e.g. G7(59), G7(59), G7(59), or
G7(59). in practice, many fake books do not specify all the alterations;
the chord is typically just labelled as G7alt, and the alteration of 9ths, Altered chord on C with flat 5th, 7th, and
11ths and 13ths is left to the artistic discretion of the comping musician. 9th. Play
The use of chords labeled "G7alt" can create challenges in jazz
ensembles where more than one chordal instrument are playing chords
(e.g., a large band with an electric guitar player and a Hammond organ
player), because the guitarist might interpret a G7alt chord as containing
a 9 and 13, whereas the organ player may interpret the same chord as
containing a 9 and a 13; this can lead to clashing harmonies. To deal
with this issue, bands with more than once chordal instrument may
work out the alt chord voicings beforehand or alternate playing of
D711 chord = G7alt chord Play
choruses.

The choice of inversion, or the omission of certain tones within the

chord (e.g. omitting the root, common in jazz harmony and chord
voicings), can lead to many different possible colorings, substitutions,
and enharmonic equivalents. Altered chords are ambiguous
harmonically, and may play a variety of roles, depending on such
factors as voicing, modulation, and voice leading. Tritone substitution and altered chord as,
"nearly identical"[17] Play .
The altered chord's harmony is built on the altered scale (C, Db, Eb, Fb,
Gb, Ab, Bb, C), which includes all the alterations shown in the chord
elements above:[24]

root
9 (=2)
9 (=2 or 3)
3
11 (=4 or 5)
13 (=5)
7
Because they do not have natural fifths, altered dominant (7alt) chords support tritone substitution (5
substitution). Thus the 7alt chord on a given root can be substituted with the 1311 chord on the root a tritone
away (e.g., G7alt is the same as D1311 Play ). Tritone substitution in jazz is often used to create chromatic
root movement in the roots of chords. An example of a standard jazz chord progression with tritone substitution
is the "ii/V/I" progression. For example, in the key of C major, this progression includes the chords D minor, G
dominant seventh and C major (or Dm/G7/C in abbreviated jazz chord notation). A common application of
tritone substitution to the ii/V/I progression is to replace the dominant seventh chord with another dominant
seventh chord a tritone away. Thus Dm/G7/C would become Dm/D7/C. This new tritone substitution
progression contains a chromatic movement of root notes.

Altered chords are commonly substituted for regular dominant V chords on the same root in ii-V-I
progressions, most commonly in minor harmony leading to a i7 (tonic minor 7th) chord but also in ii/V/I
progressions in a major key.

More generally in jazz, the terms altered chord and altered tone also refer to the family of chords that involve
9 and 5 voicing, as well as to certain other chords with related ambiguous harmony. Thus the "79 chord"
(e.g. G79) is used in the context of a dominant resolution to a major tonic, which is typically voiced with a 13
rather than the 13 of the alt chord. When voiced with a 13, jazz musicians typically play the half-step/whole-
step diminished scale over the 9 chord (e.g. G, A, B, B, C, D, E, F over G79).

Note that in chord substitution and comping (accompaniment by a chordal instrumentalist, such as an electric
guitarist or piano player), a 79 is often used to replace a diminished chord, for which it may be the more
"correct" substitution due to its incorporation of an appropriate root tone. Thus, in a progression where a
diminished chord (denoted ) is written in place of a G7 chord, i.e. where the dominant chord is replaced by an
A (ACE = GBD), D (DFA), B (BDF), or F (FAC = FGB)), a G79 is often played
instead. G79 (GBDFA) contains the same notes as any of these diminished chords with an added G root.

See also
Augmented sixth chord
Bar-line shift
Blue note
Blues scale
Harmonic major scale
Jazz minor scale
Modal interchange
Neapolitan chord
Phrygian dominant scale

Sources

1. Erickson, Robert (1957). The Structure of Music: A Listener's Guide, p.86. New York: Noonday Press.
ISBN 0-8371-8519-X (1977 edition).
2. Baerman, Noah (1998). Complete Jazz Keyboard Method: Intermediate Jazz Keyboard, p.70. ISBN 0-
88284-911-5.
3. Benward and Saker (2009), p.193.
4. Goetschius, Percy (1889). The Material Used in Musical Composition (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=Q_0sAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA147&dq=%22altered+chord%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji6_jO2KX
VAhXKhFQKHepgB88Q6AEIMDAB#v=onepage&q=%22altered%20chord%22&f=false), p.123-4. G.
Schirmer. [ISBN unspecified]
5. Bradley, Kenneth McPherson (1908). Harmony and Analysis (https://books.google.com/books?id=7ucsA
AAAYAAJ&pg=PA119&dq=%22altered+chord%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji6_jO2KXVAhXKhF
QKHepgB88Q6AEISzAG#v=onepage&q=%22altered%20chord%22&f=false), p.119. C. F. Summy.
[ISBN unspecified]
 6. Norris, Homer Albert (1895). Practical Harmony on a French Basis, Volume 2 (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=FMYPAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA52&dq=%22altered+chord%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahU
KEwji6_jO2KXVAhXKhFQKHepgB88Q6AEIQDAE#v=onepage&q=%22altered%20chord%22&f=fals
e), p.48. H.B. Stevens. [ISBN unspecified]
7. Goldman, Richard Franko (1965). Harmony in Western Music, p.83-4. Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 0-214-
66680-8
8. Goldman (1965), p.47.
9. Alfred Music (2013). Mini Music Guides: Piano Chord Dictionary, p.22-3. Alfred Music.
ISBN 9781470622244
10. Haerle, Dan (1983). Jazz Improvisation for Keyboard Players, Book two, p.2.19. Alfred Music.
ISBN 9780757930140
11. Baerman (1998), p.71.
12. Aldwell, Edward; Schachter, Carl; and Cadwallader, Allen (2010). Harmony & Voice Leading, p.601.
ISBN 9780495189756.
13. Davis, Kenneth (2006). The Piano Professor Easy Piano Study, p.78. ISBN 9781430303343.
14. Christiansen, Mike (2004). Mel Bay's Complete Jazz Guitar Method, Volume 1, p.45.
ISBN 9780786632633.
15. Benward, Bruce; Saker, Marilyn (May 2008). "Glossary", Music in Theory and Practice, Vol. II, p. 355.
ISBN 978-0-07-310188-0
16. Willmott, Bret (2011). Complete Book of Harmony, Theory and Voicing, p.161. Mel Bay.
ISBN 9781610650397
17. Coker, Jerry (1997). Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improvisor, p.81. ISBN 1-57623-
875-X.
18. Willmott, Bret (2011). Complete Book of Harmony, Theory and Voicing, p.161. Mel Bay.
ISBN 9781610650397
19. Baerman, Noah (2000). Jazz Keyboard Harmony, p.40. Alfred Music. ISBN 9780739011072
20. Baerman (1998), p.74.
21. Arkin, Eddie (2004). Creative Chord Substitution for Jazz Guitar, p.42. ISBN 0-7579-2301-1.
22. Arkin (2004), p.43.
23. Sher (ed.). The New Real Book Volume Two,. Sher Music Co., 1991, ISBN 0-9614701-7-8
24. Brown, Buck; and Dziuba, Mark (2012). The Ultimate Guitar Chord & Scale Bible, p.197. Alfred Music.
ISBN 9781470622626 "In a dominant 7 context, this scale contains the root, 3rd, and 7 of the dominant
chord and includes all of the available tensions: 9, 9, 11, and 13.

Further reading
R., Ken (2012). DOG EAR Tritone Substitution for Jazz Guitar, Amazon Digital Services, Inc., ASIN:
B008FRWNIW

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