With the root covered by the left hand, you have the complete chord. Instead of playing all five notes indicated by a dominant-7 (flat 9) chord, try this easy trick: start with the 1-3-5-7 and simply raise the root one-half step, creating the flat-9. For example, you could use an E7(b9) to lead toward C major’s 6-chord, A minor. The video below also demonstrates how you can create flat-9 dominant chords that set up chords other than the 1-chord as home (secondary dominants). A G7(b9) creates three point of tension that resolve with a C chord: the B resolves to C, the F resolves to E, and the the flat-9 in the G chord, A-flat, resolves down to the G. In the key of C, the dominant chord is the 5-chord of the key, G. The notes of dominant chords create tension that resolves with the next chord, giving a sense of arrival, or home. Dominant chords are used to make other chords sound like home, even temporarily. The flat-9 chord typically belongs in the dominant chord category. In this post, we’ll look at a simple way to approach this chord and how you can change a chart to work it in. This gospel chord can add a lot of flavor to your piano progressions without being complicated. One example is the flat-9 dominant chord. So, we’ll show you how to establish the key your melody might be in, how to generate a palette of chords that work with it, then create an example progression using those chords.įrom there, you can vary the sounds you use and change up the rhythm and voicing of the chords to suit your own tastes.Some chords look a lot scarier than they really are. One perennial issue for songwriters is what to do when they’ve come up with a melody line and need a chord progression to fit it. The chord progressions used in most pop songs are relatively simple, mostly consisting of a cycle of between two and four chords that are diatonic to the song’s key.ĭiatonic means that the chords are made up of notes in the parent scale of the key - so if a song is in the key of E major, say, then the majority of the notes in the melody will be found in the E major scale, and the notes that make up the supporting chords - bar one or two exotic exceptions maybe - will be taken from the E major scale too.

E flat 9 chord