...Gw XVIII. Learning Scales...	Welcome to Guitarweek! This is all crap if nobody supports it!... ----------------
Guitar Lessons | Piano Lessons | Bass Sites | Guitar Sites | Tab Sites Flash Lessons - Video Lessons - Chords - Songs - Music Teachers

   You may be thinking 14th chords do not exist but we think 6th chords don't exist, When you build a basic triad (1 - 3 - 5) then all of the extensions (7 - 9 - 11 - 13) are all within close range if you allow yourself to go backwards, The "C major 6th" (C E G A) is an inverted "A minor 7th" (A C E G) so lets check them out in the Key of C...

   On the piano you can easily see a master pattern: C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G...

   The 'C maj6' chord uses the tones (C E G A) where we will use a dash (-) for the tones that are skipped, Using the 'master pattern' above we will start the 'C major 6th' from the second C...

- - - - - - - C - E - G A - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

   What you may or not see is that the 'A' does not use the same tone skipping pattern that the 'C E G' uses unless you use the 'A' that's before the 'C', This of course is going backwards instead of forwards, If you use the 'A' that is behind the 'C' instead of in front of the 'G' then you keep the same tone skipping pattern that 'C E G' uses...

- - - - - A - C - E - G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

   On the piano you can use a wider chord and skip the first 'A' and play the second, Or even strectch out to play the third 'A'...

- - - - - - - C - E - G - - - - - - - A - - - - - - - - - - - - - (C maj13)
- - - - - - - C - E - G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A - - - - - - (C maj20)

   The 14th chord comes from the above chords (C maj6) inverted relative (A min7), When you invert the (C E G A) then you have (A C E G) which means now we start with the 'A' instead of starting with the 'C'... We can start with the first 'A' in the master pattern...

- - - - - A - C - E - G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (A minor 7th)

   The 'A min7' (A C E G) naturally does not step outside of the tone skipping pattern unless you go backwards instead of forwards, If you grab the 'G' that is before the 'A' then you come out of the tone skipping pattern like the 'C maj6' naturally does...

- - - - G A - C - E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (A minor 7th) > ???

   The 'A min14' comes from skipping the first 'G' and picking up the second one and theoretically you can skip on to come up with 'A min21', The guitar does not allow you to stretch out that far but the piano can play the 'A min28' as well...

- - - - - A - C - E - - - - - - - - G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (A minor 14th)
- - - - - A - C - E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - G - - - - - - - (A minor 21st)
- - - - - A - C - E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - G (A minor 28th)

   If you can jump backwards when building chords and it be OK to step out of the natural chord building process then there are some chords that are not taught like the "2nd" and the "4th" chords...

   The 'C maj4' would be a 'C maj11' (C E G F) that picks up the 'F' before the triad is built instead of the second one, If you restrict yourself to just four tones then on the guitar you most likely have to invert a chord to play it...

(inverted C Major 11th) And (C Major 4th)

   When you invert a chord then you are going backwards to get tones, The 'C maj4' would be impossible for most people to play...

- - E - G - - C - - F - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (C major 11th)
- - - - - - - C - E F G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (C major 4th)

   When you ignore the arrangement of the tones of a chord then you will have a clearer understanding of the construction of chords, If you acknowledge the '6th' chords then you have to maintain the forward motion which would limit which are truly '6th' chords...

(F major 13th) and (A minor 6th)

  The two chords shown above are not the same when you look at them as they lie on the master pattern...

- - - F - A - C - E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (F major 13th)
- - - - - A - C - E F - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (A minor 6th)

  The 'C maj2' would be a 'C maj9' (C E G D) that picks up the 'D' before the triad is built instead of skipping the first 'D' and picking up the second 'D', If you pick up the 'D' the first time around then its a really wide chord...

(C major 9th) and (C major 2nd)

   They also both take on different patterns when you look at the way they fit within the master pattern...

C - E - G - - - D - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (C major 9th)
- - - - - - - C D E - G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (C major 2nd)

   If you think all this 14th chord stuff is rubbish then you should put the sixth chords in that same pile, You should ignore 2nds, 4ths, and 6th chords altogether and focus on the basic chords that stay for the most part on the "Every other Tone" pattern...