Extended Harmony versus Jazz Harmony

Our main event features the ultimate battle between extended harmony and jazz harmony. The small crowd goes wild. Wait a minute. There’s no crowd and the two opponents actually like each other.

Extended harmony saw a huge increase in its use and popularity in the Romantic era. Here are examples of extended harmony using C as a bass note:

• C, E, G, B, D, F and A make up a C major thirteenth chord.

• C, E, G, Bb, D, F and A make up a C dominant thirteenth chord.

• C, Eb, G, Bb, D, F and A make up a C minor thirteenth chord.

In jazz harmony, the concept of voicing is often talked about. This is a process of picking and choosing rather than playing all of the notes in the above chords.

For example, a C13 (C dominant thirteenth) chord can be played as such:

• Bb, D, E and A,

• Bb, E and A.

The above two chords have had the root of the chord (the C) omitted. For a more defined harmony, the root is often played on another instrument like a double bass. In terms of pitch, the Bb of the above two chords should be placed two semitones below middle C.

If you’re interested in exploring more with respect to harmony and rootless chord voicing in all keys, click here for the book that gives you more useful information than you know what to do with!

Extended Harmonies

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