Chord Of The Week 13/5/17 - an Fmaj9no3rd from "Pud Wud" by Allan Holdsworth

bigjon

I have decided to stop doing Chord Of The Week when I reach number 200 in three weeks' time. viz has supplied a chord for the 200th and final edition, till then here is the first of 3 chords from the Allan Holdsworth tune 'Pud Wud', which I am learning at the moment.

The tune is in the key of Am (relative major of C), which has the notes A B C D E F G. Allan starts the tune with a deceptively simple C major triad C E G in 2nd inversion G C E xx555x, except he pairs it with a bass-note of F 1xxxxx to give a chord of

Fmaj9no3rd: 1x555x

Technically there is no major 3rd note of A so the chord could be a minor 9th with no 3rd Fm9no3rd, or even an F5 power chord with added maj7 and 9th F5addMaj7add9 but the key centre of Aminor strongly implies the shadow presence of the major 3rd A note even though it isn't played, so the degrees of the chord low to high are - 
F 1xxxxx - root
(A) x(0)xxxx - 3rd, implied but not played
G xx5xxx - 9th
C xxx5xx - 5th
E xxxx5x - major 7th

I love the ambiguous / wistful sound of this chord. It is a simple example of 'bi-tonality' which Allan often employs in his compositions, using two different harmonic schemes in the lower and higher registers which produce intriguing dialogue when vertically overlaid on one another. In this case the F bass note (minor 6th of the key of Aminor) modifies the cheerful C major triad (relative major of the key of A minor) and gives the whole chord a more yearning quality.

You can see Allan playing the chord at 0:18 in this video

bigjon

Chord Of The Week Index updated with 197 discussions at
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/598/chord-of-the-week-index

viz

We will miss it - it's been a huge contribution to tFB over the past 4 years. 

bingefeller

Why did you name the chord Fmaj9no3rd instead of C/F?  

bigjon

bingefeller said:

Why did you name the chord Fmaj9no3rd instead of C/F?  

For me, the fact that the piece is in the key of A minor gives a strong ghostly presence of the A note, which makes the chord as a whole an F major chord rather than a C chord with a different bass note. It was a close call, though!

VimFuego

in case I miss the last chord, just want to thank bigj for this fantastic collection.

bingefeller

bigjon said:

bingefeller said:

Why did you name the chord Fmaj9no3rd instead of C/F?  

For me, the fact that the piece is in the key of A minor gives a strong ghostly presence of the A note, which makes the chord as a whole an F major chord rather than a C chord with a different bass note. It was a close call, though!

Thanks BigJon, I was just wondering how you came to that name.  

missmisstreater

Or go with Fmaj7sus - I can't remember the last time I chose to write a chord voicing out and specify what notes WEREN'T there haha