"an extended chord doesn't sound anything like a triad"

That's really vague. Depends on how the chords are voiced, the timbre of the strings used, et cetera.

Anyway, I've used the chord in place of x24432 in a few songs. Works for me.

x20200 is a great substitute. Maybe x202xx if you want to avoid the extensions but really for a minor effect all you need is the flat 3rd.

Sort of, but a chord with a minor third and a diminished fifth creates a completely different effect than a chord with a minor third and a perfect fifth.

And there are situations where you wouldn't use x20200 in place of a Bm.

Like, in the song "In My Life" by The Beatles, the verse goes:

A | F#m | D Dm |

If you added the same extensions to the Dm in this case, you'd end up with a C and a G that clashed pretty hard with the home key.

So yeah.

This post was edited by ZoSo on Jun 18 2010 11:10am

How is it vague? An extended chord does not sound anything like a triad, period. There are two completely distinctly different sounds especially if you're extending the chord out to the 11th. If a song is calling for a "Bm" and you play "Bm11" in the midst of something like: D-Bm-G-A7, it's going to sound weird and probably isn't an appropriate substitute if he's playing an already existing song. It's not that it's a bad chord or that it can't sub for a Bm, but ... it isn't an Bm.

That's because that Dm is a iv in the key of A, which is just a chromatic alteration of D (IV). So, it would diatonically stack with a #11...but ya...not really the point I was trying to make it. It fits diatonically into the key, if it's a vi or iii chord, but it's not the same chord- that's all I'm saying.

This post was edited by chronowarp on Jun 18 2010 01:53pm

You could play a different voicing of the same damn chord that will sound completely different and probably "weird" depending on the context. What's your point?


I don't know why you'd assume I don't know that, but yes, that's correct.


I don't think I ever said it was.

Are you really attempting to argue that playing an inversion or different voicing of B D F# is going to sound as "weird" or as "different" as an extended chord, that contains 2-3 notes that didn't originally exist in the harmony? Come on. We're talking nuance:drastic difference here.

While I admit that his Bm11 chord sounds far off from the most common voicing of Bm (imo would be x24432), I wholeheartedly agree with his statement that different voicings of a chord can sound just as different, depending on the context.

to OP:
This is a chord I love to use:
x24430 Bm add 4
Basically, the same position as the standard Bm chord, but you don't need to bar your finger. I don't know if this will be any easier for you to switch to, or if it will fit with the progression but give it a try.

hey guys, didnt really mean to spark arguments here

but i tried the x20200 and it doesn't really sound as much like the Bm chord

In addition to the inversion, a lot of it depends on the highest note, and (again) the timbre of the strings used, but yes.

Also, you're hearing the extensions as overtones whether you realize it or not.


Another good one.

OP: Sorry I couldn't be more helpful! Didn't mean to clog up your thread with arguing!

This post was edited by ZoSo on Jun 18 2010 04:36pm