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Do you know your ‘add’ chords from your altered chords? Richard Barrett shows you how to spot the difference
When you’re looking at the conventions for chord naming, it’s easy to become confused around sus, add and altered chords. Here we aim to demystify some of this by taking a closer look at what an ‘add’ chord is – and isn’t! Though the name seems self-explanatory, it isn’t always quite that simple. After all, we don’t call C7 ‘Cadd7’, do we? The reason the ‘add’ suffix came about was to highlight additional notes that you would usually only expect to find in extended chords, which include the 7th (such as 9th-11th-13th), or any non-triad notes from below the 7th (add2-add4). Having said that, I can’t remember the last time I saw D6 being called Dadd6!
In some cases, it can be difficult to decide what number to use – when is a Dadd4 a Dadd11? Generally, the answer can be found by counting through a two-octave major scale from the root (even for minor chords), checking for 7ths and applying that number as your ‘added’ note if appropriate.
Example 1
In this Cadd9, the 9th (D) can be found at the 3rd fret of the second string. You’ll see elsewhere only ‘chord tones’ from the C major triad: C E G. If we had found a Bb hiding in there, this would be a C9 (C dominant 9) chord; a B natural (major 7th) would give us Cmaj9.
Example 2
This is almost a Cmaj7… but not quite. The open fourth string adds a D, which
