I never thought of this until I read it elsewhere, but Hendrix never started playing guitar until he was 15 and died at 27. 12 years and he set the whole musical world on fire, influenced countless rock guitarists. Just freaking amazing.
@@ujustgotpwnd123 That's just my opinion and more than likely a lot of others out there would share that opinion..Just tired of hearing about Hendrix ...Truth of the matter is Jeff BECK is by far the greatest player...And he's still playing his Ass of to this day...I'm afraid you can't get any better than that.
@@mickchilly1112 you can’t really use the fact that he’s still playing today as a reason lol. But yeah Jeff Beck is phenomenal. But the reason Hendrix is one of and will always be one of, if not the greatest player, is because of what he did in the short time he had. Like you said, Jeff Beck is one of the greatest players who is still playing today and has what? 50+ years of work? And he is still being compared to a kid who had less than 10 years of work and died 50 years ago. Hendrix changed the music industry and guitar playing forever. There are plenty of people more technically gifted than him for sure, but that’s not what makes him the GOAT
@@ujustgotpwnd123 Yes I used the 10 year old kid comment mainly because it's true hey don't get me wrong Hendrix was great. But I haven't heard a 10 year old kid get the sounds out of a Guitar like JEFF has or anyone else for that matter..it all comes down to you like JIMI an I like JEFF 👍
Rick, I truly hope you realize how much you're helping some of us!! As a 53 year old that started jammin' back in 1981, continued through high school and college, kinda walked away while married for 20 years, then after brain surgery and a divorce, picked my old Kramer back up, you Sir have been a Blessing!!! Thank You for helping me recall SO MUCH, and LEARN SO MUCH MORE!!! J. Baker Columbia, SC to Charlotte, NC
Eddie Kramer says it was him that introduced Jimi to the chord, first playing it on piano. Jimi asked him to show him on guitar, and he declined, telling him to figure it out.
@@robcox2553 nice story if it was true. But Kramer joined after the song had already been recorded. Purple Haze was recorded on De Lane Lea Studios on January 11, 1967. Chas Chandler took the four-track tape to Olympic Studios for overdubbing, were Eddie Kramer was assigned as a sound engineer.
Rick's gift as a teacher: Teaches jazz theory on a Strat with cranked Marshall, Strat volume turned way down for a clean sound, Marshall left cranked with evident amp noise throughout jazz theory demonstration. No one complains.
Hey Rick, I just want to say that I've been playing for two years now and in the beginning of the video I felt so proud that I know that the chord was a dominant #9 and it came from the half whole diminshed scale and then it hit me that I knew this only because of the tons of other videos you've talked about it on the channel, thank you for all your work and time and all you provides with free of charge, I've been a subscriber for the last two years and I've almost seen all your videos, you're the closest thing to a teacher and a musical mentor In my life, thank you and tons of love from Egypt❤️.
Rick: "Ooh, here is the chord in a Miles Davis song" (plays the chord and vamps on piano). Rick: "Oh, and here's the chord used in Pink Floyd" (plays the song). Rick: "And here it is in these Steely Dan tunes" (proceeds to play them all). Da-yum, Rick: What's next ?!? Some Gentle Giant or Ozark Mountain Daredevils ?!? Maybe some Henry Cow or Matching Mole ?!? God, what a musical vocabulary !!! Love you, Rick !!!
You had me at Henry Cow. I love the RU-vid live performance of Tubular Bells where Fred Frith is playing alongside the Rolling Stones Mick Taylor, Steve Hillage, Mike Oldfield and most of the members of Henry Cow, Soft Machine ,and Gong. Maybe Rick could break that performance down in a 'What Makes This Song Great' video some day.
Best part of this video, not the Hendrix, not the Miles Davis, not even the Alice in Chains recreations... it's those great improvisations at 7:30 - love it!
Stravinsky. Rite of Spring. 1913. Opening chord of “Ritual of abduction” and climatic chord of the slow section of “Spring Rounds”. Charlie Parker used to walk around with the score under his arm. It all begins with the Rite.
There is a story that Igor went into a club where Parker was playing and as soon as Charlie saw him he played the bassoon solo from the Rite then back to his solo. Stravinsky was thrilled of course the story goes.
All of this stuff is way older than Hendrix lol. But Hendrix sure was great. Stravinsky and rite of spring were unbelievable. And Stravinsky learned interesting chord progressions to some extent from Don Carlo Gesualdo, of the late 16th century, if you *really* want to explore origins. Gesualdo’s style was so unorthodox he influenced just about nobody to follow him... until Stravinsky about 300 years later. Talk about “ahead of his time”!!
@@kineahora8736 i'd say gesualdo's line of harmony continued in the 19th century non german composers, starting with glinka and borodin, and obviously debussey (most original composer ever) stravinsky.
@@JoryGKenneth hmm, I don’t know very much Glinka was not aware he or Borodin knew of or developed off of Gesualdo. But there certainly was a big break: Gesualdo’s work was not continued directly or did not appear to have influence on the next style or even a few afterward...
Keep pushing "fun" chords Rick! There has to be other producers who watch your channel and hopefully, sooner or later, your input will start showing up again in new music.
It's not just today, I heard this from (post-fame) interviews with Alice Cooper ("I did/became whatever parents hated") and Gene Simmons (in it for the money, sex and fame), but they must have had something musical about them as well as their looks, makeup and stage presence.
@@Guitarisforgrins You do not have to tell me this, I know this and have seeked them out. But the main industry, the popular stuff, is more about the image.
The 7#9 effectively combines a 7 chord and minor 7 chord. The blend of major and minor tonalities gives you that “funky” sound. It’s versatile, with a hip twist. Functional in jazz harmony, funky in a blues or rock and ambiguous enough to work anywhere. The voicing just works so well on a guitar to boot.
Jimi was just a natural. I haven’t watched it yet but, I’m wondering if you’re going to talk about his incredible RHYTHM playing?? He always gets props for his lead playing of course. He changed the world of guitar in an era that wasn’t short on world changing guitarists! But he really was an incredible rhythm player and songwriter. It just seems so natural for him in the footage I’ve seen... and that’s most of it lol I’m a fan
@rick beato, you may be the best combination of fanboi appreciation, virtuostic understanding, and patient competent instructor I have ever seen. LOVE this channel.
Hey Rick! I just love how passioned you talk about music, and smile when you play and recognize a great chord used in someone's song. It's really enjoyable watching, learning and having a good time with you.
Rick, great video! I love it when you take a progression or chord and give us such a broad overview of where it comes from, why it works, and how to use it. A sense of history always helps players move the instrument forward, not matter what instrument it is. Thank you!
Funkadelic's Pre-1976 work is heavily inspired by Jimi Hendrix. Friday Night August 14th's main riff can only sound like it was inspired by Foxy Lady. I'd love to see Rick make a video on Funkadelic at some point
@@blastomaticdisel6189 yes. He was an amazing guitar player. Out of all the Jimi Hendrix rip-offs George Clinton needed for Funkadelic, Eddie was probably the one who filled in the majority of qualifications needed to be a Jimi Hendrix rip-off. Though he wasn't able to deconstruct and manipulate the guitar to accommodate his style in the same way that Jimi Hendrix did, he played the same kind of music that Hendrix played; Omniversal Blues, with a tinge of both Psychedelic Hippie Rock and Funk. Maggot Brain is a very iconic guitar solo, and his work should be listened to by everyone.
@@thevfxmancolorizationvfxex4051 While I wouldn't go as far to refer to him as a rip-off, I would say that he emulated some of Jimi's style and technique to build upon his own. But it definitely sounds like he was influenced by him.
@@eddierayvanlynch6133 yes. I'm quite surprised that hardly any famous music youtuber has spoken about this wonderful piece of Omniversal Transcendental Blues Rock. Hopefully if Rick takes notice of this comment, he'll make a video on it
Another often-heard use: The song "Mas Que Nada" uses it in a cool way -- C7#9, C7b9, Fm7 are the chords and the melody notes for the syllables Mas Que Na are Eb, Db, C which is the #9, b9 of the C7 followed by the 5th of Fm7. So that's a highly useable way of moving from the dominant to the root of a minor progression.
Cream used that chord a great deal as well. Actually before Hendrix. It is the first chord on their first album "Fresh Cream" on the song "I Feel Free" which was in 1966. We always thought of it as the "Clapton Chord".
GP, I just posted the same example, and then I found your post! I especially liked how Cream used the chord chromatically on the ending of "Sitting On Top of the World" Ab7#9 to G7#9
It's hard for me to comprehend how musicians back then could learn such varied chords just by listening and not through a systematic study of scales, modes, and chords. I studied drums briefly using Jim Blackley's "Syncopated Rolls for the Modern Drummer". I got lucky. When you learn things in a systematic way, you progress at an exponential rate because you have a conceptual understanding. Just proves how magical Hendrix's playing was.
Im sorry but most musician here and in western world are stuck in a few genres. If you get interested in music world wide you will get lots ideas and new chords. Im gonna try to verify this but im pretty sure brasilian musician used this chord way before .
So-called world leaders meet at the G7 Summit. For those who are really in the know, we meet at the E7#9 Summit. 🤗 Great video Rick. You nailed that first note of “Hey Joe”.
Pardon if this has already been commented: Bill Doggett’s 1958 “Hold It” from his album of the same name is the first time I remember hearing the chord. We used that song as a break song in the late 50’s and on through several decades. Bill Doggett wrote and arranged a lot of great stuff! “Honky Tonk” parts 1 and 2 was probably his most notable recording.
When I was taking guitar lessons ages ago we discussed the chord one day, and I remember pointing out an example of its use on Pink Floyd's "Breathe"--the part where they transition from the chorus back to the verse. They use the chord in a unique and interesting way. Check it out. Great use of suspense.
I love how much you can learn from just one of Rick’s videos (if you absorb it and apply it). If you watch this video, play every note of this video, learn every song in this video, learn the scales and apply them then you will probably be 6 months older and a LOT better of a guitar player!
Man I play chords based on shapes and feel, it is very cool to see how much you know as a musician. I am like a butcher, I whack at things I don't know, making things I like, but have no idea about the names or vast knowledge of music as a whole that you do, and it is very inspiring. Cheers
His is really bad and his mic picks it up and makes it sound even worse. It’s actually really acidic to the ear and sometimes hard to listen to. My Strat is the same way. Good thing I’m such a bad player it doesn’t make a difference.
Rick, I just starting to learn to play the electrical guitar, honestly I don't understand anything that you mention in the video, I barely can join 2 or 3 chords without a gap. But instead of getting frustrated and seeing all that I still have to learn, it made me much more wanting to try to understand a little more theory, and at least I got several chords and positions to try to continue learning. Thank you!
What I've always found interesting about this chord is just how natural it is to play and how many situations you can slip it into. More than once I've slipped it in to relieve a hand cramp when the jam hit E
@@gustavoperezramirez2717 I respect that viewpoint, although I feel like there is no denying that Hendrix is in some objective way the most influential by status and iconicness.
I actually think that "Shotgun" by Jr. Walker and the All Stars (of which there is video of Jimi Hendrix playing it in 1965 with Little Richard's backing band) may be one of the sources of Hendrix' use of the chord in "Purple Haze". (A bit surprised that you didn't cite that one). Hendrix' extensive experience as an R&B sideman infused his compositional palette with the harmonies and styles of classic 1960's R&B. Also, Hendrix was under a lot of pressure to generate original material very quickly upon arrival in England. In many of his earliest compositions, he was drawing very much on his R&B experience. For example, "Fire" is clearly emerging from "Land of 1000 Dances" by Wilson Pickett.
Justin Hayward also uses an E7#9 in the Moody Blues song The Story In Your Eyes finishing the intro chromatic run a-b-c-d-e-d-c-b-a with E7#9 just before the Am chord where the the vocals begin.
You also find this chord in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, it is the first chord of the turn around in Breathe. It goes: D7/9+ > D7/9- > Em Sounds great.
Fun fact -- Paul McCartney said that the 7#9 was one of the chords that they learned from a jazz guy they knew who worked in a guitar store. They called it "the jazz chord" and when he first created "Michelle", back when it was his Left Bank Parisian party joke, he used that chord in it. Now we play F, B♭m7, but he originally played F, B♭7#9. He says all of this in one of his interviews in a RU-vid video. It might be easy to find.
Wonderful lesson. I wish it had been available in 1977 when the "Josie" chord was driving me nuts. How could it be major and minor at the same time, I wondered. Incidentally the 7#9 chord occurs on the word "home" in every chorus of "Josie" also.
The chord existed and was widely used before Hendrix hit the scene... ...and every guitar player since 1967 has learned that chord only because of Hendrix and Purple Haze. Guaranteed. No player has ever went to learn Purple Haze and said “hey , there’s that chord I play all the time again” lol. Great vid. Appreciate the education.
Thanks Rick - thanks to COVID I can finally follow and understand the nuances you’re making on the various scales - I truly appreciate the passion you have when you teach - keep it up!
If you’re going to reference Hendrix material for that chord I’d start with Foxy Lady, where it’s used more prominently than anywhere else. Though I don’t know how harmonically relevant this is, the most unusual thing about the +9 chord is that it’s sort of a major and minor chord at the same time, being as the +9 is the same pitch as the minor third. It’s not the same note as the minor third, I know that.
Hendrix almost certainly got it from Bill Doggett’s Hold It with was apparently every single R&B band in the early 60s played. Also commonly known as the “Hold It” chord
This is absolute GOLD for us long time players who have never studied any theory but know their way around a fretboard. Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience, Rick. We are in your debt
Imagine if Jimi had lived till this day, what he could've created. He was a poor black gypsy kid in 1960's America and before his death at 27 changed music forever in only 3,5 short years of massive fame and expression. He played an upside-down strat behind his head while singing and creating sounds only a hand full of guitarist can match to this day, 50 years after his death. His fashion and recording style has also influenced countless others after him. May he rest in peace forever.
Very good. Seem him live in 68 Montreal. He was brought up mostly by his grandmother who lived in Vancouver Canada as he wrote her the song "Little Wing". We will take some credit, he may not have made to 27 for living in Van.BC.
I always imagine had he lived he would have eventually done a plug for a high end SUV where he pushes aside a Land Rover and then says "Move over Rover and let Jimi take over." Hey, why settle for walkin?
I recently saw a RU-vid video of Hendrix playing a 12 string, it was a proper left handed 12 string, ie with the bass strings at the top... this blew my mind!
@@bordershader while Jimi tradiotionally played a right-handed Strat, it was strung left handed. I'm not sure if your reference to the left-handed 12-string being strung left-handed was atypical of his natural way of playing, but that is how he played all his guitars....strung left-handed.
Ty Tabor also loves to use that chord quite a bit. It's a signature in his playing for sure. Makes sense that AIC uses it because they were obviously influenced by King's X.
Beatles also used it on Michelle, I think it's the second chord in the verse there. They've learned it from a guy called Jim Gretty, so they called it the Gretty Chord back then.
The 9 and the 2nd are basically the same note an octave apart, and its use is an absolutely signature part of why Steely Dan even exists - that fusion between pop / rock and jazz. In Kid Charlemagne they're flicking between the 9th and the 3rd there in the intro. It's almost saying, "we know we're good and we know exactly what these voicings imply" - masters at work...
Great video! But just a heads up: at the 5:00 min mark, you mention the Minor Blues Scale. However, the scale that you describe and display on the screen has the wrong formula! You say the Minor Blues Scale has a formula of 1 b3 4 5 b7. But that is not the Minor Blues Scale. On the contrary, as I think you probably know, 1 b3 4 5 b7 is commonly known as the (ubiquitous) Minor Pentatonic Scale. The Minor Blues Scale is a 6-note scale that contains the b5, with a full formula of 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7. In addition, at 5:07 when you demonstrate the scale, you play (a very nice sounding!) Major 3rd at the end of your phrase. That is a non-diatonic note that is not in the Minor Pentatonic Scale that you were in the process of demonstrating! (even though it should indeed be part of the discussion that a min 3rd bent up to a maj 3rd is a crucial part of the blues / jazz lexicon). I was just afraid folks might be confused! Don't at all mean to nitpick, just wanted to clarify those 2 points for the viewers. Still, great video. Thank you for everything you do!
Rick - I haven't the slightest clue regarding double sharps or F melodic scales or pretty much anything you're talking about. But I still love these videos. Keep 'em.coming.
Those who bought and read Rick’s “Beato Book” are able to follow and absorb all the insight and wisdom Rick is laying on us. Maybe I’ll be able to study it some more and truly understand everything Rick is so generously sharing. Thanks Rick!
Jimi popularised it like no one else ever did or could. it's mystical qualities surely lead many people to want to hear more music that was more than just the usual modal pop music on the radio. Hendrix himself was about to do a jazz album with Gil Evans just before he died. what might have been...
Eddie Hazel from the og Funkadelic loved this chord. He did some amazing stuff with it. Slide On In, Fri August 14, Funky Dollar Bill, Call My Baby Pussycat, ect. That fuzzy soloing on Slide On In is super sexy. One of my fav fuzz tones.
I’ve always thought that Page got that riff by chopping Jimi’s Hey Joe riff in half. Just like Immigrant Song is Jimi’s Little Miss Lover chopped in half.
Boy, that took me back. I recall Pink Floyd also using an E7#9 in “Corporal Clegg” on Saucerful of Secrets. Always learning something here, Rick. Many thanks!
"Jazz is just a series of mistakes without the 'oops.' I don't understand it. They use this bizarre tone on their guitars; it's like it's under a tub of water. It's like plup-plup-plup-plup-plup, like a little motor boat. But I think that's because they're old people, and they don't like the noise. And of course they play soft, so you can't hear them. Then they go, 'Yeah, I'm a great player.' 'Sure, mate. I've gotta take your word for it.' With me, I play loud. My manhood is right on the table. Examine it, pick it up, if you will." - Nigel Tufnel
Hey Rick. As always, love all your episodes. Thanks for sharing this, it's awesome, I learned a lot. By the way, I also love the Beato Book. I highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn about music. Thank you. Rick.
