Extended Chords

Extended Chords feature notes beyond the traditional triads, 7ths, and suspended 2nd/4ths. They are most commonly found in jazz, although some of the less complex ones can be seldomly found in other genres. The chords typically continue along the same route as the triads and 7ths, adding every other note from the root note. Although this goes past the octave, the number assigned to the additional notes continues to increment upwards from 7. For example, G B D F is a dominant 7th; G B D F A is a 9th, G B D F A C is an 11th; and G B D F A C E is a 13th.

Extended chords rarely feature all the notes, as that would make them quite dissonant. For example, a 13th chord features every note in the scale. Also, as you can imagine, there are more variations of extended chords than triads or 7ths; as the number of notes in the chord increases, the number of permutations available based on ♭/♯'ed notes increases exponentially. Some permutations simply sound awful and aren't used, or are enharmonic to other chords making them redundant. We will not list those below.