Hendrix Chord: Are Academics Missing The Point?

Two classic examples of the Jimi Hendrix chord and why calling it an augmented 9th chord makes no sense.

Preface

Theory should reflect how we hear music. If the theory doesn’t reflect what you hear, it’s wrong.

In the case of the Hendrix chord, applying formal jazz theory to a more organic genre such as blues doesn’t add up.

Warning: if you are about to sit a formal music theory exam and you’re asked to describe this chord, call it an augmented 9th chord! Exams are set by academics; they’ll want the answer that they teach.

The Hendrix Chord

You may have heard of the Jimi Hendrix Chord or the augmented 9th chord, E7(#9).

To the disapproval of many academics, this chord is also informally known as a 10th chord. I believe this is a more plausible name than augmented 9th. To me, it is a 7th chord with both a major and a minor 3rd.

Chord Symbol vs Chord Function

Let me say at the outset that I’m not advocating that the Hendrix chord be called E10. This is an informal symbol, mainly in use among musicians without formal training. 

E7(#9) is the official, accepted name for this chord. The many thousands of musicians who were brought up reading chord charts will be familiar with this symbol and will instinctively play the right chord.

Many chords have several possible interpretations, depending on the context. The function of a chord is significant for analysis.

However, when reading, it’s more convenient to see the most commonly used version of the chord name each time, regardless of the context.

Personally I think the name was incorrect in the first place; it makes no sense to me, but there’s no point in my trying to deny that the Hendrix chord is formally always written E7(#9). My music notation software won’t even recognise the symbol E10!

More properly it could be named as a polytonal chord, Em over E. However, there’s no easy way to type this symbol so it’s mainly used in handwritten chord charts and music publishing apps.

My argument is that even though it’s called an augmented 9th chord, we should treat the Hendrix chord as a 7th chord with both a major and a minor 3rd.

What Key Are We In?

Rather than worry about chord names, let’s look at how the Hendrix chord is commonly used.

The classic use of this chord is on guitar, in the key of E major, as the root (tonic) chord with an added D and G at the top. The order of the notes, from low to high, is E G# D G. In this classic guitar chord shape, the 5th, B, is left out.

Aside: in a root position 7th chord it’s not uncommon to leave the 5th out to reduce clutter, especially if closely voiced. No B is no big deal…

G or F Double-sharp? That Is the Question

I note that some major sources, including the Fender website, name the highest note G even though they call the chord an augmented 9th chord. If it truly is an augmented 9th, it should be called F double-sharp. More on this later…

Purple Haze

The ultimate example of this chord in use is the Jimi Hendrix song that made the chord famous, Purple Haze.

Forgive the cheesy sounds used here- it’s all about the notes 🙂

What Key Are We Really In?

What is the key? If you look at the melody, it’s in E minor, not E major. G natural is a prominent note in the melody.

In the Hendrix chord it’s the major 3rd, G#, that’s dissonant against the melody, not the minor 3rd, G. To acknowledge that G belongs to the melody, as it does, it should be called G, not F##.

Blue Note

The Hendrix chord is functionally both a major and a minor chord. I suppose you could respell the note G# as Ab, a diminished 4th, to reflect the tension between it and G, but I personally think it amounts to a blue note. After all, this chord is very much the domain of blues.

Blues songs are often described as having variable 3rd and 7th notes yet they are considered as being in a major key. I think that most blues melodies are in a minor key but are accompanied by major chords (usually as dominant 7ths, but that doesn’t stop them from being major chords). The interaction between the minor 3rd in the melody and the major 3rd in the chord is what creates that variable quality; that grungy, ambivalent bluesy character.

If you don’t believe me, try singing Purple Haze with a major 3rd and 7th.

Very different! Nothing like the character of the original.

If you think it might be in the myxolydian mode, sing the major 3rd and keep the minor 7th.

The riff sounds better but the melody still sounds wrong!

Now sing it with a definite minor 3rd and minor 7th – sounds about right, I reckon.

The note G is a prominent note in the melody. It’s a main note (a chord note), not a passing note. Surely a chord note that sounds the same as a prominent melody note should be acknowledged as a regular chord note, not as an augmented anything!

A Chord With Both 3rds

I’m not trying to say that G#, the major 3rd, isn’t also a chord note. The Hendrix chord is simply one that contains the 3rd of both the melody’s key and the chord progression’s key.

G Major Chord

The chord that follows is a G major chord. The riff after the verse also contains a G major chord, as a 1st inversion triad: B D G, B D G. 

In E minor, G major is a closely related chord: it’s the relative major, a perfectly normal chord to visit.

G major is less closely related to E major: it isn’t even built on a note in the key of E major. Yet, when we hear the song, it effortlessly fits in. This supports E minor rather than E major as the key of this song.

Taxman

Another classic song featuring the Hendrix chord, this time in D, is Taxman by the Beatles.

For the sake of comparison, I have transposed Taxman to E (up 2 semitones).

The melody pointedly avoids the 3rd during the E7(#9) chord but in the next line, as a passing note over a D chord, there is a G natural, suggesting E minor as the key. The D chord is also more closely related to E minor than E major. 

Blues Mode

D is soon followed by A, which seems to contradict my argument by being closer to E major than E minor. This brings to mind a common feature of blues songs. 

Blues melodies often miss out the 6th note of the scale (Purple haze is like this). When the 6th is included, it tends to be a major 6th, to fit the subdominant chord, the one calm moment in blues.

In E major that’s the note C#, the 3rd of an A major chord. 

Given a minor 3rd and a minor 7th, a scale with a major 6th is the dorian mode. Here is E dorian:

What Came First? The Chicken Or the Egg?

I’m no historian but I suspect that African American slaves were singing the blues long before they had access to a guitar. The accompaniment came later. 

The dorian mode is a common mode for blues melodies. Superimpose this with major chords based on the major (ionian) mode and we have the blues effect.

G Chord

Just before the final solo, Taxman eventually goes to a G chord, again favouring E dorian as the Key. Both D and G are chords whose root notes aren’t in the scale of E major…

Again, the melody is more minor than major and it is the contrast with the major third in the chord that creates the grungy, bluesey character.

Summary

In a nutshell, blues often combines a minor or dorian melody with major chords. The chords often include an added minor 7th (dominant 7th chords).

The Hendrix chord is a 7th chord with both major and minor thirds, highlighting the character of blues music.

• In its classic form, the Hendrix chord is used as the tonic chord in E
• Blues melodies are more minor than major. They are often in the dorian mode
• Because the minor 3rd of the Hendrix chord belongs to the melody, the chord must use the melody note’s name. In E that’s G, not F##
• The grungy, dissonant character of blues is due to the ambiguity of the 3rd and 7th notes of the scale, which feel like they’re somewhere between major and minor 
• This ambiguity is created by contrasting the minor 3rd and 7th of the melody with the major 3rd of the tonic and dominant chords
• The Hendrix chord combines both the 3rd of the melody and the 3rd of the major chord which accompanies it, so both notes are 3rds: one from the melody’s mode and one from the key of the chord

Postscript: Root Note Power in Chords

There’s another reason the note G shouldn’t be called F double-sharp.

The core notes of a chord are the 1st and the perfect 5th. The 5th reinforces the root note, helping us to hear what the root note is. The 5th literally blends in to the root note to make it stronger.

Any pair of notes a perfect 5th apart point to a possible root note.

The inversion of a perfect 5th is a perfect 4th. Whereas in a perfect 5th, the higher note blends in to the lower note, in a perfect 4th, the lower note blends in to the higher note.

Maybe It’s a G Chord

In the key of E, the top two notes of the Hendrix chord, low to high, are D and G. That’s a perfect 4th, pointing to the upper note, G, as a possible root note.

If the notes were D and F##, the interval between them would be an augmented 3rd, presumably an interval with a degree of tension, in the context in which it’s used. For an example of the valid use of an augmented interval name, please visit Sleight of Ear: the effect of musical context on perception.

This is clearly not the case. When you listen to the chord, the top two notes sound clear and stable, as you would expect from a perfect 4th. 

I’m not trying to suggest that G is the real root note: the chord’s voicing strongly favours E (If it was, G# would be respelled as Ab and the chord would be called G6 add b9).

However, the fact that both notes are voiced high in the chord doesn’t prevent them from being noticed as a stable (perfect) interval. If anything, being in the same octave, they’re even more recognisable. You can hear them clearly, as an overlay to E major: a hint of G major.

Furthermore, both G and D are reinforced by belonging to the melody.

E10 is part E major and part E minor. It can also be seen as part E major and part G major. If the note B wasn’t left out of the classic guitar chord shape, the chord would contain a complete G major triad! Just like the riff in Purple Haze…

Controversy Corner is a category in which I like to present a sometimes controversial perspective that doesn’t necessarily represent orthodox music theory. These are my own thoughts and observations. Whether you agree or disagree, I’d love to read your thoughts as comments.