Today we're going to talk about chord construction
using the universal scale system.

Remember that our universal scale imagines a mandolin
with an infinite number of strings all tuned in
ascending 5ths. If this instrument existed then our
scale fingerings would repeat every 8 strings.

|---|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|---|---| u
|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|---| t
|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|---|---| s
|---|-R-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|---| r
|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|---| q
|---|---|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|---|-3-|---| p
|---|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---| o
|---|---|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|---| n
|---|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---| m
|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|---| L
|---|---|-R-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---| k

I labeled the fingerings k to r so we wouldn’t confuse
them with the note names A to G. Notice that the
pattern starts with fingering k and by the time
you get to r the pattern shifts down one fret
and then repeats.

You’ll also remember that last time we built a
dominant 7th arpeggio and it looked like this:

|---|---|-5-|---|---|b7-|---|-R-|---|---|
|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|-3-|---|

The only difference between that arpeggio and a
minor 7th arpeggio is a flatted 3rd

|---|---|-5-|---|---|b7-|---|-R-|---|---|
|---|---|-R-|---|---|b3-|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|b3-|---|---|

So let’s build some chords. Let’s say we want to
play a 7th chord. That chord has the scale tones
1, 3, 5, b7 in it. So we look at our dominant 7th
arpeggio and play around with different ways to
finger a root, 3rd, 5th and b7th note.

Here are a few shapes that we can come up with:
Arpeggio:
|---|---|-5-|---|---|b7-|---|-R-|---|---|
|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|-3-|---|

Chords based on that arpeggio:

|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---|

Here’s one with no 3rd so it could be major or minor.
|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|b7-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|

Here’s an interesting fingering
|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---|

And a couple of variation of that form
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---|

|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|

|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|

All those chords are made up of only one small
part of the scale. If you took a different
part of the scale then you could find different
fingerings. For example:

Arpeggio:

|---|-R-|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|b7-|---|-R-|---|---|---|-3-|---|
|---|---|-3-|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|

Chords:
|---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|b7-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|

|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|---|---|

Here’s one where we don’t play the top string.
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|
|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-3-|---|---|---|---|---|---|

Notice that we don’t always have to play the 5th.
Sometime we don’t even play the root. If you’re
playing the mandolin with other people then somebody
(the bass player, the guitar player) is usually
playing the root. You can get away with sometimes
playing a voicing that doesn’t have a root.

OK, now that we pretty much know how to construct
our basic chords let’s talk about extended chords.
Extended chords are chords that have notes beyond
the 7th. So 9th, 11th, and 13th chords are extended
chords.

There is a difference between a 9th chord (for
example) and a “add 9th” chord. To call something
a 9th chord you must have the root, 3rd (major
or minor depending on what you’re building), 5th,
b7th and 9th. But wait a minute, if there are
only 7 scale tones then how can we have something
called a 9th?

Remember that very first 2 octave scale we did in
the first lesson? Let’s renumber some of the notes
in the upper octave.

|---|---|13-|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-9-|---|10-|11-|---|12-|---|
|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|---|
|---|---|-R-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|

Or, if we lay out one scale on top of the other
we get this:

R 2 3 4 5 6 7 R 2 3 4 5 6
R 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

So the 9th is really just the 2nd an octave up.
The 11th is really just the 4th an octave up.
The 13th is really just the 6th an octave up.

Now let’s build a 13th arpeggio by starting at
the root and taking every other note (with a
flat 7th for the dominant 7th sound).

|---|---|13-|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-9-|---|---|11-|---|---|---|
|---|---|-5-|---|---|b7-|---|---|---|
|---|---|-R-|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|

Now, with only 4 strings we’re not going to be
able to build an entire 9th, 11th, or 13th chord.
There are more notes in those chords than we have
strings. So we need to play the “important” notes,
the ones that give the chord it’s “color”. One of
the most common ways to do that is to play a
“tri-tone” on the bottom 2 strings and the
extension on the top. A tri-tone is an interval
that is 2 “3rds” apart. Notice that the 3rd and
the 5th are separated by an interval of a
minor 3rd. The 5th and the b7th are also a minor 3rd
apart. So the 3rd and the b7th are an interval
called a “tri-tone”.

In our chart I’ll mark where the root is (even
though we’re not going to play the root) by wrapping it like this:
(R)

So lets play a 9th chord by playing the tri-tone
on the bottom 2 strings and the 9th on the A string.

|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-9-|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|b7-|---|---|---|
|---|---|(R)|---|---|---|-3-|---|---|

You can see how you could use the same technique to
build the 11th and the 13th chords.

Exercises:

Find a Jazz tune out of something like “The Real Book”
and use the universal scale to figure out chord forms
for each chord in the song. See how many variations
you can come up with for each chord voicing.