Dalt guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Dalt — shell voicings
Dalt is D, F#, A#, C and Eb — D7 with every tension it can carry altered at once.
It sounds maximum tension, barely holding together. Not one chord but an instruction: take the root, third and flat seventh, add any two alterations, and let the rest go.
Dalt notes and formula
| D | F# | A# | C | Eb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 | ♭9 |
Altered dominant — the hardest pull available.
Also written D7alt, D7altered or D altered dominant. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Dalt
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Dalt has 6 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings, the bottom four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 4th fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the D shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx0132 — 1 open string and only 3 fretted notes. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx0132 | open position | D, root position | F# | 1 open string |
| x54x34 | 3rd fret | D, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x54774 | 4th fret | D, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x5677x | 5th fret | D, root position | F# | all fretted |
| x-11-0-11-9-10 | 9th fret | G# | D | 1 open string |
| 10-9-x-11-9-10 | 9th fret | D, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-x-12-11-9-10 | 9th fret | D, root position | D | all fretted |
| 10-11-12-11-x-10 | 10th fret | D, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-x-12-13-15-14 | 12th fret | D, root position | F# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Dalt, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (G#).
How to use Dalt
Dalt is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at G — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
Voice by voice, Dalt → G. 4 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Dalt | Moves | In G |
|---|---|---|
| D, the root | stays where it is | D, the fifth |
| F#, the major third | rises a semitone | G, the root |
| A#, the sharp fifth | rises a semitone | B, the major third |
| C, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | B, the major third |
| Eb, the flat ninth | falls a semitone | D, the fifth |
What to play over Dalt
Every note of Dalt is in D altered.
Chords near Dalt
Change one note of Dalt and you have Daug7 (drop the flat ninth), Daug9 (the flat ninth becomes a ninth) or D7b9 (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth).
Dalt is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Dalt’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.