THE CROSSROADS: Steely Dan’s Mu Chord.

This article from Guitar Techniques explores the unique chord voicings used by the American band Steely Dan. The band's music combines various genres, including rock, pop, blues, jazz, country, and folk, and their compositions are known for their intelligent lyrics, groove, and harmonic complexity. One distinctive element of their sound is the "Mu" voicing, which involves adding a 2nd or 9th degree to a major triad in a specific way to create a mildly dissonant cluster. The article provides examples of these voicings and discusses how other musicians, such as John Coltrane, John Scofield, Biréli Lagrène, Django Reinhardt, and Jimi Hendrix, have incorporated similar chord structures into their music. The article concludes by encouraging readers to use these examples as inspiration to create their own chordal figures and arrangements. [Extracted from the article]