While ‘no 5’ isn’t an official theoretical term, there are a couple of reasons why we might choose to omit the 5th interval of a chord.
The first is that on the guitar we can often run out of fingers and/or strings to make up a complex chord voicing.
Leaving out the 3rd takes away the harmonic information needed to differentiate between a major or minor chord – which is common in blues and rock but not so much in jazz.
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Omitting the root isn’t a problem if there’s a bass to cover for us, but in a solo guitar arrangement this may not work so well.
Taking out the 5th from a chord allows us to retain both the root and the major/minor 3rd, plus also provides the potential to add in an extension, such as the 7th or 9th.
But the 5th isn’t always omitted from chords out of necessity; sometimes it’s removed to make the sonic space to hear the other notes in the chord.
The root and 5th played together is called a powerchord for a reason! Have a go at the chords below and see how ‘no 5’ affects the feel and sound.
Example 1. Dmaj7
This voicing of Dmaj7 has a very different feel from more conventional voicings that include the 5th (A). The 3rd (F#) and maj7th (C#) are allowed to breathe more, not so anchored by the ‘powerchord’ overtones of the root and 5th played together. As this shape uses no open strings, it’s also movable.
Example 2. Dm7
By shifting everything but the root down a semitone, we get this Dm7. It seems much darker and more jazzy sounding without the 5th.
Note, we have a double of the minor 3rd (F) on the second string. By lowering this a semitone to E, we can create a lovely Dm9 chord.
Example 3. Cmaj7
This Cmaj7, like all the other examples, features no open strings. This gives it a much warmer sound than the open string voicings we might want to use on acoustic guitar.
We skip straight from the root (C) to the major 3rd (E) then the maj7th (B) going across the strings. Note there is another E on the third string.
Example 4. Cm7
Using the same principle as Example 2 – dropping everything but the root by a semitone – we get this Cm7 chord.
It’s a notably different flavour from the regular ‘chordbook’ Cm7, conjuring images of a dimly lit jazz club, rather than the more rock ’n’ roll feel of the former.
Example 5. Bbmaj9
Moving beyond major and minor 7ths, this Bbmaj9 hints at the further extensions that are available if we relieve our fretting hand fingers of the responsibility of playing the 5th – which, in this case, would be F. Again, there are no open strings and this voicing is movable to any position.
