G Minor 6th
m6
0 - 3 - 7 - 9Minor + major 6th
About G Minor 6th
G minor sixth is the gypsy jazz chord. Its notes — G, B♭, D, E — put a major sixth over a minor triad, and the resulting brightness against darkness is the sound of Django Reinhardt’s rhythm sections. On guitar it is a barre, and in that idiom it is played four times a bar.
The notes
G, B♭, D, E. The E is a major sixth above the root and sits a whole tone above the D below it. That proximity is what gives the chord its ambiguity: it is neither settled nor tense.
Read from E the same notes give E half-diminished, and over a C bass they give C9. One shape, three names — which is why minor sixths appear in charts where no minor chord is written.
On the fretboard
Third fret with the root on the low E string, usually voiced on four strings with the top two muted. The gypsy jazz version uses only three notes and relies on the rhythm rather than the fullness.
A tenth-fret voicing with the root on the A string is the alternative, and it leaves room below for a bass line — useful in duo playing where the guitar covers both.
Where it shows up
As a tonic in G minor in swing and musette, and as a rootless C9 in jazz comping. The second use is more common in modern playing than the first.
It also appears in minor blues, where the sixth replaces the seventh on the tonic chord and gives the form its older, pre-war character.
The chord also dates a recording. A minor blues that uses Gm6 on the tonic sounds pre-war; the same tune with Gm7 sounds post-war, and nothing else needs to change for the shift to be audible.