Jazz Chords?

[St0rMl0rD]

I know that jazz is not very easy to play, but I'd really like to know what kind of chords are being used in jazz?

[Liquid Shadow]

7ths and 9ths are your friends.

For example...
If you were going to play a "normal" Em chord, you'd play an E with your left hand an EGB with your right. Instead, play E with your left and D F# G B with your right.

It's like instant jazz....just add water :lol:


Then of course, play with inversions of that and different voicings and whatnot, but that's pretty much the extent of my jazz playing knowledge...

[rlainhart]

The 7th chord is the fundamental sound of mainstream jazz, by which I mean the standard style of jazz which developed in the 1940s and 50s. You almost never hear plain triads in mainstream jazz, although there is a harmonic style which developed in the 60s called "upper-structure triads", in which you create extended tonalities by stacking simple triads on top of each other.

But in mainstream jazz, the 7th chord is king - major 7ths for I or tonic chords, dominant 7ths for V chords, minor 7ths for II and VI chords. In fact, the most common progression in jazz is the II-V-I sequence - there are entire jazz standards built on these chords only, like "All The Things You Are", for example. In this sequence, in the key of C for example, you'd play a minor II chord (D minor 7), followed by a dominant V chord (G7), followed by a major I chord (C major 7).

With the proper voice-leading, the sound is very "jazzy" - for example, voice the II chord with D in the bass with the left hand, and play D-F-A-C in the right hand. Follow this with G in the bass, and D-F-A-B in the right hand. (This is actually a dominant 9th chord - you could also voice the right hand as D-F-G-B for a true dominant 7th chord). Follow this with C in the bass and C-E-G-B in the right hand.

This voice-leading is one the key components of proper jazz voicing - ideally, you want your chord tones to flow smoothly from one to another, instead of bouncing around on the keyboard. Basically, the smoothest voice-leading is when as few notes change from one chord to another, and the distance between the changing tones is as small as possible.

Beyond that, you can then start to alter some of the basic chord tones to further enrich the tonality. For example, in the sequence above, keep the left hand motion the same, but voice the right hand chords as D-F-Ab-C (D minor 7 flat 5), Db-F-Ab-B (G7 flat 5 flat 9), C-E-G-B. This is also a common jazz chord progression, one a little spicier than the simple II-V-I progression. But you can see the voice-leading is still simple and smooth - no voice moves more than a half-step at a time.

The whole point of using 7ths and altered chord tones is to try to obscure or smooth out the basic triadic harmonies of the simple pop music jazz was derived from, and to provide a richer harmonic backing for soloists to play over.

[Tigerfolly]

The 7th chord is the fundamental sound of mainstream jazz, by which I mean the standard style of jazz which developed in the 1940s and 50s. You almost never hear plain triads in mainstream jazz, although there is a harmonic style which developed in the 60s called "upper-structure triads", in which you create extended tonalities by stacking simple triads on top of each other.

But in mainstream jazz, the 7th chord is king - major 7ths for I or tonic chords, dominant 7ths for V chords, minor 7ths for II and VI chords. In fact, the most common progression in jazz is the II-V-I sequence - there are entire jazz standards built on these chords only, like "All The Things You Are", for example. In this sequence, in the key of C for example, you'd play a minor II chord (D minor 7), followed by a dominant V chord (G7), followed by a major I chord (C major 7).

With the proper voice-leading, the sound is very "jazzy" - for example, voice the II chord with D in the bass with the left hand, and play D-F-A-C in the right hand. Follow this with G in the bass, and D-F-A-B in the right hand. (This is actually a dominant 9th chord - you could also voice the right hand as D-F-G-B for a true dominant 7th chord). Follow this with C in the bass and C-E-G-B in the right hand.

This voice-leading is one the key components of proper jazz voicing - ideally, you want your chord tones to flow smoothly from one to another, instead of bouncing around on the keyboard. Basically, the smoothest voice-leading is when as few notes change from one chord to another, and the distance between the changing tones is as small as possible.

Beyond that, you can then start to alter some of the basic chord tones to further enrich the tonality. For example, in the sequence above, keep the left hand motion the same, but voice the right hand chords as D-F-Ab-C (D minor 7 flat 5), Db-F-Ab-B (G7 flat 5 flat 9), C-E-G-B. This is also a common jazz chord progression, one a little spicier than the simple II-V-I progression. But you can see the voice-leading is still simple and smooth - no voice moves more than a half-step at a time.

The whole point of using 7ths and altered chord tones is to try to obscure or smooth out the basic triadic harmonies of the simple pop music jazz was derived from, and to provide a richer harmonic backing for soloists to play over.

Outstanding post! Thanks for the info, I feel smarter already :)

[Keyplayer]

Another way is just to listen to what you're playing. Try to add some notes to your chord, a #5 or 6 9 for example, and listen whether it sounds good or it sounds like you want it to sound. If you found a chord that really sounds nice, then try to play it in all keys, so you'll develope a memory for loads of jazz chords. Just keep experimenting.

I hope it is a little clear in the way I described it... :roll:

Daan

[keyboard hunger]

Im not a master of jazz music, but also 5th chords and sus chords are used in jazz music and jazz fusion.

try playing 6th chord and adding a note extra on it , i learnt how to play jazz chords by listening to Frank Zappa by playing simple chords and adding notes extra on it to see how it sounds it did sound very jazzy.

c-ya 8)

[koma666]

single note= cool

power chord= f***in great

playing an octave (2 notes)= man, I dont like all that jazz!!!!!!!!!

thats all about it 8)


koma
........
:wink: :lol:

[John]

PG Music sells an Interactive Jazz Piano Lesson series for $30-$50. I have it & it's pretty good:

http://www.pgmusic.com/pianolessons.htm

- John O.

[MarkDTMMZ]

Pick up The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine. This will be a great reference for you when you start playing jazz.

Mark
www.mmzband.com

[AFKAR]

Does any body know of a good Free website with hundreds of jazz scales?

[AE185]

Ok so we talked a little about jazz chords. What about scales and modes commonly used in jazz?
Steve

[Liquid Shadow]

Dorian

[rlainhart]

[quote="AE185"]Ok so we talked a little about jazz chords. What about scales and modes commonly used in jazz?quote]

The blues scale, of course, with and without the flatted fifth; all forms of the diminished scale; the Lydian mode; the altered scale; major and minor pentatonics. And plain old major and minor.

Understanding scales and modes is more important in modern and contemporary jazz than it is in mainstream or 40s-50s jazz, especially bebop. In bop, you more commonly base your improvisations on chord tones and embellishments - that is, on arpeggios with ornaments and leading tones.

If you listen to Charlie Parker, Bud Powell or Bill Evans, you'll hear what I mean. They play scales, of course, but more often they play chord-based arpeggios based on extended chords, like 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths. For that kind of music, it's important to really understand the harmony.

[Georges]

The 7th chord is the fundamental sound of mainstream jazz, by which I mean the standard style of jazz which developed in the 1940s and 50s. You almost never hear plain triads in mainstream jazz, although there is a harmonic style which developed in the 60s called "upper-structure triads", in which you create extended tonalities by stacking simple triads on top of each other.

"In rock you stack the amps, in jazz, you stack the fourths."

Jazz developped from the baroque style, so it does not have the same roots than blues. There are many jazz styles though, the one most famous to us is the bebop, which developped during the 40ies.

As for the chords, the 7th is most often in. Other components can be 9/11/13 (these are other names to say 2 4 6; please note that the 7th always comes at first place when describing chords, therefore 2 4 6 were made 9 11 13) or altered chords (that is when normal chords in which e.g. the 5 gets increased by one half step 5# or decreased 5b; there's a basic theory behind this, which I have once described in another post).