Chords for Jazz 101: Easy Jazz Chords Every Guitarist Should Know!

[A] Hey guys, welcome back to the [B] channel.
I hope you guys are having a [Eb] fantastic day.
Today we're looking at Jazz 101.
So we're going to [B] look at some [A] of my favorite jazz chords and share them with you guys
and hopefully give you a few tricks so that you guys can [B] incorporate them into your playing right away.
Let's get [Cm] started. _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ So today's lesson is going to be geared towards the [Abm] intermediate player
that has mastered their open [C] position chords and most [E] of their bar chords.
And you know, you're looking for something more [Db] creative or interesting to do.
I think this lesson will be [A] perfect for you guys.
So the content for today's video can be found on my Jazz 101 worksheet.
You guys can follow the link above to my Etsy store [E] and pick that up for $3.
[G] It consists of three different [Gb] pages.
The first page is 20 of my favorite jazz voicings.
So hopefully enough [Eb] to get you guys started and keep you [Bb] engaged in jazz
without overwhelming you guys with like [Gb] 3,000 jazz chords, which you won't use.
Page 2 is [Am] progressions that go with that worksheet.
And page 3 [A] are two songs.
I've [Eb] entitled them 12-bar jazz.
So I've taken 12-bar blues, [Ab] substituted in jazz chords for those.
[G] And yeah, they're [A] just [C] a fun way to use some of the chords.
[A] All right, so let's [B] get started.
[Am] So the first three chords [A] we're going to look at are the seventh chords.
These [Eb] guys are super important in jazz and there's a major [B] 7, a minor 7, and a dominant 7.
So it can [G] be a little bit confusing trying to keep track of the 7s.
[Db] Of course, they sound different and they're used in different spots in music,
but [Am] they are like a [Ab] backbone of basic jazz.
[G] So let's look at [Ab] them.
The first one is the major 7.
It sounds like [G] this. _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [G] _ _ _ And you can think [B] about this as a direct substitute for your major chord.
So in pop music or folk music or whatever you're into [G] where you'd have like basic G, [Ab] C, D chords.
In jazz, you would have G major 7, D [G] major 7, C major 7 or whatever.
It's that common.
So it's like [Ab] the bass major [C] chord.
The [Em] second chord we're going to look at [Am] is the minor 7.
And you can play it stacked with fingertips [Gm] like this _ _ [G] or with a bar.
[Gm] _ _ [Ab] If you want that higher [G] octave in there.
_ _ [A] And this is a direct substitute for [Ab] a minor chord.
So normally [Eb] in whatever genre [C] of music you're used to playing,
[Am] if you're used to playing a B minor [Gb] in jazz, it would be like a B minor [D] 7.
So and the third one we're going to look at [G] is the dominant 7. _
_ _ _ _ [A] You can play it with your thumb [Ab] and thinking about [Eb] a D [C] major shape.
That's an easy [G] way to play that [Db] seventh chord or you can [Eb] play the traditional [G] jazz fingering like this. _ _
So [B] those are your three major 7 or [Eb] your three 7 [G] chords.
The major 7, _ the minor [Gm] and [G] the dominant.
_ _ Now the fourth [E] chord you see on the screen is [Eb] just one of my favorites.
So I included it for you [Db] guys.
It's the 7 sharp 5 and [G] sounds like this. _ _ _ _ _
And [B] I use this chord in other genres as [Bb] well.
I love it in [B] blues as a turnaround chord.
So if I'm playing [Eb] like a slow blues, here's [A] how I would use it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [Ab] _ So [E] just as a turnaround chord like that. _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
All right.
So now let's look at a few chords with the root note on the [Ab] fifth string.
The first chord we're going to look at [G] is the 9 chord.
[C] It sounds like this. _ _
[Bb] So you can play that with your [Eb] fingertips and you've got the [C] flat 7 here and the 9.
_ _ So really [A] colorful [B] chord.
And if you wanted to add the high 5, you would just [C] bar it _ _ _ _ like so.
[Eb] So that's a major chord.
[Ab] Then we're going to change it into a minor chord by [G] just taking this third and lowering it by a semitone.
So now we've [C] got minor 9.
_ _ [Eb] _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ Great sounding chord for [Bb] sure.
And then we've got the major 9.
So we're going to go back to a major third, add the major 7 and [C] keep our 9.
Sounds like this. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Beautiful sounding [Ab] chord.
We'll use these in a second.
And then the last one is the augmented.
I love this chord again as [C] a turnaround chord. _ _ _
_ So again, if we use that example of using it [A] in blues, _ _ _ just _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[C] _ works perfectly in that context.
[Bbm] So those were just some of the [Db] basic jazz chords that get used all the time.
Now here's a list of a [Bb] few of my other favorites.
[Cm] These are off the worksheet.
[C] And of course there's [A] a bunch of different other chords on the worksheet.
[Bb] But [A] here's some of [G] my favorites. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [B] Just a beautiful sounding chord.
The next one is the minor [G] 6. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _ _
Great [Bb] sounding chord.
That one's one that [C] everybody should know too.
The [Em] augmented we just went through.
So [E] _ [D] great _ _
[C] _ _ _ chord.
And the other one [Db] is diminished.
So [C] sounds like this.
_ [B] _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ [E] _ _ [Cm] _
And I like to use this as a passing tone sometimes too.
So if I have a [Bb] D minor [Dm] 7 _ and I want to go to an [Em] E minor 7, _
[B] I'll just use a diminished as a passing tone.
So you could [Eb] use it in this kind of context [Dm] as well.
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
So another great exercise that I would encourage every musician to try
is to take a chord progression that you've played hundreds of times,
that you [Bbm] know like the back of your hand,
and turn it into [G] a jazz progression.
So if you have something like you see on the screen here, G, D, E minor 7, C, _ _
[D] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [C] _ _
and you turn it into a jazz progression.
So [Abm] your G becomes a G [G] major 7.
_ Your D becomes a D9.
[Am] _
_ [Db] Your E minor becomes [Em] an E minor 9. _ _
And your [D] C could become [C] a C major 9. _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] So it would sound something [G] like this.
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ And [A] finally, another excellent way to learn your jazz [Ab] chords
is to play them up a harmonized scale.
So we're going to use the F scale from 1st fret to [G] 13th fret.
So [A] grab your guitar and [Ab] let's play.
So we've got F major 7.
[A] _ _
Then G [Gm] minor.
_ _ _ A minor 6.
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ [E] B flat [Bb] major 7.
_ _ _ C dominant [C] 7. _
_ D [Dm] minor 9.
_ _ _ [A]
E [Em] diminished.
_ _ [Gb] _ _ And then F major [F] 9.
_ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Abm] _ Thanks so much for watching [E] you guys and being a part of the channel.
If you enjoy content [B] like this, be sure to [Bb] subscribe by clicking right here.
And if you want the Jazz 101 [Ab] worksheet, you can find it [E] by following the link right here.
And if you feel like watching a couple [Fm] more videos, I'll put some right [Db] here.
Alright, take care [Am] you guys.
We'll see you next week with a new [Cm] video. _ _
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