Chords for Jazz Guitar Lesson - Inversions & Areas of Activity - Henry Johnson

_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, now here is an application of_
Let's look at the major 7th inversion.
We'll deal with G.
_ The major 7th is [F#] down here, but we can put it anywhere.
It doesn't [G] matter where it is.
If it's up here, it's going to be
sounding like that.
So now, just inside of this shape, _ _
[F#] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ easy enough, right?
But, you can take all of the
notes, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ that's just inside of that shape. _ _ _ _
_ _ And it ends on the major 7th.
Now, when we move it up,
we have a whole other area of activity still,
major 7th. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ That's in that area.
Now, remember
we talked about this cluster kind of [Em] chord?
It's nice and pretty because
it's sort of piano sounding, but we need to
use a [G#] chord that is actually easier to play because
sometimes, [F] if you're not playing chord melody or something like that, you want to be able to grab
the chord really quick.
So [B] we can use this, or [Bm] this,
_ which is the [B] 9.
_ [G] But still, in this area of activity. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
[E] And the last one, [G] up here. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ Alright?
So, that's the major 7th.
A little bit of an application
right there.
[A#] So you can start seeing that you can make music
out of these shapes.
Okay, now let's go to the minor 7th shape.
We talked about these earlier, and I'll run over them again. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Once again, these are all areas of activity.
But,
because [Gm] you have, right here, [B] we've all been playing this stuff
before, but now it's minor [Gm] instead of major.
It's minor 7th. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Sounds a little bluesy, doesn't it?
That's because it is.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Now to the next shape. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ It sort of lends itself to
the blues because really, they're one and the same.
And that's the thing that we like about the blues, because it makes you feel good.
It gives you some emotion.
Okay, so now, the next shape
is up here. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Cm] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _
Now, the last
one's up here. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ And then,
the next one up [F] is actually a [Gm] complete octave up.
So when you're playing this, you're going to run out.
But
when you get up here, you can play the exact same thing that you played down there. _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ [A#] And this shape, the minor 7th, lends itself to
the pentatonic scale, which all of us know.
And all the rock, _ jazz, blues,
all the [F#] genres use this.
Because it's a guitar thing.
It's not just a music
thing.
It's just a guitar thing.
[Gm] Because it's easy to play. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ The next one up, the same.
_ _ [C] _
_ [Cm] _ _ [Em] _ [Gm] Next one up. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
[Gm] The next one up. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F#] And that's it.
Now you're just going to be completing it from there.
So hopefully, it gives you
an idea of what you can do with these shapes once you get them
on your fingers.
Let's take a look at the dominant shape here.
[G#] I'll do it again, because we did it [G] earlier.
_ _ And remember,
the inversions is just arpeggios, notes,
but now it's a chord, instead of just one note. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
[E] _ [G] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ And if you keep
going, you're just going to run out.
But you can go as far as you can go, _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ as you
can see.
So you're going to run out, but you can go as far as your frets
will let you go.
So this is what the dominant seventh can
give you.
Okay, so now you might have the question,
why do I need to play in any shape?
Why am I
playing in a high shape or a low shape?
What determines that?
Well, for me, I've played with piano players
and keyboard players all my life.
So what happens is you're playing in the
band, and you have to interact with who you're playing with.
So, if I'm playing with a keyboard player who actually is
playing high, I'm playing low.
So my shape
is going to be down here.
_ _ _ But, if he's
playing low, I'm going to play high.
[A] So I'm not in the
same register as he is.
And as you do this for a long time,
it starts [G] happening automatically.
So when he's playing down here, I'm playing up
here.
_ _ _ _ That way, we're never in the same register, and we're
never fighting each other.
So that's a part about listening to your
environment and