Chords & Voicings
Welcome to the blog section dedicated to jazz guitar chords. You will find here relevant sources of information for a better understanding of the main types of chords (minor, major, dominant, diminished, half-diminished, augmented, altered, extended) found in jazz standards and common progressions.
These free guitar lessons provide chord shapes, Tabs, theory, YouTube videos, audio files and formula charts. They are intended for the beginners as well as the more advanced players who want to learn how to build chords (triads, tetrads) or how to play chord-melody arrangements using drop 2, drop 3 and drop 2-4 voicings.
-
Diatonic Guitar Dyads - Lesson With Shapes - Music Theory
- By Stef Ramin
- On 09/29/2019
- In Jazz Guitar Lessons
- 0 comments
What is a Dyad?A dyad is a two-note chord, a pair of notes played at the same time. These two notes are separated by an interval. Considering there are different types of intervals, there are therefore different types of dyads.
What's an Interval in Music?
An interval is the distance between two notes. It can be melodic or harmonic.
Is a Dyad can be considered a Chord?
A chord must contain, at a minimum, 3 notes. As its name implies a dyad is made of only two pitches. So, a dyad is considered as being an interval, not a chord.
What's a Diatonic Scale?
A diatonic scale is built with of half and whole steps. The term diatonic comes from the ancient Greece. In western music a diatonic scale is based on five whole steps and two half-steps that can be ordered in many specific ways. The best known is the diatonic major scale based on the formula W - W - H - W - W - W - H which means Whole-Step | Whole-Step | Half-step | WholeStep | Whole-Step | Whole-Step | Half-Step.
-
10 Jazz Guitar Intros and Endings with Tabs and Audio Files
- By Stef Ramin
- On 09/27/2019
- In Jazz Guitar Lessons
- 0 comments
How to Play a Jazz Intros and Endings on Guitar?
There are mutliple ways of taking an intro or ending a jazz tune, the truth is that you can play whatever you want. You can start from the V of the key, simply play the last 4 or 8 bars of the tune, try to incorporate a turnaroud and its several variations, the list is long....You''ll find in this lesson 10 jazz guitar progressions with tabs, standard notation and audio files that work both as intros and endings for any jazz standards in C major. Altough all these exercises are in the key of C major, it is possible and very important to transpose them in any key. The general purpose of this lesson is to adapt these lines to you favorite tunes.
-
36 Ways of Playing a Dominant 7 Chord on Guitar - Beginner to Advanced
- By Stef Ramin
- On 07/30/2019
- 0 comments
Dominant 7 chords are one of the most important chords to know, they can be found in many styles of music as blues, funk, pop and of course in jazz music. In this lesson we will see how dominant 7 chords are built and how to play them on guitar using 36 different voicings and shapes. -
15 Easy Jazz Guitar Chords For Beginners - Infographic
- By Stef Ramin
- On 07/28/2019
- In Infographics
- 0 comments
This guitar infographic provides 15 easy jazz chords for beginners.
-
Harmonization of the Melodic Minor Scale - Chord Shapes and Theory
- By Stef Ramin
- On 07/26/2019
- 0 comments
In this lesson we will see how to harmonize the melodic minor scale in thirds with seventh chords. In other words we will see how to build seventh chords by stacking thirds from each degree of the melodic minor scale.
-
What's An Inverted Chord
- By Stef Ramin
- On 12/16/2018
- 0 comments
What's An Inverted Chord?The notes of a chord whether it is a triad (containing just three notes) or a tetrad (built with four notes) can be reshuffled in different order. The name of the chord will still remain the same, but the bass will not necessarily the root note. This is the lowest note (the bass note) that determines the name of the inverted chord. So, chord inversion simply refers to which note is in the bass. You will find here some example for a better understanding of what are inverted chords.
-
Extended Diatonic Arpeggios - Upper-Structure of Chords and Superimposition
- By Stef Ramin
- On 11/23/2018
- In Scales & Arpeggios
- 0 comments
When learning how to play jazz guitar, one of the most important device to master is to play each tone of a chord in order to outline a specific progression. This is what we call arpeggios. They are great melodic tools when you want to highlight the chords you are soloing over.This article is focused on diatonic seventh arpeggios and their extensions. In a first time, before applying these extensions, it is recommended to have a very strong knowledge of the triads, both the chords and the arpeggios.
-
How To Use Triad Chords - Comping Lesson
- By Stef Ramin
- On 10/08/2018
- 4 comments
Triads are one of the first harmonic tools to study. They are very useful for comping and chordal enrichment. Learning close and open triad voicings increase your harmonic knowledge and at the same time help you discover your fretboard. In this lesson you will see the main triad chord shapes including root positions and inversions. You will also find some ideas on how to use triads over a II V I sequence, in order to create interesting melodic movement in your comping. -
What are Dominant Seventh Chords ?
- By Stef Ramin
- On 09/29/2018
- 0 comments
Dominant seventh chords are the most important features in music, you can find them in many styles of music, especially in blues and, of course, in jazz. In this lesson, you will see how to construct drop 2, drop 3 and drop 2 & 4 dominant seventh chords, what is their harmonic function and how to play them on guitar.
-
Drop 2 & 4 Chords - Advanced Guitar Voicings
- By Stef Ramin
- On 09/14/2018
- 0 comments
What Are Drop 2-4 Chords?Drop 2 and 4 chords are created by dropping down an octave the second and fourth note of a seventh chord in close position. They can be very important tools for composition and arrangement. This lesson with diagrams provides useful explanations on how to build and play drop 2 & 4 chords on guitar.
-
What's a Tetrad Chord - Music Theory with Guitar Chord Shapes
- By Stef Ramin
- On 09/11/2018
- 2 comments
What's a Tetrad ?A basic chord is built with three notes this is what we call "triad chords" or "triads". Tetrad chords aka "four note-chords" are simply chords containing four notes, “tetra“ is a Greek root meaning four. This means that tetrads have an additional note, a major seventh or a minor seventh. In other words , a tetrad is a triad with a supplementary note. This article will enlighten you on how these tetrad chords are built and how they can be classified.
-
Arpeggio Practice - Seventh Chords - 4 Essential Exercises
- By Stef Ramin
- On 09/09/2018
- 0 comments
Arpeggios are essential musical tools that allow you to build pure and beautiful lines while highlighting the harmony. When playing over chord changes, using arpeggios is the most efficient way to connect these chords together. This lesson provides four arpeggio exercises with tabs, standard notation and diagrams that will help improve your guitar skills and your theoretical knowledge. -
Dominant 7 Chord Altered Extensions - Guitar Infographic
- By Stef Ramin
- On 05/01/2018
- In Infographics
- 0 comments
Dominant 7 Chord Altered Extensions - Guitar Infographic
-
Drop 2 Guitar Chord Shapes - Infographic
- By Stef Ramin
- On 04/29/2018
- In Infographics
- 0 comments
This infographic with guitar freatboard diagrams show how to play all five types of drop 2 chords on the first set of strings (E, B, G and D strings).
