Chords

A new tutorial has been published on Jazz Guitar Licks YouTube channel.

It shows how to play the main triads on guitar using neck diagram shapes.

The triads discussed are : minor, major, diminished, augmented and suspended 2 & 4.

For those who'd like to get the printable PDF version and get more triad voicing shapes (open and close), there is a new method available since a few days, just click on the picture below to get it.

Suspended chords are chords derived from triads and tetrads, the third is replaced with a fourth (most of the time) or a second, making them chords that are neither major nor minor.

This lesson with charts, tabs, and diagrams, teaches how these chords are constructed and how to play them on the guitar.

Satin Doll by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, witten in 1953, is one of the most famous jazz tune. It has been recorded by many jazz musicians as Wes Montgomery, Ella Fitzgerald, Mc Coy Tyner, Oscar Peterson and of course Duke Ellington himself. It has become a classic jazz standard, a must-hear, very popular at jam sessions.

This guitar lesson with chord shapes and scale charts explains how to play easy jazz chords and what basic scales to choose for improvising over Satin Doll.

Check out the latest video from the YouTube channel. This is a chord melody arrangement for guitar of Duke Ellington's jazz standard "Satin Doll".

This free lesson with tabs is intended for intermediate players who want to practice some drop 2, drop 3 voicings, walking bass lines, chords inversions and substitutions over one of the most popular jazz tune.

Half-diminished chords (aka m7b5) have an especially important place in jazz music. They are generally found in minor 2 5 1 progressions as the ii chord or can be used as substitutions for dominant 7 chords. This blog post provides 28 different shapes based on drop 2, drop 3 and drop 2-4 voicings for playing m7b5 chords on guitar.

Here is a transcription (tabs, and standard notation) of the guitar comping played by Howard Roberts in the jazz standard Blue Moon with Julie London. You will find in the following:

• The original version.
• The YouTube video with the transcription and the tabs / notation overlayed.
• Four free png files.

This blog post provides 28 positions with intervals to play major seventh chords (maj7) on guitar. Three types of voicings are used : drop 2, drop 3, drop 2-4 and their inversions.

The diagrams are organized this way:

Dominant 7 chords are surely the most important to know when you want to try your hand at jazz guitar. These chords are very present in jazz and blues tunes, that's why it is crucial to know them at your fingertips.This quick lesson show 28 dominant 7 guitar shapes based on drop 2, drop 3 and drop 2-4 voicings. 

This guitar lesson with tabs and theory is about cluster chord voicings.

These are chords in which at least two notes are grouped together in order to create a sort of dissonance.

Cluster chords are sometimes quite difficult to play on guitar but they have a very interesting sound widely used in comtemporary jazz and neo-soul music.

This blog article provides 28 guitar chord shapes to play minor seventh chord on guitar. These positions are built using three different types of voicings as Drop 2, drop 3 and drop 2-4.

A turnaround is a section of two or four bars at the end of a tune.

Its role is to create a harmonic transition going back to the beginning.

It present in many jazz tunes and is an important part of "rhythm changes" progressions.

They is also used to create effective jazz intros and endings.

This lesson with guitar tabs contains 17 exercises for better understanding of the 1 6 2 5 turnaround and its variations.

Here is a serie of guitar walking bass lines and chords cheat sheets for jazz comping.

After You've Gone is a pop song composed in 1918 by Turner Layton. This blog post provides an easy walking bass lines and chords arrangement with tabs for guitar.

Shell chords are simplified jazz guitar chords built with the root, 3rd, and 7th. These shell voicings are essential for jazz comping because they make chord progressions easier to play while clearly outlining harmony

This concept highly prized by solo guitar players consists in mixing chords and bass lines. 

It can be very useful for guitarists who want to accompany a singer or a soloist in a duo situation.

Guitar walking bass lines involve playing one note on each beat in order to make the link between the chords of a progression as a bass player would do. 

They are usually played fingerstyle, basses are played with the thumb whereas the other chord tones are played with the fingers.

This free lesson with tabs and guitar shapes provides some easy examples.

A new video is available on the YouTube channel. This is a chord melody arrangement with synced shapes for jazz guitar of the standard All of Me by Simons & Marks.