chords

This page provides a collection of cheat sheets explaining in a simple and effective way how guitar chords are built and how they are connected one to the other. The idea is to understand where are located each chord tone of a specific voicing and how to connect these chords them by moving only one note at a time. Notice that this page is regularly updated with new shapes, don't forget to subscribe the newsletter to stay informed.

This short jazz guitar study with tab, score and chord charts provides some easy jazz lines to apply over three common chord progressions found in jazz. These licks will help you better understand what scales and modes can be used over basic chord changes. You'll find a link to the free PDF at the end of this lesson.

An altered chord is a chord containing one (or several) altered notes that don't belong to the diatonic scale. These notes are the b5 (flat fifth), #5 (sharp fifth), b9 (flat ninth), #9 (sharp ninth). In other words, altered chords are diatonic chords where the fifth and/or the ninth have been lowered or raised by one semitone.

In this guitar lesson we will see that they can be grouped into three disctinct families that are (major, minor and dominant) and also how to play them on guitar.

This lesson provides a chord melody arrangement for guitar of the famous song "Days of Wine and Roses" written by Henry Mancini (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the movie film of the same name. 

Altered chords are a very important part of jazz language, they are built by altering with a flat or a sharp one or more notes of a diatonic chord. They are very useful to bring a little bit of tension to any jazz chord progression.

This lesson focusses on dominant seventh flat fifth chords (7b5), that are dominant seventh chords with a lowered fifth, given the formula : root (R), third (3), flat fifth (b5) and minor seventh (b7).

Here is 12-bar jazz-blues study in Bb with guitar tab and standard notation mixing basic jazz chords and minor blues scale fragments. You'll find it for free (or Pay What You Want) on jazz-guitar-licks Gumroad store.

This free guitar chord chart available as a PDF file contains the most important altered and extended dominant guitar chord shapes that any guitar player should know. It is totally free (or Pay What You Want) in return, don't hesitate to support this website.

Here is a cheat sheet containing three easy exercises for connecting basic guitar chord shapes as min7, maj7, dim7, m7b5, 7sus, 9th, 7#9, 7b9, min6, 6. It is available for free (or Pay What You Want) in Jazz Guitar Licks Gumroad Shop.

This music theory cheat sheet file explains effectively how drop 3 chords are built. You can download the printable PDF file (better quality) for free (or make a donation to support this website) following this link.

This handwritten cheat sheet show the main chord formulas. Subscribe to the instagram and facebook pages to get more music theory charts.

A new tutorial has been published on Jazz Guitar Licks YouTube channel. It is shows how to play the main triads on guitar using neck diagram shapes. The triad discussed are : minor, major, diminished, augmented and suspended 2 & 4, don't hesitate to like, comment and share this video.

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 shapes explains how suspended chords are built and how to play them on 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.

This blog post contains free cheat sheets (infographics) for guitar players about the Dorian mode. You will find useful information on how to play chords, arpeggios and minor licks directly related to this minor scale.

Lesson by David Kennedy

This facebook post provides a YouTube video that details how to perform and compose on guitar with any polyrhythm. You will find a link to free resources, including the guitar score and tab in the video description.

Why exploring polyrhythm?

• It can deepen your understanding of rhythm and time signature.
• It’s a very useful tool for generating new rhythm ideas.
• It sounds really cool.

Don't hesitate go watch David's YouTube channel.