harmony
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I VI II V Turnaround Variations - Lesson With Guitar Tabs & Theory
- By Stef Ramin
- On 04/17/2020
- In Jazz Guitar Lessons
- 0 comments
Turnarounds are a section of two or four bars at the end of a tune. Their role is to create a harmonic transition going back to the beginning. They are present in many jazz tunes and are an important part of "rhythm changes" progressions. They are also used to create effective jazz intros and endings.
This lesson with guitar tabs contains 17 exercises to gain a better understanding of the I VI II V variations.
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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.
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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. -
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.
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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.
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Tetrad Chords / Seventh Chords - Music Theory with Guitar 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 are triads with an additional note, a major seventh or a minor seventh.
This article will enlighten you on how these tetrad chords are built and how they can be classified.
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25 Altered Dominant Guitar Chords
- By Stef Ramin
- On 03/04/2018
- In Chords / Voicings
- 1 comments
What's An Altered Dominant Chord?
Altered dominant chords are used to bring tension and an outside flavor to jazz chord progressions. They generally resolved to an inside chord as the I or a substitute as iii or vi.
Altered chords have one or more notes lowered or raised by a half-step, in other words they contain one or more alterations. These alterations can be b9,#9, b5 (#11) and b13 (#5).
Jazz musicians, composers and arrangers used them as substitutions for diatonic chords for adding more dissonance and spice up the harmony.
This guitar lesson provides 25 altered guitar chord shapes to understand how they are constructed and how to play them on guitar.
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84 Triad Chords | Guitar Diagrams | Open and Close Voicings | Root Positions & Inversions
- By Stef Ramin
- On 11/26/2016
- 0 comments
Mastering triads on the guitar is necessary for any guitarist who wants to expand his fretboard and theory knowledge.
These chords are not really considered as jazz chords because of their basic sound, but they can be efficient tools for comping and chord soloing. Indeed, the strong point of these chords is the simplicity of learning and playing.
You will find in this guitar lesson 84 ways of playing major, minor, diminished, augmented triads using root and inverted voicings in close and open positions.
