jazz guitar chords
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15 Jazz Guitar Chords For Beginners
- By Stef Ramin
- On 02/28/2020
- In Chords / Voicings
- 0 comments
Here are 15 basic jazz guitar chord positions that every beginning jazz guitar student must know. They are grouped into five families :
- Major seventh chords (Maj7)
- Minor seventh (m7)
- Dominant 7th (7)
- Half diminished / minor seventh flat fifth (m7b5)
- Diminished 7th (dim7)
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Variations Of Jazz Blues Progression - 10 Guitar Exercises - YouTube Video Lesson
- By Stef Ramin
- On 02/12/2020
- 0 comments
A new video has been published on the YouTube channel. It contains 10 exercises with chord shapes and numeral analysis about different types of variations of the jazz blues progression for jazz guitar rhythm.
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15 Easy Jazz Guitar Chord Shapes For Beginners - Infographic
- By Stef Ramin
- On 07/28/2019
- In Infographics
- 0 comments
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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).
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Connecting Melodies with Drop 2 Chords on Guitar
- By Stef Ramin
- On 03/02/2018
- In Jazz Guitar Lessons
- 0 comments
Everyone knows the importance of drop 2 chords in jazz music. They are very useful for comping, chord soloing, harmonizing and building chord melodies.
Drop 2 voicings are very important for jazz guitarists because they are easy to play and do no require the root on the low sixth or fifth strings, indeed they are played on 4 adjacent strings.
The first chapter of this lesson provides all the drop 2 voicing shapes, major seventh (M7), minor seventh (m7), dominant seventh (7), half-diminished (m7b5) and diminished seventh (dim7) to play on the guitar neck.
The second part of this post will explain how to connect drop 2 voicings following the notes of the major scale.
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What Is a Backdoor Progression And How To Play Over It
- By Stef Ramin
- On 01/27/2018
- In Jazz Guitar Lessons
- 0 comments
In jazz, there are many types of turnarounds and progressions that eventually we all must encounter. A key part of how you practice should be in preparing yourself for these progressions and turnarounds.
Whether that is by learning a shed-full of Parker’s II V I licks, by practicing exercises over progressions or even by learning a new standard.
The end result is that you are better equipped to deal with what is in front of you in the moment on the bandstand.
To this end, I’m going to talk to you today about a progression known as the backdoor progression. -
The 14 Most Important Jazz Chord Progressions
- By Stef Ramin
- On 10/30/2017
- In Jazz Guitar Lessons
- 8 comments
A chord progression is a succession of musical chords (with at least two notes) played one after another. Chord progression can be named harmonic progression and represent the foundation of western and traditional music.
Many jazz standards use similar chord progressions, in different keys it is very important to recognize them by ear and visually. Working and practicing basic chord sequences will make you feel more comfortable when you will need to learn jazz standards, it will more evident and easy to comp and solo.
In this lesson you will learn to recognize the 14 most important jazz chord progressions as minor and major II-V-I, the turnarounds and their variations, how to use passing diminished chords. You will find charts with roman numerals to easily transpose these harmonic progressions in different keys and some examples of comping with audio files, tabs and standard notation.
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How to Play a Major 7th Arpeggio Over a Dominant 7 Chord
- By Stef Ramin
- On 10/21/2017
- In Jazz Guitar Lessons
- 0 comments
When a jazz beginner starts to improvise over a II-V-I progression, he generally plays arpeggios corresponding to the chords of the sequence.
In other words, he learns to play minor arpeggios over the minor chord (II), dominant 7th arpeggio over the 7th chord (V) and major arpeggio over the major 7 chord (I). This way the harmony is highlighted without taking risks.
In the long-run there is nothing exciting. That's why there is a nice trick used by number of jazz players to add smoothness to a dominant line. This is a little tip that makes all the difference which consists of playing a major 7th arpeggio over the V7 rooted on its b7 degree.
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Barry Galbraith jazz guitar study - Like someone - Guitar comping video with bass lines
- By Stef Ramin
- On 10/10/2017
- In Jazz Guitar Lessons
- 4 comments
A new video has been uploaded on the YouTube channel. It is a Barry Galbraith comping study named "Like someone". This is the last study from the Barry Galbraith book "Jazz guitar comping series, vol #3" published by Jamey Aebersold. Most of the accompaniments studies (comps) in this book are designed to accompany a melody or an improvised solo with bass lines like a pianist would do. It is a very great book to practice jazz guitar comping.
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Jazz guitar chord voicings - II-V-I progression - 5 Exercises
- By Stef Ramin
- On 06/26/2017
- 0 comments
You will find in this page 5 exercises to learn to play different jazz guitar chord voicings over the most used chord progression in jazz, the famous II-V-I sequence.
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Jazz Up Your Basic Guitar Chords - Jazz Guitar Lesson for Beginners
- By Stef Ramin
- On 04/27/2017
- In Guitar Practice Tips
- 2 comments
Generally, when a beginner start to learn to play guitar, he tackles open chords (up the guitar neck), those found in many popular songs.
Then, come the bar chords (major, minor, dominant 7) a little hard to master. But all these chords do not have a very interesting sound and are not mostly used in jazz music.
That's why in this lesson for jazz beginners we will take the main basic guitar bar chords to transform and enrich them so that their sonority is richer, exciting and better suited to jazz concept.
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The Tritone Substitution - Guitar Lesson With Theory and Tabs
- By Stef Ramin
- On 04/13/2017
- 0 comments
One of the most popular jazz chord substitution is the tritone substitution sometimes referred to as dominant chord substitution.
It consists in replacing a dom7 chord by another dominant 7th chord whose root is a tritone away from this initial chord. Example with G7 (V), which can be replaced by Db7 which is a tritone (three whole-steps) away from G7
Thus giving two chords that have two notes in common. The 7th of G7 (F) is the third of Db7 and the third of G7 (B) is the seventh of Db7. The inversion of the 3rds and the 7ths between the original dominant chord (V) and the substituted dominant chord (bII7) is the main feature of the tritone substitution.
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What's a Half-Diminished Chord (m7b5)
- By Stef Ramin
- On 04/07/2017
- 0 comments
This guitar lesson explains what is m7b5 chord, how to play it on guitar and how to apply it in common harmonic contexts as major and minor II-V-I progressions.
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Extended Major 7th Chords | Guitar Diagrams & Voicings
- By Stef Ramin
- On 04/01/2017
- 0 comments
Tetrad chords (aka four-note chords) represent the backbone of jazz harmony. It is common to extend them with extra tones. These other notes form the upper structure of a chord which includes the 9th, 11th and 13th.
Adding extensions to chords help to get off the beaten tracks and provides some new harmonic colors to your playing (chord soloing, comping, and arrangement).
This lesson provides useful extended major 7th chord shapes to apply to your playing.