How do you play altered chords effectively?

[mattdavios]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and I'm new to Jazz. I had been playing rock and blues for a while and I wanted to try out Jazz playing. I stumbled accross the following chords and I got pretty intimidated by them

C7#9
C7b5
C7b5b9
C7#5#9
C7b5#9
C9b5
C9#5
C11
C13
C6

once in a while there are Diminished chords, Augmented chords and Half diminished chords.


I'm wondering how can I memorize so many of them? Even if i do, how do I play them efficiently so that I can change them quick enough.

Is there a method or systematic approach to learning such chords?

Is there any recommended shapes for these chords so that I can change them quickly from on to another?

Any recommended books or materials that I should consider getting to further my knowledge in Jazz playing, Jazz chords changing and progression and lastly jazz soloing?


Thanks a lot in advance for your replies

[mr. beaumont]

Well, that's a really big question--something we would spend months on if you were taking lessons with me...here's a little info to start you off

On memorizing:

break things down into major, minor, and dominant. Learn formulas for each chord, and learn your major scales, learn the fretboard inside out.

You'll drive yourself crazy memorizing a hundred shapes, but you'll always know what you're doing if you simply know a "C6" for example, is simply adding an "A" note to a C triad.

On Shapes:

In jazz, the best thing to do is find the chords in a "close range." This involves some work yes, but once you do it for say, 5 tunes, you've learned countless valuable things that can be applied to 20 other tunes. Here, try this-- same three chords--Dm9, G7alt., Cmaj9--tell me what sounds cooler:

Dm9: x 5 3 5 5 x

G7alt. x 10 9 11 11

Cmaj9: 8 7 9 7 8 x


or....

Dm9: x 5 3 5 5 x

G7alt. 3 x 3 4 4 x

Cmaj9: x 3 2 4 3 x



You've got to go beyond shapes for jazz, you have to know how to make the chords you want to play. And remember, a guitar has six strings, a thirteenth chord has 7 possible notes-- use what's necessary to get the point of the chord across-- often the root and fifth can be dropped, sometimes all you need is 3rd, 7th, and "color" (alteration), sometimes less!

[ksjazzguitar]

Seconding everything Mr. B said, I would just add a clarification on the term "altered" - I think that there were some confusion in the OP.

The term "C7alt" refers to a very specific chord built of C Db D# E F# G# Bb, from the C altered scale. Notice that there is no natural 9, 11, 5, or 13. So, C7alt might be interpreted as C7b9#5, C7#9b5, etc. But if it has a 9, 11, 5, or 13 in it, it is not a C7alt.

Now, individual chord can have altered tones. We can say that a C9#5 has an altered 5. But some of the chords that you give, like the C13, have no alterations in them - the 9 and 13 are unaltered extensions.

Peace,
Kevin

[wolflen]

from what you said...your new to jazz..so just learning those chords by themselves will not help you much...you need a context to place them in...and it will take a bit of study of basic theory and diatonic harmony..to develop a frame work so you can hear these chords and their purpose..

while by themselves you may find you can use some of them in blues progressions now...the 7#9 (aka the hendrix chord) is a common fingering for a dominate chord used in some blues progressions...same with the 13th chord..it has some easy fingerings that fit will in some blues progressions..same with 9th chords and the dominate 7th with its inversions...if you break down the chords and find the chord tones in them...altering-raising or lowering the 5th or 9th in the chord will show you how that one note can change the flavor of the chord quite a bit..and the entire progression..the key to this of course is to know when to use it..alot of experimentation will be required on your part to get the new sounds to work...at first they may not sound good to your ear..but in the right context of other chords-harmony and hearing how the chord may effect the melody and/or add some spice to a solo line..in time you will begin to know how and when to use these chords...

it may be difficult at first to see their use...but with determination and patience you can learn the most difficult named chord without being intimidated

play well

wolf

[kenbennett]

Seconding everything Jeff, Kevin, and Wolf said, I would add that a good guitarist to study in your journey from rock and blues to jazz is Robben Ford. His blues is very rock oriented, and his jazz skills are incorporated into his rhythm and lead playing.

Blues is a big part of jazz. The same 12-bar changes that you already know are enhanced with those chords that you named.

[max_power]

I would say that the WRONG thing to do would be to get a chord dictionary and memorize a million shapes. Or look them up on the internet and memorize a million shapes. Etc.

About 95% of the jazz chords I know are variations or derivatives of drop 2 chords and shell voicings, which makes it a lot easier to keep track of different chord forms since I see large groups of them as all being related to one single voicing. If you don't already, make sure you learn these two chord forms all over the neck for all 5 of the basic kinds of chords (maj7, dom7, min7, min7b5, dim7). These are your meat and potatoes. Any extensions are just that: extensions. A C9 chord is still a C7 chord, and if you play it as such no one is going to give you grief.

(As an aside, all the chord forms Mr. Beaumont wrote out for you are derivatives of shell voicings...)

Let's look at some of the chords on your list. For example: C6. That's going to be spelled out C E G A. Notice that these are the same notes that are in an Amin7 chord. Therefore, the easiest way to memorize all the C6 chords is to simply remember to substitute an Amin7 chord. (I would do this with drop 2s). Easy.

Little things like that will help you. Derive, derive, derive. It's a lot easier to memorize voicings when you already have an idea how to play the chord. Learn these new voicings one at a time, and make sure to incorporate them into your comping so that they'll be ingrained in your musical vocabulary. Also, start simple and work your way up. There's no point in learning to play a C7b13 if you can't already play a bunch of different C7 voicings all over the guitar. Similarly, there's no point in learning a C7b9b13 if you can't play a C7b9. Walk before you run. Take it one step at a time, and you'll be just fine.

[JEdgarWinter]

2 things I wish I knew when I was in a similar position, mattdavios:

1) altered chords are very connected to melodic minor harmony (and somewhat more controversially, to harmonic minor harmony). They are also connected to the diminished and whole tone scales. If you get some good user-friendly books (Don Mock's books on melodic and harmonic minor, and symmetrical scales comes to mind), you will be way ahead of the game!

3) Building altered chords is easy if you put the tritone in the bass (for example, the Bb and E of the C7, or X 1 2 X X X), and stick the alterations on top: for example the 2nd fret of the B string for the b9, the 4th fret for #9, the 1st fret of the g string for #5, the 2nd fret of the E string for b5. (3 notes is plenty for a rootless comping chord!) Then work out the same altered chords starting with the tritone (E-Bb) at the 7th position on the A and D strings, and then start transposing.

P.S. you probably know this, but it never hurts to recall that the E diminished is C7b9. Understanding that relationship can get you through a lot of comping and soloing situations vis-a-vis these chords.

[ksjazzguitar]

Originally Posted by max_power

I would say that the WRONG thing to do would be to get a chord dictionary and memorize a million shapes. Or look them up on the internet and memorize a million shapes. Etc.

Definitely. What makes a jazz comper good is that he know how to use them, not that he knows a million voicings. They say that Wes only used about a dozen different chord shapes, but it was the way that he used them.

Understand the voicings, learn each note (at least it's harmonic function), learn how it wants to resolve. Comp musically. All those are more important than learning a gazillion voicings that you don't know how to use.

Peace,
Kevin

[bako]

X X 2 3 1 2-----X X 2 3 2 2-----X X 2 3 3 2-----X X 2 3 4 2

X X 2 3 1 3-----X X 2 3 2 3-----X X 2 3 3 3-----X X 2 3 4 3

X X 2 3 1 4-----X X 2 3 2 4-----X X 2 3 3 4-----X X 2 3 4 4

X X 2 3 1 5-----X X 2 3 2 5-----X X 2 3 3 5-----X X 2 3 4 5

These account for some of your list, in one inversion and one location.
It is enough for the purpose of this exercise which is focused on getting familiar with these dominant sounds.

1. Play all these over a C bass note.
2. Play them over an F# bass note.
3. Mix up the order and see which pairs sound good together.

This is one possible path to start.

[mattdavios]

Thanks a lot everyone for your valuable informations. It had helped me a lot. Any recommended materials to help me understand altered chords, chord melody and jazz theory better?