Suggestion of common chords to memorize

[Electra11]

A beginner jazz guitar, I'm trying to memorize all the following chord inversions in all shapes. Already learned the first three. Trying to memorize the rest of common jazz chords. Could any one please let me know if there are any more important chords that I've missed?
e.g. F13sus4, F-9 etc.

Or could anyone suggest any books that has all the jazz chord inversions shapes please all I have are these chords. Thank you so much.

F7
Fm7
Fmaj7

F6
F-6
F-7b5
F7b5
F7#5
F13
F7b9
F9
F7#9
Fdim7
F7b5b9
F7#5b9

[JakeAcci]

Here are the most common in my experience:

maj triad
min triad
dim triad
+ triad
m6
m6/9
m7
m9
m7b5
m9b5
maj7
maj9
maj13
maj7#5
maj7#11
minmaj7
minmaj9
7
7#5(b13)
7#9
7#11
7b5
7b9

a dominant chord could potentially have any combination of b9, 9, #9, b5 (#11), 5, and #5 (b13). You don't often see natural 9 and altered 9 together, but it happens. (I wouldn't worry about practicing it, though)

7sus4
7sus4b9
dim(triad)
dim7
dimmaj7

You also often run into "slash" chords like G/C, B/C, C/B.

For voicings I think thoroughly knowing all the drop 2 is a great place to start. It's kind of easy if you're good at math and know the fretboard.

Another great place to start is just playing thirds and sevenths on the D and G strings for two note voicings. Yes they won't have all the information of the chord symbol, but often they will have the important information for playing in a group. Then add one note on the B string for a more "colored" note relating to the chord symbol.

[Electra11]

Great Thank you!

Originally Posted by JakeAcci

Here are the most common in my experience:

maj triad
min triad
dim triad
+ triad
m6
m6/9
m7
m9
m7b5
m9b5
maj7
maj9
maj13
maj7#5
maj7#11
minmaj7
minmaj9
7
7#5(b13)
7#9
7#11
7b5
7b9

a dominant chord could potentially have any combination of b9, 9, #9, b5 (#11), 5, and #5 (b13). You don't often see natural 9 and altered 9 together, but it happens. (I wouldn't worry about practicing it, though)

7sus4
7sus4b9
dim(triad)
dim7
dimmaj7

You also often run into "slash" chords like G/C, B/C, C/B.

For voicings I think thoroughly knowing all the drop 2 is a great place to start. It's kind of easy if you're good at math and know the fretboard.

Another great place to start is just playing thirds and sevenths on the D and G strings for two note voicings. Yes they won't have all the information of the chord symbol, but often they will have the important information for playing in a group. Then add one note on the B string for a more "colored" note relating to the chord symbol.

[jmstritt]

If you are just starting off, you are probably making things too difficult for yourself. Before you start dealing with alterations and extensions, just start with the basics! There are five main chord qualities that are very common in jazz...

Here are the examples using F as the root of the chord.

Major 7 (F, A, C, E)
Dominant 7 (F, A, C, Eb)
Minor 7 (F, Ab, C, Eb)
Minor 7b5 (Half Diminished if you prefer) (F, Ab, Cb(B), Eb)
Diminished 7(F, Ab, Cb(B), Ebb (D))

Try to learn those basic chord types and inversions on at least three different string sets.

Start with 6th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd strings, then 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd strings, then 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings.

Once you get all of that under your fingers, you will have all of the fundamentals that you need to play through most jazz standards.

After that, you STILL don't need to worry about alterations, and extensions yet! There is an easier way to approach extensions! What you can do is substitute chords diatonically to give you different extensions. For instance I, iii, and vi chords can be substituted for each other. What this means is that if you have a Fmaj7, you can count up 3 from F and play an Amin7, or count up 6 and play a Dmin7. Look at the notes...

Fmaj7: F A C E
Amin7: A C E G (Fmaj9 sound)
Dmin7: D F A C (F 6 sound)

See, in this instance you don't need to learn a whole new set of voicings for major9 or 6 chords, you can just get more mileage out of the voicings you already know! The same thing works for subbing the ii and IV chord. In the key of F that is Gmin7 and Bbmaj7:

Gmin7: G Bb D F
Bbmaj7: Bb D F A (Gmin9 sound)

Cool right? The same thing works between the V and the vii, in the key of F this is C7 and E-7b5.

C7: C E G Bb
E-7b5:E G Bb D (C9 sound)

If you want to get an altered dominant sound you would swap a diminished 7th chord for the min7b5 chord...

C7: C E G Bb
Edim7: E G Bb Db (C7b9 sound)

Once you have all of this down you will be able to play Maj7, Maj9, and 6th chords, Min7 and Min9, dom7, dom9, and dom7b9, as well as -7b5, and diminished 7th chords. At this point all you are really missing is min/maj7, 11ths, and 13ths. Here is the beauty part, if you are playing a C7 or C9, sub the fourth in for the third and now you have a C sus11, or just add an A note on top and now you have the 13th, change that to an Ab and you have a C7b13. This stuff really isn't THAT hard, but if you try to make yourself do more work than you need to it will sure seem like it is!

I apologize for the lenghty post, but this is something that I see students struggle with often and I hope that this helps make you practice time a little more efficient, or easier at least!

[fep]

When I teach chords I like to teach what I call "chord sets". These are groups of chords that have smooth voice leading. Smooth in that there isn't a bunch of parallel motion, the steps are small (except the bass which is cool)...

Here's the first set I'd recommend (actually this is two sets), you can get a ton of use out of these. Play this as an exercise to get use to the fingerings:

[Electra11]

Wow!!!!!!!!!! jmstritt thank you so much for explaining the chord substitution for me, this incredibly useful! completely help me a lot! I will save what you write and learn for this...

Originally Posted by jmstritt

If you are just starting off, you are probably making things too difficult for yourself. Before you start dealing with alterations and extensions, just start with the basics! There are five main chord qualities that are very common in jazz...


I apologize for the lenghty post, but this is something that I see students struggle with often and I hope that this helps make you practice time a little more efficient, or easier at least!

[Electra11]

Thanks for the suggestion, feb I'm also practicing some progression similar to this and I'll try yours too.

[Melodic Dreamer]

Originally Posted by fep

When I teach chords I like to teach what I call "chord sets". These are groups of chords that have smooth voice leading. Smooth in that there isn't a bunch of parallel motion, the steps are small (except the bass which is cool)...

Here's the first set I'd recommend (actually this is two sets), you can get a ton of use out of these. Play this as an exercise to get use to the fingerings:

This is the kind of stuff I would like to see more of.

[fep]

Thanks Melodic Dreamer...

There were three more of these I was going to write up, I haven't gotten to it yet.

[Melodic Dreamer]

Originally Posted by fep

Thanks Melodic Dreamer...

There were three more of these I was going to write up, I haven't gotten to it yet.

I have a decent chord vocabulary, but I never seem to have the ability to make everything flow naturally. I new the positions in the previous post, but the idea of learning chord groups is great.
I would love to see this kind of thing in a Jazz Blues format.

[matt.guitarteacher]

I think Leavitt's Modern Method has chords sequenced in a really logical way for beginners. Just play the rhythm lessons. They voice-lead nicely and are prioritized by ease of playing and importance to play basic jazz tunes.

[rNeil]

This is a most useful thread!

Neil

[jckoto3]

Originally Posted by Melodic Dreamer

I have a decent chord vocabulary, but I never seem to have the ability to make everything flow naturally. I new the positions in the previous post, but the idea of learning chord groups is great.
I would love to see this kind of thing in a Jazz Blues format.

For Jazz blues look to Don Mock!! He has a series of videos on comping blues where he presents several voicing choices as well as several ideas for "fill" chords that illustrate voice-leading. Here's the first video [I think there are 7 in total]:

Don Mock / Jazz guitar /1 - YouTube

This is seriously one of the best videos concerning blues comping I've ever seen. Be sure to watch the whole series [via the "recommended videos" links in the youtube sidebar]. Don't judge the videos on the first two or three, they get much, much more informative.

[brwnhornet59]

Don Mock is great. I have been working with his "Guitar Secrets for MM". Great lines, awesome phrasing. I have learned a lot about the superstructures of the scale and it's modes from this.