The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    post your hippest , coolest ,
    most usefull, etc
    chord patterns here please

    no analysis is necessary
    (although you can of course if you want or need to)
    or an example of a tune it works in

    just to kick off
    2 5 1 in Ab blues

    xx6668
    xx5658
    xx6576

    ain’t she pretty ?

    I do hope this thread has legs

    ps the above xxxxxx form of noting
    the shapes is ideal for this purpose
    hope you agree ....

    pps this thread was kinda instigated
    by the mighty Reg

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Don’t know exactly the parameters of how Reg defines chord patterns.
    He also speaks about lead lines. Made this up starting with same C > Bb II V I
    lead line but continued on targeting the 5th instead of the 9th and adding some approach chords along the way.

    x x 11 8 9 8 ….. x x 7 6 6 8

    x x 6 6 6 6 ….. x 2 3 1 5 x

    x 3 4 3 4 x

  4. #3

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    There is a lot I'd like to know about this topic.

    This is something that Reg is a master at. He doesn't comp the same way twice (every chorus is different) and he has an extensive vocabulary (if I can call it that, he may be improvising rather than playing rehearsed material) of harmonic ideas.

    What I think he means by "chord patterns" is sequences of chords that can be applied:

    1. in place of static harmony.

    2. as an on-the-fly reharm while comping.

    So, for example, take a song that goes from C to A7. You could play C Bb7 A7. Or you could play C B7b13 Em7 A7b13. Or????

  5. #4
    thanks bako

    keep em coming guys and gals

  6. #5

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    Jazz blues long resolution turnaround
    bII I bVII VI V I* VI bIII ii bVI V bii I

    (x) (15) (16) (15) (18) (x)
    (x) (14) (14) (14) (15) (x)
    (x) (12) (13) (12) (15) (x)
    (x) (11) (11) (11) (12) (x)
    (x) (9) (10) (9) (12) (x)
    (x) (8) (9) (9) (8) (x) *you may stop here, or keep going...
    (x) (7) (6) (7) (8) (x)
    (6) (x) (6) (5) (5) (x)
    (5) (x) (5) (5) (5) (x)
    (x) (6) (5) (6) (6) (x)
    (x) (5) (4) (5) (6) (x)
    (4) (x) (4) (3) (3) (x)
    (3) (x) (2) (2) (3) (x)

  7. #6
    wow that’s striking Paul !

    other more prosaic and cliche chord
    patters gratefully accepted as well

    like In Bb

    xx3336
    xx5546
    xx5656
    xx5766

    cliche maybe but handy ....

  8. #7

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    a few more...

    x 8 9 9 8 x
    x 7 7 7 8 x
    x 6 7 7 8 x
    x x 6 7 8 8
    3 x 2 2 3 x

    --------------------

    x x 5 5 5 7
    x 7 7 7 8 x
    x 9 10 9 12 x
    x 12 13 12 15 x
    x 14 14 14 15 x

    --------------------

    x 9 10 10 9
    x 8 9 8 8 x
    8 x 8 8 8 x
    or
    x x 10 11 13 13
    x x 9 10 11 11
    x x 8 8 8 9

    --------------------

  9. #8

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    One thing I don't quite understand is how to find usable patterns.

    One way is to study arranging techniques. The arrangers may create a chord (in the horns) on every note of a line. That video on arranging someone just posted explained some techniques, including interpolating diminished chords and sliding in from a half step away. Or putting the melody note at the top and dropping another diatonic third for each horn, descending in pitch. All will work on guitar.

    The idea of using borrowing from other modes is confusing to me. Clearly, there are some chord patterns which will work, and people describe them as borrowed from X. But, X also contains things that don't work as well, and I don't see how the concept of borrowing helps you separate out the good ones. So, I end up back where I started -- working out something on tune laboriously and then trying to apply it in other tunes.

    What shortcut might I be missing?

  10. #9

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    from Jim Hall's 'Osaka Expess' (final bars of the theme):

    x8998x
    x7888x
    x6778x
    x7888x
    x8998x

  11. #10

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    rpjazzguitar
    As an ear player (and ear composer) I don't know the name of the technique, but I find some things by taking existing chords, dropping them out, hearing the melody line, and rebuilding something that expresses the harmony for the melody line and still holds nicely in the progression, not throwing things unrecognizably off.
    Sometimes I do this to songs that may seem to be a little crowded with two fives, or where I would like to improvise something a little different and need a slightly different harmony to support it that still supports the melody.
    For example, on the two five Bbm7 -> Eb(9) in Stella I like the G whole-half diminished over the Eb(9) but not so much over the Bbm7. If I change that two five to a single chord Dbaug6, the G WHdim sounds nice, the harmony still sounds like the song, and the melody line is preserved.
    OK, I guess reharmonization is what this is called?

    So, Stella example, usual way is
    Dm7 Bbm7 -> Eb(9) Fmaj7

    substitution is
    Dm7 Dbaug6 Fmaj7 ... I like the Dbaug6 voiced like this 9 x 8 10 10 x

    Supports the same harmony as Eb Lydian Dominant rooted on Db
    (is that the seventh mode of LD, third mode of MM, Lydian Augmented?)

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by pauln
    rpjazzguitar
    As an ear player (and ear composer) I don't know the name of the technique, but I find some things by taking existing chords, dropping them out, hearing the melody line, and rebuilding something that expresses the harmony for the melody line and still holds nicely in the progression, not throwing things unrecognizably off.
    Sometimes I do this to songs that may seem to be a little crowded with two fives, or where I would like to improvise something a little different and need a slightly different harmony to support it that still supports the melody.
    For example, on the two five Bbm7 -> Eb(9) in Stella I like the G whole-half diminished over the Eb(9) but not so much over the Bbm7. If I change that two five to a single chord Dbaug6, the G WHdim sounds nice, the harmony still sounds like the song, and the melody line is preserved.
    OK, I guess reharmonization is what this is called?

    So, Stella example, usual way is
    Dm7 Bbm7 -> Eb(9) Fmaj7

    substitution is
    Dm7 Dbaug6 Fmaj7 ... I like the Dbaug6 voiced like this 9 x 8 10 10 x

    Supports the same harmony as Eb Lydian Dominant rooted on Db
    (is that the seventh mode of LD, third mode of MM, Lydian Augmented?)
    That sounds great. Thanks for posting it.

    To try to connect this to some scrap of theory ...

    Dbaug6 is Db F A Bb.

    I don't know how to characterize the tonal center at that point in the tune, or if the question even makes sense. You might say it's Abmajor, which case this is an Ebdominant substitution with b7, 9, #11 and 5. And, as you pointed out, that looks like an Eb lydian dominant would fit.

    TBH, I never thought about it that way until this post. I hear that Dm7 to Bbm7 as a quick, idiosyncratic harmonic device and I outline it by thinking about the chord tones. So, I'm likely to use a Db and a Bb, I guess. I'd probably think no further than chord tones of Bbm7, for better or worse. The positive side is that it will not make clams. The negative is that my playing stays too vanilla.

  13. #12

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    This is almost a cliche these days, but I like it. Bb7

    6 x 6 6 4 x
    X x 6 7 5 x
    x x x x 6 x
    x x x x 7 x
    x x 6 7 8 x

  14. #13

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    Rhythm changes

    10 x 10 10 10 x
    9 x 9 9 7 x
    8 x 8 8 8 x
    x 6 7 7 7 x
    Repeat with
    11 x 11 11 9 x

    x 8 6 8 8 x
    x 7 6 7 7 x
    x 6 5 5 6 x

    4 x 4 5 3 x
    3 x 3 4 4 x
    2 x 2 3 1 x
    1 x 1 2 3 x

  15. #14

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    Wagner says

    x 8 9 8 9 x
    x 8 9 8 10 x
    x 7 6 7 x 6
    x 7 6 7 x 7
    x x 7 9 10 8

    Basically it’s F7 E7 Am

    Contrary chromatic motion is a nice thing.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick Wright
    from Jim Hall's 'Osaka Expess' (final bars of the theme):

    x8998x
    x7888x
    x6778x
    x7888x
    x8998x
    Hall used ambiguous voicing with such taste and confidence..

    Howard Roberts had some lessons on this type of harmony and noted the names of the "chords" are not as important as the harmonic movement they impart

  17. #16

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    A little more from from Jim Hall's 'Osaka Express' duet with Red Mitchell. (Even parallel motion works for Jim!)

    x 6 7 7 7 x
    x 7 8 8 8 x

    x x 8 9 10 9
    x x 9 10 11 10

    x 7 8 8 8 x
    x10 11 11 11x

    x 5 6 6 6 x
    x 8 9 9 9 x

    x 3 4 4 4 x
    x 6 7 7 7 x

    x 1 2 2 2 x

    then :

    x8998x
    x7888x
    x6778x
    x7888x
    x8998x
    Last edited by Mick Wright; 08-28-2022 at 05:58 AM.

  18. #17

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    I like this thread, we get to look under the hood at some pretty sophisticated harmony that some of you cats like to use. But am I the only one wishing there was a little more description or analysis to go with it? I get that a lot of these dynamic passing chords defy description, but maybe a little more information about the general outline of things would be welcome for some of us?

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by princeplanet
    I like this thread, we get to look under the hood at some pretty sophisticated harmony that some of you cats like to use. But am I the only one wishing there was a little more description or analysis to go with it? I get that a lot of these dynamic passing chords defy description, but maybe a little more information about the general outline of things would be welcome for some of us?
    I would say, don’t get dragged down too much into analysis. The important thing is to know what you are harmonising in terms of the lead lien (so chord melody arrangements are good practice)and what the gist of the progression is - whether it’s embellishing a I chord like a turnaround, or is some sort of cadence like a ii V I.

    For the chromatic stuff it’s all about voice leading by semitones. So you start maybe with

    10 x 10 10 10 x
    9 x 9 9 9 x
    8 x 8 8 8 x

    Which is simply away of getting from Dm7 to Cm7. Pretty obvious for a guitarist right? Simply a passing chord.

    If you want to break up the parallelism you can use a little bit of contrary motion so we have the top voice moving upwards against the bass and middle voices moving down in the second to third chords.

    10 x 10 10 10 x
    9 x 9 9 7 x
    8 x 8 8 8 x

    Very simple, but highly effective principle

    So we could write
    Dm7 Dbm11 | Cm7

    The chord on the weak side of the first bar is again just a passing chord.

    It’s acting much like G7 and you can tie yourself in knots with BS theory about this or that chord scale but ultimately the meaning of this chord is movement. (And you can use chord scales for this purpose too, as chords scales are simply extended chords.)

    Do this for every bar and you get a regular consonance/dissonance pattern. This drives the music forward harmonically. You don't have to worry about the dissonance being, well dissonant because you are always resolving on the next 1. (Later you can subvert this.)

    At least that’s how Peter Bernstein teaches it. Here’s Kurt outlining a similar principle. Strong side/weak side; strong chords relate to consonant chords by and large, while the weak side chords are for movement. You can be very creative.



    In the Wagner example the dissonance is placed on the beat, subverting the expectation. Bear in mind that theorists have been arguing about this chord for a century and a half lol
    Last edited by Christian Miller; 08-28-2022 at 05:22 AM.

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick Wright
    A little more from from Jim Hall's 'Osaka Express' duet with Red Mitchell. (Even parallel motion works for Jim!)

    x8998x
    x7888x
    x6778x
    x7888x
    x8998x
    This is an interesting bit. It can also be played starting with xx3453 (typically employed for G13). Then, you hold the high note (G) while moving the other three notes down a fret and then another, and back up.

    You could play the opening of rhythm changes with it.

    I like for Lady Be Good. G, then C9 then, when it comes back to G in bar 3, play this lick.

    The are many other situations where one can take an obvious chord, pedal the soprano voice and slide the others. Try it with every chord of All of Me. It's a quick lick, not all 8 beats of a chord.

  21. #20

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    That Jim hall idea reminded me an organising factor having a pedal tone in the treble is often very practical; they make for good comping ideas and also harmonising long notes in melodies. You can get quite chromatic and out if you want, too.

    How about

    Fm7 C7b13 Emaj7/B B13 | Bbm7 F7b13 Amaj7/E E7 | Eb7b5

    for the first few bars of ATTYA

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
    ... It can also be played starting with xx3453 ...
    Yes, with a different tone on the thinner string-set too

    xx3453
    xx2343
    xx1233
    xx2343
    xx3453



    Or, for an extended V-I in D major with contrary motion, explore the following sequence (with variations):

    x05675
    x04566
    x03457
    x05678
    557779

  23. #22

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    Yea... very cool thread Pingu. I can already see help might be needed LOL.

    So yea now you getting into actual playing in a jazz style. Not that other styles aren't.... but there is a difference... a big difference.

    So the point isn't to be cool or hip, or play these out note collections, your not trying to play something different. Your trying to play the easy simple stuff.... but give it some grease or dirt depending on where your at, your creating better feels. Make the BS come alive.

    Here's a simple example of simple I IV in F, slow blusey feel, like mm 90-96, triplet feels. The roots and actual changes, F7 to Bb7 are already implied, so you don't need to always keep them them pounded out. I'll use a Blue note lead line... most of the time on top, but can move around once established.

    I might start with a triplet pick up (could be half note triplet)

    6 X 6 7 X X.... Bb7 Pick up
    X 5 6 5 6 X.... D-7b5
    X 3 2 3 4 4.... C7#9
    ________________ bar1

    X 5 6 6 5 X .... E7 (13) grace note chord beat 1
    X 6 7 7 6 X .... F7 (13)

    X 5 6 6 5 X .... E7 (13) grace note chord + of beat 1
    X 6 7 7 6 X .... F7 (13)

    rest on beat 2

    X 8 8 8 8 10...... F13sus beat 3
    X X 13 12 10 13.. C-11
    X X 8 8 8 10 ...... F13sus beat 4
    X 8 7 8 9 X ........ F7#9
    _________________ bar 2

    X 4 5 4 5 X GN chord A7 beat 1
    X 5 6 5 6 X ...... Bb7
    X 4 5 4 5 X GN chord A7
    X 5 6 5 6 X ...... Bb7

    rest beat 2

    X X 9 8 9 7 B6 beat 3
    X X 8 7 8 6 Bb6
    X X 6 5 6 4 Ab6 ( could be F7#9)

    X X 6 7 8 8 Bb13 beat4
    X 3 2 3 4 4 C7#9
    _____________ bar 3

    X 5 6 6 5 X .... E7 (13) grace note chord thing beat 1
    X 6 7 7 6 X .... F7 (13)

    more chord pattern fills etc... what I would play would depend on gig and musicians etc...

    C7alt.. and then

    __________________bar4

    F7 fill and get to the IV chord

    And expand and build to next 4 bar phrase on the IV chord


    Then the Turn around.

    I'll try and post something... busy and again today etc.... But I'll put up some samples... they go by quick. You need chops and even more important... you need really good rhythmic slills.

    But the dumb down version... is I use strong beat Targets..... and approach them using what I call expanded Diatonic harmony Chord Patterns. And they tend to implay the Target while still keeping the Big tonal Picture going on.

    As Rick was saying... I generally do this on the fly, it's reactionary, not memorized etc...

  24. #23

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    Bret Willmot's book has some great material on voice leading and this topic.

    Amazon.com

  25. #24

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    Reg's youtube videos show exactly what he's writing about.

    Reg523 on youtube. I'd suggest starting with the blues video.

  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by princeplanet
    I like this thread, we get to look under the hood at some pretty sophisticated harmony that some of you cats like to use. But am I the only one wishing there was a little more description or analysis to go with it? I get that a lot of these dynamic passing chords defy description, but maybe a little more information about the general outline of things would be welcome for some of us?
    I'll give it a try. I called my first one "Jazz blues long resolution turnaround". It's a series of harmonies that can cover either a short (if you stop on the sixth one) or a long (if you keep going) jazz blues turnaround. The motive at the "design composition level" attempts to make the chords sound like they're doing two things:

    -resolving some of the previous chord's tension

    -adopting new tension in a different direction

    So, a chain of chords where each tends to resolve the one behind it, but does so while adopting tension in another "direction" for the next chord to resolve. Those harmonic directions pull from the "extra chords" that blues lingo calls "the changes" - which is a lump label for chords used that may not be part of the simple progression form, e.g., the extra slide down chords from a half step above (bII to I, bV to IV), chromatic vamps, diminished (like bVdim when the IV goes back to the I), augmented chords as intros (Vaug) and subsequent subs for "V of I", etc.

    Play through it and listen to the trail of voices for resolving and tension. At first listen, it kind of sounds like maybe each chord is resolving one voice on one string and adding a tension on another string (all these chords are using the inner four strings and are close enough on the finger board that their pitches are overlapping the spans of the fingerings, so it is suggestive to treat each string as a voice here).
    The closer you examine these things the more objects and relationships you can find or derive for deeper analysis, another way of looking at it.

    Let's see what we can find out...

    The progression is comprised of harmonic entities (chords)
    What is changing chord to chord are some of their elements (pitches)
    So we want to
    -determine the changes in those roles as voices from chord to chord
    -assess those voice role changes as tensions, resolutions, or just neutral (T, R, N)
    -represent the TRN histories of those
    voice role changes through the progression

    Progression of the chords
    This provides the roots which are missing in all these chords except the last one, where it is the top voice
    bII I bVII VI V I
    played like

    x 15 16 15 18 x
    x 14 14 14 15 x
    x 12 13 12 15 x
    x 11 11 11 12 x
    x 9 10 9 12 x
    x 8 9 9 8 x

    Take the first two chords
    Assign the roots to the chords
    x 15 16 15 18 x (the root is Ab)
    x 14 14 14 15 x (the root is G)

    View pitches harmonically by determining their roles in their chords
    Compare what role each string voice pitch is playing in its chord
    x 3 b7 9 13 x
    x 3 6 9 5 x

    Changes in roles - what are they doing in terms of tension/resolution?
    We are now looking at the above rows vertically and reforming them back to rows - what happens on each string (voice)
    3 -> 3 Neutral
    b7
    -> 6 Resolving
    9
    -> 9 Neutral
    13
    -> 5 Resolving

    Next pair
    x 14 14 14 15 x (the root is G)
    x 12 13 12 15 x (the root is F)
    Roles
    x 3 6 9 5 x (already know this from above)
    x 3 b7 9 13 x (also already know this, same chord type as the first chord, but always check the root to be sure)
    Changes
    3 -> 3 Neutral
    6
    -> b7 Tension
    9
    -> 9 Neutral
    5
    -> 13 Tension

    Next pair
    x 12 13 12 15 x (the root is F)
    x 11 11 11 12 x (the root is E)
    Roles
    x 3 b7 9 13 x
    x 3 6 9 5 x
    Changes
    3 -> 3 Neutral
    b7 -> 6 Resolving
    9
    -> 9 Neutral
    13 -> 5 Resolving

    Next pair
    x 11 11 11 12 x
    x 9 10 9 12 x
    Roles
    x 3 6 9 5 x
    x 3 b7 9 13 x
    Changes
    3 -> 3 Neutral
    6
    -> b7 Tension
    9
    -> 9 Neutral
    5
    -> 13 Tension

    Next pair
    x 9 10 9 12 x
    x 8 9 9 8 x
    Roles
    x 3 b7 9 13 x
    x b7 3 6 1 x
    Changes
    3 -> b7 Tension
    b7 -> 3 Resolution
    9 -> 6 Neutral
    13 -> 1 Resolution

    So now, a combined summary of all the the roles looks like this:
    x 3 b7 9 13 x
    x 3 6 9 5 x
    x 3 b7 9 13 x
    x 3 6 9 5 x
    x 3 b7 9 13 x
    x b7 3 6 1 x
    We notice explicitly the last chord (the tonic) is the only one that contains its root (on top)
    We see that he 3 b7 9 13 and the 3 6 9 5 roles are alternating (trading places)

    We have already abstracted from the roles to the changes in the roles and made assessments of these role changes as a sense of resolution, tension, or neutrality (all done above in the "Changes" sections for each pair of chords). Now we may produce a combined summary of the changes across the four strings (across the four voices) for the progression chords. So now we're looking at rows showing the string voice histories of resolution/tension through the five progression changes coded as TRN.

    A string N N N N T
    D string R T R T R
    G string N N N N N
    B string R T R T R


    We have compressed six four-string chords totaling 24 pitches in order to notice some curious things:
    -G string voice is neutral throughout, not contributing tension or resolution
    -A string voice is neutral until its tension at the last change
    -D and B string voices look to be always contributing tension/resolution, always alternating, always matching


    I'm pretty sure the the canonical music theory has well defined names for all the objects and relationships in the harmonic algebra I went through above. Some might argue that my sense of tension/resolution does not match theirs in some contexts; perhaps a tension/resolution scale with more than just three values would "resolve" that.

    You know, I have a list of chords I will put up in a minute... I wonder if anyone has ever attempted to rank them by tension/resolution?




    Last edited by pauln; 08-28-2022 at 06:30 PM.