The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Folks, I know I have been around here way too long to be just discovering it, but I just figured out how important it is to have those altered notes (at least for me) when practicing.

    I have used various instructional materials through the years. When working on a basic 2-5-1, I always ended up getting bored. I finally figured out that its because I am using all the same diatonic notes. For instance, for the chord progression GMaj7, Gmaj7, Amin7, D7, I would use G Ionian, A Dorian, and D Mixolydian. Practice always sounded so, so monotonous after awhile. Of course, these are all notes from the G Major Scale.

    Today, I followed the more advanced advice that many have given of playing various altered tones on the D7 chord. It has added excitement, enough that I can stick with it longer. And, now I am hearing those lines that I can play on Major Chord, lines that I just could not hear before as the practice quickly turned into a slog through just the diatonic notes of this scale. I can't wait to add more chords now. I am comfortable with vamps but now, I have a pathway to playing songs with many more chords.

    Just my two cents...

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  3. #2

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    You can also treat the ii as a IIalt, and the V as a TT sub; by extension, then the IIalt can also be treated as its TT sub, which is bVIalt.

    In other words, within the limits of what's musical for a given situation, you can treat everything in ii V I as an altered dominant or its tritone sub until you resolve the phrase.

    And you don't have to resolve to I; try resolving to iii or vi.

  4. #3

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    I've found one way to make diatonic harmony slightly more interesting is hit the off color tones within the scale; playing the 6th against the 7th and v v. If it's a G Maj7 then try a pentatonic or maybe a scale/arpeggio that includes the 4th (Am).

  5. #4

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    There's a video of Jimmy Bruno playing the notes of a Bb scale, or maybe just the arpeggio, against Bbmaj7 and sounding great. He has a gift for melody and has top-pro time feel.

    So, one thing to consider is trying to make great melody, with great time-feel, using just a few notes.

    After that, keep the great time feel and expand harmonically.

    Against the V7, the following are often suggested.

    1. Play the tritone sub as an arp. So, say, against D7, play Ab7. Don't just run the arp. Use the notes to make melody in no pre-conceived order.

    2. Play the minor add 9 a half step higher. That would be Ebm add9 against D7. Eb Gb Bb F works great.

    3. Think about the b9 of D7 and add it to your lines.

    4. Then the #9

    5. Then the #11

    6. Then the b13.

    7. Then the b9 and #9.

    8. Do all the combinations possible of altered 5th and 9ths. Always make melody with the notes. Running the scale or arp may sound good, but that's only one way.

    9. After you've got all that done -- a few months of work -- you might take an hour and find the equivalent chord scale theory. You'll find equivalent modes of the major scale and modes of melodic minor.

    10. Try it all again in a minor key.

  6. #5

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    Thanks all of you for indulging me.

    I am already using some of your tips, such as that b9 on D7, or playing scales or arpeggios with the roots a half step up or down.

    I have pulled out my old Boss RC-2 loop pedal (wish is had some good Jazz beats, however) and I am spending an hour a day trying to internalize the notes that I like within each chord.

    I am also playing a little with Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor. But, for now, I am just focused on the notes and the licks that I am developing.

    This is so much more fun now. A lot of instructional courses have you playing diatonic exercises before they add tension notes, and I can never get to that section without growing bored and losing interest.

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by AlsoRan
    Thanks all of you for indulging me.

    I am already using some of your tips, such as that b9 on D7, or playing scales or arpeggios with the roots a half step up or down.

    I have pulled out my old Boss RC-2 loop pedal (wish is had some good Jazz beats, however) and I am spending an hour a day trying to internalize the notes that I like within each chord.

    I am also playing a little with Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor. But, for now, I am just focused on the notes and the licks that I am developing.

    This is so much more fun now. A lot of instructional courses have you playing diatonic exercises before they add tension notes, and I can never get to that section without growing bored and losing interest.
    There are lots of ways to do this and I doubt that I did it the best way. That said, my epiphany came when I learned to hear the b9 note with the V7 in a iim V7. Next was the F. Then the Eb and F. The Ab wasn't too bad. The Bb was harder for my ear.

    Later, I found out that an Ebm add 9 worked. It gives b9 3 b13 and #9.

    Looking back, I think I did best when I worked on one sound at a time. So, say it's the b9. There are 12 keys and a zillion songs. Start putting it in songs until it's automatic.

  8. #7

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    I know that some jazz musicians listen to what other people play over a V7 to determine if folks are authentic jazzers or fakers. I hear many good technicians playing mostly diatonic stuff and think it's jazz, when it kinda isn't.

  9. #8

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    "If it sounds good, it is good" -Duke

  10. #9

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    I’m not sure we should even teach the vanilla version.

  11. #10

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    A ii V I without altered notes is like a story without drama, like a dish without flavour.

    bottom line it’s all voice leading. It’s actually incredibly natural to the guitar. Just join up the dots.

    It’s something that you can totally learn without theory...

  12. #11

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    This is a realisation I had a while back, this is a different perspective on the matter of these altered notes.


  13. #12

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  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
    I know that some jazz musicians listen to what other people play over a V7 to determine if folks are authentic jazzers or fakers. I hear many good technicians playing mostly diatonic stuff and think it's jazz, when it kinda isn't.
    You folks hit it right on the head about using all or mostly diatonic notes.

    It struck my dull mind that all I was doing was playing the G Major Scale. C Ionian, A Dorian, and D Mixolydian are just G Major scale notes, as you folks are saying. Even though you are playing modes, that note collection is the same. That is not what I am looking for.

    Right now, I am playing playing the Natural Minor and Harmonic Minor on the Amin7 chord. Like rp suggested, I am adding the b9 and #9 to the D Mixolydian.

    Those altered notes "touch" me, somehow.

  15. #14

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    Here's an exercise.

    Key of G, 2 beats per chord. 100 bpm.

    Gmaj7 Bb13 Am7 D7.

    Play the chords with an exaggerated swing feel.

    Then, when you get to the D7, hit it short and use the remainder of the 2 beats of D7 to play a short fill.

    Start with something like an F note (not chord) to an Eb. Embellish. Don't hesitate to mix in diatonics and/or scale tones.

    Then, try it with Bb and Ab.

    Mix in some diatonics.

    Keep doing it. Sing along. Burn those sounds into your mind.

  16. #15

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    An early angle I realized and added to my personal codex was understanding that if you divide an octave in half, the resulting interval is b5. If you take the b5 of the V7, that is the root of the tritone sub. The b5 of the tritone sub is the root of the V7 chord.

    Applying this helped my ear learn the importance and logic of that most fundamental sound on the altered V7. I feel it's the most important altered jazz sound to first get into your ears and learn to enjoy hearing and using. After that, it begins to get easier to enjoy going outside.

    Like they say, swing musicians drank their fifths, beboppers flatted theirs.

  17. #16

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    Congraulations AlsoRan ... major step, next you'll be walking, then running, hell you might even have a destination.
    Just having fun.... good luck, if I can help[, hit me up.

  18. #17

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    It's acquiring vocabulary and implementing it for specific execution of phrases. One of the biggest hurdles may be a self imposed failure to generalize vocabulary. What does that mean?

    It means that one might be hunting for jazz vocabulary by listening to the executed phrases of others and basically categorizing them with an interest in only those that "sound like jazz". What I have found is that there are countless lines and phrases from cousins of jazz (gypsy, fusion, and blues) that may be examined, internalized to generalized vocabulary, and used in jazz ideas.

    Generalizing vocabulary is done by lifting the specific line or phrase from its context and playing with it experimentally within a jazz context, discovering jazz changes that support or compliment it, reordering the notes and time feel, adjusting note selection from the original set, completely changing it up in mood and feel, etc.

    Part of this is learning a lot about how to make things sound like the sound of jazz, but the primary thing is an expansion of vocabulary and the methods by which an instance of generalized vocabulary (an abstract musical idea) may be connected to and expressed through a specific jazz context (an executed expressed musical idea).

    One thing we can always do immediately is review everything we know how to play that is not jazz, and begin generalizing that familiar vocabulary to learn and explore more easily how to do this, then hunt for new sounds, capture, and convert them, too; knowing what this means and how it works.

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Reg
    Congraulations AlsoRan ... major step, next you'll be walking, then running, hell you might even have a destination.
    Just having fun.... good luck, if I can help[, hit me up.
    Thanks, Reg! And I know it is taking me long enough to get passed modal tunes and simpler blues progressions, but I am finally seeing the light!