The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    It's funny how we can "know" some aspects of theory but then something happens that suddenly deepens our understanding of the same concept. What were some moments when something? just finally clicked for you?

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    This seems like a great question, but how about an example before we chip in.

  4. #3

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    Understanding that my frame of reference isn't classical+jazz, it's classical+blues. That's the music I was immersed in in my formative teenage years.

  5. #4

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    251 In C

    D F A C B A G F E
    Up the ARP , down the scale
    Dave Cliff showed me ages ago
    A ha !
    Suddenly I could make music not just noodle about
    It literally changed everything for me ....

    Seems crazy now but true

  6. #5

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    16 32 32 16 16

  7. #6

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    The first 4-5 notes of Honeysuckle Rose.

  8. #7
    The realization that diminished chords are repeated every 3 half steps was pretty cool. I can't really think of anything else now that I'm trying to. My stupid brain isn't cooperating. I think I'm realizing though that the most important realizations aren't aha moments, but more like slowly made webs of connections that are just the result of spending time working on things in a somewhat structured manner. I've spent way too many years just noodling diatonically with no structure and that needs to change.

  9. #8
    I don't understand the 16 32 post. Google doesn't seem to know either.

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by PrestonHall
    The realization that diminished chords are repeated every 3 half steps was pretty cool. I can't really think of anything else now that I'm trying to. My stupid brain isn't cooperating. I think I'm realizing though that the most important realizations aren't aha moments, but more like slowly made webs of connections that are just the result of spending time working on things in a somewhat structured manner. I've spent way too many years just noodling diatonically with no structure and that needs to change.
    My "aha!" moment is related to this one of yours: it happened when I realized that dom and half-dim 7s also have a b5 interval built in, and for that reason, were susceptible to tritone substitution in a similar manner ... but one which also provided moving voices in the harmony.

  11. #10

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    I've been diving into the theory part of music just lately and been having a lot of these "aha!" Moments.

    For example, I've transcribed/notated some of my own old stuff that I've written on guitar based on familiar chord shapes and visual progressions - seeing the notes really opens up why some things fit together. Then I've reharmonised some of the parts by adding and removing notes in the chords. Fun stuff!

    Another thing that I noticed was that while practicing improvising, going "off" from the root and exploring the 2nd (9th) and the 6th (13th) was really rewarding, there's something about those intervals to my ears that I really like, at least against a simple 5th chord progression (descending dim scale)

    I expect more to come, because I'm still in the beginning.

  12. #11

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    That you could move a grip up through a scale. And, in melodic minor harmony every resulting voicing is interchangeable.

    That is, start with a chord you like and then move the note on each string, further up the string to the next note in the scale.

    From Mark Levine's Jazz Theory I learned that there is no avoid note in melodic minor harmony. That means that you can take any notes in the scale, make a chord and use them all interchangeably. They sound different, and you might not like some, but they all can work.

    It's few months work to get a couple of voicings under you fingers in 12 keys, but it can change the way you comp.

  13. #12

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    Aha...when you flat the 5 in a dom7 chord, it's tritone sub has exactly the same notes if you flat it's 5 also...the root and b5 are another tritone in addition to the 3 and b7 tritone...splitting the octave two different ways within the same chord.

    Db G B F = G7b5 = Db7b5

    This one simple observation really opened up the harmonic and melodic language of jazz for me, and is a cornerstone of my personal codex.
    Last edited by cosmic gumbo; 04-25-2017 at 04:05 AM.

  14. #13

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    Parent Keys instead of Modes.
    If I want D Dorian I can use any structure or arpeggio from Parent Key C Major instead of thinking of a 'scale' all bunched up and ' in order alphabeticaly etc.

    Amazing relationships between Major Scales or Keys and Modes and Pentatonics substituting for each other OR covering the entire Chromatic scale with just a Major scale and a #IV Pentatonic.

    A major scale or Key contains the I ,IV ,and V Major
    Pentatonics and their Relative Minor Pentatonics .




    That the Basis for all improvisation are 'Melodic Cadences' which is a fancy way of saying Targeting
    Chord Tones and Extensions - regardless of Theory Knowledge or lack of it- all Improvisers or Soloists must do this-
    BUT the above 'Rule' can be bent somewhat and by using Arpeggiated Triads and other things as phrase endings you can ' Force ' the Listener to hear your entire previous
    Line in a few different Keys or Chordal Regions- merely by changing the last 3 or 4 Notes. A BIG one for me.

    This works with ' scalar ' playing Vertical Playing..Intervallic Playing ..- i.e. you can play linear stacks of Fourths and move them around and the 'Listener' will hear what you just played in Eminor if you end on an E minor Triad arp- OR B minor if you end there..or even further away etc.
    The mind goes 'back in time' and assigns the previous harmony according to the Cadence!

    A simpler version of this is when you land on a ninth versus a fifth with a long note Value it ' colors' the Previous part of the Phrase differently...but this is a weaker version of actually 'forcing ' the Listener to hear the Previous Identical Phrase in a different Key or Chordal Region by a strong Melodic Cadence.
    Of course- this is much more evident when playing Solo because with another Chordal Instrument - the context is more fixed ( improv. more in Context of the Chords )...just a Bassist ..less fixed.
    But it still Occurs .

    This also happens in some distant Modulations Harmonically- where the listener temporarily hears the' new ' Harmony in the Previous Key( as' Outside ')THEN accepts it with the 'New' Cadences .

    As a Writer I wanted to get this Conceptually ..I almost have it but need to get much better at distant Modulations that are smooth and feel good.




    That being able to play the notes that my mind 'hears' I can play Rhythmic and Melodic Motifs and that my main Problem or Threshhold is ONLY my own inability to play what I' hear' next - 'stick the landing' so to speak.

    Now as an 'advanced beginner'- subject to correction by the Jazz Veterans and Theorists:

    When a 'Jazz Guy 'says you can use this scale over this chord or type of chord- it will always work-
    BUT - they don't mean it's the ONLY Scale or ONLY thing that will work.
    AND - they don't mean you need to Play the Scale in alphabetical order with the Intervals close together.

    SO - remember that the C Major Scale OR ANY MAJOR SCALE contains the I IV and V Major Pentatonics AND the ii , iii , and vi Minor Pentatonics

    SO - you have 6 Pentatonic Scales for any Mode-
    AND unlike Major and Minor 7 Note Scales- it IS COMMON in Jazz, Bluegrass , Country, Blues, Rock ,
    Fusion, R&B, Post Coltrane Polkas- to 'run' or Play Pentatonics VERBATIM ( you should ultimately do more but you will sound MUCH more Pro playing Pentas than 7 Note Scales as a beginner.

    To actually USE 7 note scales without sounding like a Music School Student is trickier IMO than using Scorpio Subset Pentatonic Concept ( lol- ) and playing Pentatonics IMO.

    Because of a technical AHA of taking my fret hand thumb off the top of neck I can now play most of what I hear to a very high level- should have done it in the 1980s but better late than never ..
    Last edited by Robertkoa; 10-23-2017 at 08:55 AM.

  15. #14

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    An "Aha" about the fingerboard I still don't quite know what to do with is the pattern of step-half-step and Step-step-step that the "3 notes to the string" guys talk about. It seems somehow important but I haven't yet figured out why.

    Another "aha!" for me... a frustrated life-long folk guitar and very mediocre classical guitar player, I turned on the radio and heard somebody just playing the heck out of "Stomping at Savoy" live on solo guitar... I called the station and asked who that was and what kind music is that and does he have other records.

    In a voice that seemed to ask, "Any more like you at home?" he said "Joe Pass, jazz, and they are CDs now, not 'records'"...

    I was hooked forever.

  16. #15

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    Harmonized scales! Decades ago I was transcribing folk tunes and piano rags for finger-style guitar and realized much of what I liked was based on triads moving up and down the scale. It really opened things up for me.

    Years later, Tim Lerch did a nice clinic series on "Fluid Harmony." Harmonized scales were a big part of that, but he then showed how to integrate the triad voices with scale-based or chromatic approach tones to get something much richer -- like a choir. That was another aha! moment. I should dig out my notes from that series for a refresher.
    Last edited by KirkP; 04-25-2017 at 01:00 PM.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Robertkoa
    That the Basis for all improvisation are 'Melodic Cadences' which is a fancy way of saying Targeting
    Chord Tones and Extensions - regardless of Theory Knowledge or lack of it- all Improvisers or Soloists must do this-
    BUT the above 'Rule' can be bent somewhat and by using Arpeggiated Triads and other things as phrase endings you can ' Force ' the Listener to hear your entire previous
    Line in a few different Keys or Chordal Regions- merely by changing the last 3 or 4 Notes. A BIG one for me.

    That being able to play the notes that my mind 'hears' I can play Rhythmic and Melodic Motifs and that my main Problem or Threshhold is ONLY my own inability to play what I' hear' next - 'stick the landing' so to speak.
    Yup -- in my lexicon, the key (pardon the pun) of modal playing is the resolution. This too has opened up a lot for me, because even mistakes can be modal excursions so long as I'm on top of them enough to resolve back to tonality. That means, to use your own metaphor, that if I don't stick the landing, I roll and tumble a little until the next beat comes around.

    I'm told that really smart musicians call this "building tension". Works for me.
    Last edited by Thumpalumpacus; 04-26-2017 at 01:00 AM.

  18. #17

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    Oh, and another "aha" moment for me was understanding how chords are built by stacking thirds, and the transferring that information over to my soloing. Good way to walk into a chord-change.

  19. #18

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    That we're not really "playing the changes". We're playing against the changes a little. Tension and resolution.

  20. #19

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    There are only two chords in any given key! It's some variation of I maj7, or it's a variation of V7.
    Great idea for a thread, thanks.

  21. #20

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    I posted this before (dominant chords for motion)

  22. #21

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    Having difficulties trying to get the altered scale into my ears and hands, I aha-ed when I realized that playing a Db lydian b7 scale to approach C7 in a G Blues means playing G altered.
    I´m not sure if that answers lawson-stones post, but another aha moment for me was playing pentatonics on a 6 string bass tuned B E A D G C. I realized that the 5 positions of the regular pentatonic (2 notes per string) all follow the same whole tone, whole tone, whole tone, minor third, minor third form. (not counting the intervals going from one string to the next) A similar formula is true for 3 note per string patterns, again not counting the intervals between strings. The formula goes 3 times whole tone whole tone (example: G mixolydian scale starting on the note G, 3rd fret on low E string: g a b, c d e, f g a), 2 times half tone whole tone (b c d, e f g), 2 times whole tone half tone (a b c, d e f). You would need 7 strings to complete one full cycle and you must know where in the cycle you start, but the formula still works on regular tuned guitars.
    Another more theoretical way of looking at the 3 notes per string scales is the order of the modes from dark to bright: locrian, phrygian, aeolian, dorian, mixolydian, ionian, lydian. Looking at pairs of adjacent strings (E/A, A/D, D/G, G/B, B/E) starting on the note B, 7th fret on low E string (this time counting intervals on each string and between strings with reference to the first note of each 2 string pattern) you get: root, minor second, minor third, perfect fourth, dim fifth, minor sixth, which is the beginning of locrian. A an D string, same position starting on the note E, 7th fret A string you get: root, minor second, minor third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, minor sixth, which is the beginning of phrygian...

  23. #22

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    When finally got a personal proof that it is possible to learn to play solos only by ear without spending a second thinking about positions/theory/technical stuff.

  24. #23

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    The aha-ha moment: when I saw that every maj7 had two keys, every min7, three keys, every min7b5 one key and every dominant has one key.

  25. #24
    What's this three keys thing? I don't get it.

  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by PrestonHall
    What's this three keys thing? I don't get it.
    Me neither !

    It's a deep Aha !

    The Shaolin Mystery of the 3 Keys
    Last edited by Robertkoa; 05-13-2017 at 03:04 AM.