Guitar Jazz Chords

Guitar jazz chords are a key part of learning to play jazz guitar. They add richness, depth and expressiveness to a song, as well as creating tension and anticipation that drives the melody forward. Mastering jazz guitar chords is a fundamental skill for any jazz guitarist, no matter what style they play. This article will give you a solid foundation of essential jazz guitar chords that you can use in any progression.

Most chords, even complicated ones like altered dominant or diminished, can normally be categorised into one of five basic types. There are also other types of chords that can be used in jazz, but these are not as common. These include minor subdominant, major seven flat five, diminished seventh, and augmented fifth. These are not the main chords that you will use in your jazz progressions, but they can help add a bit of spice and variety to the sound of your music.

Dominant Chords

A major seventh chord is a key element of jazz guitar because of its rich, full sound. The combination of four notes (root, major third, perfect fifth, and major seventh) creates a sound that is both complex and warm. The addition of the seventh gives the chord an almost melancholic feel, which is ideal for jazz compositions.

Dominant seventh chords are easy to learn on the guitar, and there are many different voicings that can be used. The best way to practice these chords is to find the voicing that sounds most natural to you and work on it for awhile. Eventually, you will start to hear these voicings in your head automatically.

One of the most common voicings for dominant seventh chords is called a drop 3 voicing. This voicing omits the bottom string and leaves you with the top two strings, which can be very useful for beginners. Another common voicing for a dominant seventh chord is the drop 2 voicing, which omits the sixth string and leaves you with the fourth string. This voicing is a bit more challenging to play because it requires you to move your fingers around a lot.

Tritone Substitutions

Tritone substitutions are an important tool for jazz musicians, as they allow them to change the function of a chord without changing its name. The concept is simple: replace the 3rd and 7th of a chord with their respective notes in a new chord that has the same function. This can add a lot of tension and intrigue to any chord progression, as it will make the listener wonder how you are going to resolve the chord.

A great way to experiment with tritone substitutions is to take a familiar progression and replace the dominant seventh chords with their corresponding tritone substitutions. Then, you can listen to the result and see how it affects the progression’s mood. This is an excellent way to start building your jazz vocabulary!