# Whats your favorite jazz fusion chord progression?



## Andrew

im just trying to find some new chords that sound good that are outside sounding


----------



## Excalibur

Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7.


----------



## Mr. Big Noodles

Excalibur said:


> Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7.


ii-V-I lol

Chromatic circle of fifths is fun.


----------



## Excalibur

SchecterWhore said:


> ii-V-I lol
> 
> Chromatic circle of fifths is fun.


What about it ?


----------



## Mr. Big Noodles

Excalibur said:


> What about it ?


I don't know, if it was good enough for Theolonius, it's good enough for me.


----------



## HammerAndSickle

Well, if he's looking for outside sounding and you posted the simplest jazz chord progression in existence...


----------



## kung_fu

SchecterWhore said:


> I don't know, if it was good enough for Theolonius, it's good enough for me.



I'm actually reading "Monk" by laurent de wilde. He said when they were recording the Brilliant Corners album they couldn't get through a single useable take because of progressions like this so all of the songs are spliced from various takes. I was quite shocked, considering we are talking about monsters like Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, and Oscar Pettiford. It may not be the most out-there progressions, but it can be deceptively tricky (at least in the 50's ).


----------



## ivancic1al

try the "giant steps" progression, that should prove to be 'different sounding" and maybe challenging for ya. or, just look for a cool mike stern riff and see what chords he uses, that man is a genius!


----------



## Luan

SchecterWhore said:


> I don't know, if it was good enough for Theolonius, it's good enough for me.



It wasn't enough for thelonious, it's not like he only used II V I's! in fact there are some weird chord progressions in his tunes sometimes.

Try using the same chord but with a specific interval between every chord, this way:
Cmaj7, Ebmaj7, F#maj7, Amaj7

That way it would be maj7 chords separated by minor thirds. Very fusion-ish


----------



## Mr. Big Noodles

Monk didn't use typical progressions, that's for sure, but he used ii V I often enough.


----------



## Excalibur

HammerAndSickle said:


> Well, if he's looking for outside sounding and you posted the simplest jazz chord progression in existence...


Haha, crawl before you can walk


----------



## Mr. Big Noodles

Excalibur said:


> Haha, crawl before you can walk


iim7 bII7 IM7 tritone sub lol

Tritone substitutions are actually really cool. Considering that a dominant chord typically goes to I or vi, or i or VI in minor, you can get to some pretty wild places pretty fast.


----------



## darbdavys

Luan said:


> It wasn't enough for thelonious, it's not like he only used II V I's! in fact there are some weird chord progressions in his tunes sometimes.
> 
> Try using the same chord but with a specific interval between every chord, this way:
> Cmaj7, Ebmaj7, F#maj7, Amaj7
> 
> That way it would be maj7 chords separated by minor thirds. Very fusion-ish



Eb and F# is actually augmented second


----------



## Luan

darbdavys said:


> Eb and F# is actually augmented second



ORILLY?


----------



## Mr. Big Noodles

darbdavys said:


> Eb and F# is actually augmented second



That's nitpicking, now, isn't it?


----------



## Luan

Cmaj7, Ebmaj7, Gbmaj7, Bbmaj7 for mister academic.


----------



## polydeathsphere

A section: Cm7 FM7 Em7 EbM7 Dm7 DbM7 

B section: Am7 AbM7 Gm7 GbM7 Fm7 EM7


----------



## Mr. Big Noodles

polydeathsphere said:


> A section: Cm7 FM7 Em7 EbM7 Dm7 DbM7
> 
> B section: Am7 AbM7 Gm7 GbM7 Fm7 EM7


The chromatic root movement is very understandable, but what's that from?


----------



## Unknown Doodl3.2

I like the Major thirds cycle.

Bmaj7 Gmaj7 Ebmaj7

now make a ii V in each of these!


----------



## Excalibur

Actually, to improve on my previous post....


Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7 - Fmaj7 - Bm7b5 (Half Dim) - Em7 - Am7 - Am7.

There


----------



## Holy Katana

I've always liked the changes to "Havona" by Weather Report.

|: Emaj7#11 | % | Cmaj9 | % | Bmaj7#11 | % | Gmaj7 | % | Em7 | Emaj7#11 | Cmaj9 | Cmaj7 | Bmaj7#11 | % | Gmaj7 | % | B7sus | % | % | % | % :|


----------



## freepower

Unless he has the hang of the % scale he'll never be able to blow on that though, what's the point?


----------



## Holy Katana

freepower said:


> Unless he has the hang of the % scale he'll never be able to blow on that though, what's the point?





I looked up some information on the song, and apparently, Jaco wrote it a long time before he joined Weather Report. Also, he recorded it for his first solo album, but it was never included.

It's probably my favorite tune on _Heavy Weather_.


----------



## MLI

Yeah, Luan has the idea. Shifting the same chord shape non-diatonically produces a good effect. The Faceless make use of that extensively, as do I. Moving chords in minor thirds like he said works nice, also in half steps, and combinations there of. Try

Gmi7(9) Abmi7(9) Cbmi7(9)

Also, try to use notes from scales to build chords which form minor seconds and major 7ths, like again Gmi7(9), for example, the third and ninth (Bb and A) make a major 7th together, which alone would be dissonance, but in the context of the chord is quite nice/eerie.

Try a minor chord with a major 6th, which is what you'd find in the dorian mode. So, in G dorian it'd be G Bb D E.

Also, spread the notes out as much as you can in fifths and fourths. Like D minor ninth, do D A E F.

Ask me more questions if you like, I enjoy this type o' stuff.


----------



## AbeRudder

The Big Wave Power Tab by Tribal Tech @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

Check out the chords on that song. I don't advise playing over it just take some of those chord voicings. Fusion to me is more about the vibe and the chords themselves as opposed to how they move (if that makes sense). Chord extensions like 9ths 11ths 13ths have a real fusion sound to em.


----------



## Luan

The thing on tribal tech tunes is that they use a chord progression in which you can play the pentatonic over and won't clash. Those chord progressions are really hard if you try to analize them, it's not the point.


----------



## AbeRudder

Yeah i posted it for the chords themselves not how they move. Their stuff is weird as hell, i dont know they come up with that shit.


----------



## MLI

AbeRudder said:


> The Big Wave Power Tab by Tribal Tech @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com
> 
> Check out the chords on that song. I don't advise playing over it just take some of those chord voicings. Fusion to me is more about the vibe and the chords themselves as opposed to how they move (if that makes sense). Chord extensions like 9ths 11ths 13ths have a real fusion sound to em.



Wow, man, thanks a lot for posting that. I've never heard of them before, but that's exactly the type of music I've been looking for. This type o' shit is the ingredient that makes me like The Faceless so much, but to a much greater degree.

Who else should I look into? Are there any groups that do music like this but perhaps that is more organized and less improvised?

Thanks


----------



## Keytarist

Try quartal harmony (chords made of fourths). It is most used in modern jazz, if you apply quartal harmony voicings in standard progressions, as II|V|I, turnarounds, rhythm* changes*, etc. you will get a meaner and hard sound, and modern jazz often requires this type of voicing. Just listen to McCoy Tyner playing the chord progression of "My favorite things", while John Coltrane does a solo over it. Now play the same progression, using the drop 2 voicing and you'll sound like anything else...now try with quartal voicings and you will get close to McCoy and modal jazz, just by the movement of parallel fourths. 
Quartal harmony is hard to achieve on the guitar, find some help in harmony books, Jim Hall wrote one about this (I can't remember the name).


----------



## concertjunkie

MLI said:


> Wow, man, thanks a lot for posting that. I've never heard of them before, but that's exactly the type of music I've been looking for. This type o' shit is the ingredient that makes me like The Faceless so much, but to a much greater degree.
> 
> Who else should I look into? Are there any groups that do music like this but perhaps that is more organized and less improvised?
> 
> Thanks



If you haven't heard of em, check out Exivious, which has members of Cynic and Textures, pure metal fusion goodness


----------



## MLI

I hadn't heard of them, but wow...I really like it. That's exactly what I've been looking for. Too bad they'll never play live around here.


----------

