# Jazz Chords



## All_¥our_Bass (Mar 10, 2007)

I know any chord can be a jazz chord (given the right context), but I'm reffering to chords that are very "native" to jazz.

So can we get a list going of jazz chords?


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## distressed_romeo (Mar 10, 2007)

Off the top of my head...

All the seventh chords (maj, min, dom, minb5)
m6
Diminished chords
Extended seventh chords (maj 9, min 9, 9, min 11, 11, 13 etc.)
Altered seventh chords (b9, #9, b5, #5 etc.)

Also...

Quartal voicings (stacked fourths)
Augmented triads (stacked major thirds)


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## Mikey D (Apr 11, 2007)

"I jazz chord to say i l 'ruv' u!"

Bb13b9...
what's that the V of? easy...

who cares about jazz chords, i think there should be a thread on jazz theory from the very start so people can catch up.

It is such an important subject I dont think we should take certain things for granted.


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## OzzyC (Apr 11, 2007)

Mikey D said:


> "I jazz chord to say i l 'ruv' u!"
> 
> Bb13b9...
> what's that the V of? easy...
> ...



What do you mean "jazz theory"? there's no such thing. Jazz is rebel music, it's always breaking 'the rules of music'.  


I suppose that could be helpful for a lot of people, myself included.


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## Mastodon (Apr 11, 2007)

Mikey D said:


> "I jazz chord to say i l 'ruv' u!"
> 
> Bb13b9...
> what's that the V of? easy...
> ...




Dude...what in the hell are you trying to say?


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## telecaster90 (Apr 11, 2007)

Mikey D said:


> "I jazz chord to say i l 'ruv' u!"
> 
> Bb13b9...
> what's that the V of? easy...
> ...



Jazz theory is pretty broad, but maybe some stuff with a breakdown of how to read chords and common shapes would be cool to help out beginning jazz guitar players. Maybe stuff about how to improv over changes?


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## distressed_romeo (Apr 12, 2007)

Improvising over changes is a huuuuuuuge topic, although we've got the official jazz-lines resource, which could provide you with some licks to get you started.


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## Garry Goodman (Apr 12, 2007)

Jazz theory, aka modern harmony, deals with chords used to create momentary key areas.

The list of "jazz" chords can be compiled systematically.
There are three chord functions; two (iim) five (V) and one (I)
All chords have to function as one of these three.

There are nine chord families: 
(as defined by Dick Grove)
1) I major chord family
2) ii minor7th chord family in major
3) V7 chord family
4) I minor chord family
5) ii minor 7 flat 5 chord family in minor
6) IV9 augmented 11 chord family in minor
7) V 13 flat 9 chord family
8) V augmented 7 or V7 flat 13 chord family in minor
8) VII diminished 7 chord family in minor

All chords in Jazz come from one of these 9 chord families. The chord families can be transposed to any key.

The chords that seem to show up in the "Real Book" etc. are the 4-6 part chords from these families.There are 24 chords in chord family #1. 

A chord like Dmi11 (b5,+5) is from chord family #5 and G13(+11) is from chord family #7. The two chords played one after the other defines the key of c minor. So imo, it's better to think in terms of the chord family and chord function instead of listing chords. This way you will have the tools to speak the jazz "language".


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## distressed_romeo (Apr 13, 2007)

That's a good way of looking at this.

I've heard a few schools of thought that treat the II chord as being basically a passing chord setting up the V, and so when you're soloing over a II-V-I you can sometimes treat the II and V as one entity, chord voicings permitting (Pat Martino does things like this a lot).

BTW...Garry, how've ya been? Haven't seen you on here in a while...


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## Garry Goodman (Apr 13, 2007)

distressed_romeo said:


> That's a good way of looking at this.
> 
> I've heard a few schools of thought that treat the II chord as being basically a passing chord setting up the V, and so when you're soloing over a II-V-I you can sometimes treat the II and V as one entity, chord voicings permitting (Pat Martino does things like this a lot).
> 
> BTW...Garry, how've ya been? Haven't seen you on here in a while...



Hey, how are you? I have been crazy busy and just waiting to get my strings shipped to me so I can send them out to the high A stringers.


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## distressed_romeo (Apr 13, 2007)

Garry Goodman said:


> Hey, how are you? I have been crazy busy and just waiting to get my strings shipped to me so I can send them out to the high A stringers.



Good stuff...wasn't there talk about them being available via Paypal on your website?

I'm fine thanks, albeit swamped with work in preparation for exams...


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## kung_fu (Apr 25, 2007)

today i was playing around with some pretty cool major/minor7 added 2nd voicings that i'd consider quite jazzy (johnny smith's "The boy next door" sprung to mind). Also some major/minor 6th with add 2nd as well.


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