# Jazz Chords...



## Nik (Apr 14, 2006)

Alright, so I'm working on this simple but heavy progression in G Lydian (Cbm A G) and I was thinking that having all the distortion go away a bit and playing these chords with jazz flavor might be kind of cool, but I have no idea what makes jazz chords sound the way they do. I think Meshuggah does stuff like this but I wouldn't know because I don't really have any of their stuff.

Regardless, can you guys tell me how to add a jazz tinge to these chords? I'm not looking for complete, hardcore old-school jazz; I'd just like the jazz flavor to be noticable but not dominant, more modern jazz like Guthrie Govan style.

Thanks, I hope you theory nuts can help a brother out as usual  I'm definitely looking into understand chords better and what different additions do to the chord's sound, but I'm not sure where to start. JP's Rock Discipline had a nice overview, but it didn't go into much detail.


----------



## noodles (Apr 14, 2006)

What are you trying to achieve? Building chords requires some basic theory knowledge. Since you're keeping it diatonic, you can play with assembling chords from notes in the Lydian scale.

First, consider that Lydian is 1-2-3-#4-5-6-7.

Being that it is a major scale, 1-3-5 is the standard go to major chord, so that is probably what you want to avoid in this case. Really, only one note separates G Lydian from G Ionian, so you really want to place some emphesis on that augmented fourth. However, putting a 3rd and 4th in the same chord just sounds ugly, unless you raise one of them an octave. It's amazing how 1-3-#4-5 will sound cacophanous, yet 1-3-5-#11 sounds wonderfully rich and complex.

I'd even throw in a seventh. Most guitarists drop out the fifth (you don't really need it, especially with the root around), leaving you with 1-3-7-#11, commonly known as Gaug11 to guitarists. You can't get too much more jazz than this, as most jazz guitarists live in four note chord forms, commonly dropping the fifth. If you really want to get adventerous, you can go with inversions, like 5-8-#11, or 3-5-#11.

Sixth chords are fun, too, but once again, I like to push it up an octave for a chord like G13. 1-3-9-13 is a good voicing.

Start playing around with all the notes in your basic 3 note per string Lydian scale:

--------------------------------------------5-7-9-
-------------------------------------5-7-8--------
------------------------------4-6-7---------------
-----------------------4-5-7----------------------
----------------4-5-7-----------------------------
--------3-5-7-------------------------------------
-3-5-7--------------------------------------------


----------



## Nik (Apr 14, 2006)

Thanks!

I have the basics down, but I have no idea what doing different things to chords really does, and I don't know where to start to get a jazz vibe.

Also, as I said, I don't want hardcore, old-school jazz, but just a tint of it. I'll mess around with the stuff you posted after lunch, I hope it all works out.


----------



## distressed_romeo (Apr 14, 2006)

Check out Allan Holdsworth's instructional tape. It has a section where he explains how he derives chord voicings from scales. Probably just what you're after, i.e. modern jazz/fusion.


----------



## Michael (Apr 14, 2006)

Try some quartal voicings. They're just chords stacked in fourths.



e--6----8----7----8----12-----
b--6----8----7----8----11-----
g------------------------------
D--5----7----6----7----10------
A--------------------------------
E------------------------------


----------



## Nik (Apr 14, 2006)

Cool, thanks!


----------

