Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 11

THE GREAT SCORES GUIDE TO JAZZ HARMONY

PART ONE

Version 4.2
www.greatscores.com
Digital Sheet Music for Everyone

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE: UNDERSTANDING JAZZ CHORDS

CHAPTER TWO: EXTENSIONS

CHAPTER THREE: A MULTITIDE OF CHORDS

COMIG UP IN PART TWO

ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

CHAPTER ONE: UNDERSTANDING JAZZ CHORDS


Jazz chord symbols are often misunderstood and misread. This stems
from the fact that how the chord symbol is pronounced, i.e. C-^ =
C minor major, and what it actually means and sounds like (a minor
triad with a major seventh), arent consistent. The haphazard way in
which jazz chord symbols developed is largely the cause of this, and you
will find different symbols in various books as well as in different
countries.
Jazz musicians regard chords as structures consisting of stacked thirds,
i.e. the interval of a third repeatedly stacked on top of itself, until every
note in the scale is represented. The notes of C major would thus be rewritten as:

If we build a chord with these notes, it would be:

Now you cant actually use this chord, as the 3rd of the scale (E), and the
11th (F), clash. Try playing them on their own:

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

This interval of a minor ninth is extremely dissonant (it does not sound
good), and cannot in general be used between a 3rd and a 4th /11th of a
major scale. This is the same rule that applies to traditional harmony,
which states that you cannot have a 3rd and a 4th in the same major
chord:

It just sounds a mess.


This means you can either have the third or the fourth instead. If you use
the 4th, you will see the symbol Csus, or Csus4, thus indicating that the 3rd
of the chord has been suspended:

Now if we go back to our earlier jazz chord of stacked thirds, and leave
out the 11th, we get the following pleasant and full-sounding chord:

So the above chord is a C major with a major 7th, major 9th and major
13th. That is too much information to squeeze into one chord symbol,
which means different conventions have cropped up with time. Before we
get into the methodology of jazz chord nomenclature (the system of
naming chords), we have to look at the basic chord types that form the
basis of more complex shapes.
There are five basic 7th chords that are used in jazz theory.
The list below indicates:
1.
2.
3.
4.

how the chord is written (what it looks like in root position),


what it actually is (a major chord with a flattened seventh, etc.),
how the chord symbol is pronounced (i.e. how you say it), and
what symbol you might find for these chords. As there is such a
multitude of symbols, confusion can occur, even amongst
professionals, on a dark bandstand, in the heat of the moment.

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

What the chord looks like

What it is

What you say

Chord Symbol

C major triad with


a major 7th

C Major 7(th)

C^ /C, /C<

C major triad with a


minor 7th

C 7(th)

C7

C minor triad with a


minor 7th

C minor 7(th)

C-7/Cm7/C.7/
C>7

C diminished triad
with a minor 7th

C half-diminished

C -7b5/ C.7b5/C/
C7

C diminished triad
with a diminished 7th

C diminished

C/C7

C minor triad with


a major 7th

C minor major

C-^/C.^/
C.,

You might have come across this list without the C-^. I, however, have
included the minor-major type of chord, as in my opinion it represents a
separate tonality (sound) from the normal minor seventh chord.

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

CHAPTER TWO: EXTENSIONS


In terms of seventh chords the list covers all the basic chord types you
will find in jazz:

Major Seventh
Seventh
Minor Seventh
Half-Diminished
Diminished

As you will have gathered, what a chord actually is, and what it is called is
not always logical. A C7 chord should really be called a C major chord with
a flat seventh (as the note B flat is the flattened 7th of the C major scale).
However, this type of chord (a dominant seventh chord) is much more
common in jazz than major chords with a major seventh. This is the
reason why the dominant 7th gets the shorter chord symbol (C7), as it is
faster to write. Strictly speaking the chord symbol should actually be: Cb7,
as the seventh is flattened, but it is not.
Now jazz does not just consist of seventh chords only (chords that use the
seventh note of the scale). The music of jazz also uses 9ths, 11ths and
13ths. These are called extensions, and in order to understand how they
are used in symbols, let us get back to our original chart of C major.

The chart above shows all notes in their natural state, i.e. without being
raised or flattened. Concerning the 9th, 11th and 13th, the chord symbols
are consistent insofar as that if an alteration has occurred, it will be
represented in the chord symbol. I point this out, as it is not the case with
the 7th, as we have seen with the chord symbol of C7 that should actually
be called Cb7.
Thus raised or sharpened 9ths, 11ths and 13ths are:

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

I have included the 5th in this diagram, as we will come across raised 5ths
in our chord symbols. Raised roots, 3rds and 7ths do not exist, as

a raised root would denote a different chord all together


a raised third is merely a natural 4th
a raised 7th is merely a root again.

The equivalent chart for flattened extensions is therefore:

Again, I have included the altered (in this case flattened) 5th, as it occurs
in chord symbols. Flattened 11ths do not as such exist, as a flattened 11
would be a natural third. In theory one could come up with such a
construction, in practice this makes little sense however.
When is a 13th not a 6th?
You may have come across the chord symbol C% , which with our current
knowledge should be a written as C9/13. But it is not, and that is due to the
fact that there is no 7th in this particular chord, be that natural or
flattened. Jazz chords work hierarchically with extensions. The order of
this hierarchy is given in our chart: 1 3 5 7 9 11 13.
Let me explain by using a few examples.

The chord above is a C9 , not a C7@2 or a C7/9. The D in the chord has to be
read as a nine, as there is a 7th present, and in our hierarchy the 7th
precedes the 9th. In reality the chord should be written C7/9, however it is
common practice to spell it as C9, as the presence of the 9th indicates the
existence of a 7th, and it is therefore assumed that is must be a flattened
7th, as this is the more common type of 7th.
However, were there no B flat in the chord, the D would be generally
regarded as a 2, and not a 9. There is one exception: if the composer is
deliberately seeking a C major chord with a D above the chord. In that
case the symbol C add9 is employed.
greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

Similarly, if a 6th is present, then the D has to be regarded as a 9th, and in


order to indicate that no 7th is used the chord symbol C% is used. The three
chords we have looked at with the appropriate symbols therefore are:

The existence of a 7th therefore determines whether a

2 is a 9
4 is an 11
6 is a 13.

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

CHAPTER THREE: A MULTITIDE OF CHORDS


Let us now have a look at the different type of extensions that can be
found in jazz chords. The list below is not intended to be comprehensive,
but it covers the most commonly tread territory.

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

N.B. The last four chords are commonly referred to as slash chords. A
slash chord with a forward slash, for example C/E, indicates a chord (C
major triad), and its root (E). A slash chord with a horizontal slash (-)
indicates two chords superimposed (the last chord in our list for example,
where a D major triad is superimposed on a C major triad).
The only way to really get used to the spelling of chord symbols is by
using and reading them frequently. They are commonly used in all types
of real books, bumper books and busking books, in many types of music
bar classical. So look at the chord symbols in our charts, be prepared to
make mistakes, but learn from them.

The truth of the matter is


There is one more important aspect to point out. What we have learnt
about chord symbols, and what actually happens on a jazz bandstand are
two different things altogether.
For example, instead of spelling out C,13, it is much more common to just
write C^, or C<. It is therefore implied that the pianist or guitarist should
use the extensions of a 9th and 13th as he sees fit, vary them, etc. Jazz is
improvisation after all, and spontaneity is the spice of life.
Furthermore, the way in which a pianist or guitarist might voice that
chord, i.e. in which order he chooses to play the notes, is again entirely up
to him. If a bass player is present, there is no need to play the root of the
chord, for example. He can play the chord symbol C^ in as many ways as
he can think of, for example:

Or any other way he might consider. Furthermore he might choose to


reharmonise the chord to a different type, i.e. he might change it to a C7 if
he believes this would aid the music and the soloist will be able to react to
his change easily enough. This type of off the cuff reharmonisation will
normally only be found among band members who know each others
playing very well and trust each other, something only gained with time
and experience.

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

10

Coming Up In Part Two


THE GREAT SCORES GUIDE TO JAZZ HARMONY
PART TWO
is currently in preparation.

Have you always wanted your own backing band at home, ready at the
push of a button? In that case, why not take a look at our Jazz Backing
Tracks page?
Interested in learning how to improvise from scratch? Then our Jazz
Improvisation Guide will be the right thing for you. Complete with
sound files that explain all the musical examples, this guide requires no
previous knowledge of improvisation and takes a gentler pace than other
text books do.
All that, and much more can be found at:
www.greatscores.com

greatscores.com Lincoln Jaeger, exclusively licensed to Great Scores Ltd. 2005

11

Вам также может понравиться