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The 1 Jazz <b>Guitar Chord</b> Hack That Will Change Your Playing <b>...</b>

Posted: 13 Apr 2014 02:41 AM PDT

The 1 Jazz Guitar Chord Hack That Will Change Your Playing

When learning jazz guitar chords in the practice room, we often start off with working inversions of chord shapes on the fretboard.

While working inversions is a great way to get jazz chords under your fingers, many of us struggle when it comes time to make these shapes musical when applied to tunes in a performance or jam situation.

To help you get over this common jazz-guitar hurdle, in this lesson you'll learn the most important voice leading technique that any jazz guitarist can get under their fingers, one small idea that can make playing ii V's as easy as playing one chord.

The concept is very straight forward, which you can see explained further and demonstrated in the video lesson below.

When playing any ii V chord progression, major or minor key center, you can simply play any ii chord, find the b7 of that chord and lower it by one fret to form a V9, or V7b9 in a minor key, chord.

So, by playing a m7 chord and changing one note in that shape, you can form a iim7-V9 or iim7b5-V7b9 chord progression that uses proper voice leading, is easy to play on the guitar, and will allow you to musically and correctly outline any major or minor ii V on the guitar.

This one simple chord hack will greatly expand your comping ability without learning tons of new shapes, or jumping around the fretboard in your playing, two things that can often prevent us from progressing in the jazz guitar practice room.

Now that you know this fun and easy to play jazz guitar chord hack, let's take a look at how you can practice it further, apply it to different progressions and bring it to your next jam or gigging situation.

Jazz Guitar Chord Hack Video Lesson

Jazz Guitar Chord Hack Major ii V

To help you get your fingers and ears around this essential jazz guitar chord pattern, here are four inversions of Cm7 chords on the top 4 strings with the b7 of that chord lowered by a fret to form F9 chords in each inversion.

Click to hear this jazz guitar chord hack example.

Once you have these shapes under your fingers for Cm7 and F9 chords, practice playing these shapes in all 12 keys around the fretboard, as well as take them to jazz guitar standards such as "Tune Up" and "Four on Six" and other tunes that feature fast-moving ii V's in their progression.

Jazz Guitar Chord Hack Minor ii V

As ii V's occur in both major and minor keys throughout the jazz literature, here are four inversions of Am7b5 with the b7 lowered by one fret to form D7b9 chords in each of these four positions.

Click to hear this jazz guitar chord hack example.

Again, once you have worked these patterns in the given key, work it in 12 keys around the fretboard and then take it to tunes such as "What Is This Thing Called Love," which have a number of minor ii V's in their construction.

Jazz Guitar Chord Hack Common Progression

To finish our study of this essential ii V jazz guitar chord pattern, here is a commonly used jazz progression with the voice leading technique from this lesson applied to each ii V, major and minor, in the four-bar phrase.

Click to hear this jazz guitar chord hack example.

Learn this pattern in the given key of C major, and then work it in other keys, as well as find tunes such as "On Green Dolphin Street" and apply it to the last 8 bars of the tune where this progression occurs.

What do you think of this must know ii V Jazz Guitar Chord Hack? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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