In lesson 6, we covered the grand and glorious
II/V/I progression,
which is the most common set of chords in jazz. We also discussed
how these "two-fives" may not always be in the key of the song.
They often are relative to the "key of the moment" -- and it's very
handy to be able to spot these two-fives and their related keys,
so you'll have a better idea of what to play. And, you were shown
some three note voicings that illustrated how the notes of the
II-7/V7/Imaj7 chords can smoothly move from one chord to the next.
That technique of smooth movement is called voice leading.
Now on to some new stuff:
Jazz players are a pretty non-conformist bunch. Not only do they insist on playing whatever the heck they want during solos, they don't even put much stock in the chords that are written. Very often, they'll substitute one chord or set of chords for another. One of the most popular substitutions is the tritone substitution. Check out the following chords:
II-7 V7 Imaj7 D-7 G7 Cmaj7 | / / / / | / / / / | original version
II-7 ♭II7 Imaj7 D-7 D♭7 Cmaj7 | / / / / | / / / / | new version, using a tritone substitution
We learned in lesson 6 that the most important notes of a seventh chord are
the third and the seventh. The cool thing about a dominant seven chord
(like the G7 above) is that its third and seventh can swap jobs, becoming
the seventh and third of a new chord. That new chord is a tritone (flat
fifth or sharp fourth) away. In the original example, G7 has B as its
third, and F as its seventh. In the new version, the D♭ has F as its third
and B as its seventh. The G7 and the D♭7 can be substituted for each other
since they both share those notes, and thus both lead the ear to the Cmaj7.
Note: technically, the seventh of a D♭7 chord is C♭. It's still the same note as B, though. Notes like these that are spelled differently, but have the same pitch, are enharmonic to each other.
When playing three-note voicings on the Stick, like you learned in lesson
6, a tritone substitution couldn't be any easier to play. Just move the
bass note down in half steps instead of fifths:
II-7 ♭II7 Imaj7 |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-X-| |---|---|---|-X-| |---|---|-X-|---| mel |---|---|---|-X-| |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|-X-|---| |---|-X-|---|---| |-X-|---|---|---| bas |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|
But why stop at substituting the V7 chord? You can also replace the II-7
chord with the II chord that's relative to the new dominant chord. In other
words, substitute the II-7 with a minor 7 chord that's also a tritone away:
II-7 ♭II7 Imaj7 D-7 D♭7 Cmaj7 | / / / / | / / / / | Tritone substitution on the V7 only
♭VI-7 ♭II7 Imaj7 A♭-7 D♭7 Cmaj7 | / / / / | / / / / | Tritone sub on the entire II/V progression
That last example would look like this:
VI-7 ♭II7 Imaj7 |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-X-| |---|---|-X-|---| mel |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|-X-|---|---| |-X-|---|---|---| bas |---|-X-|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|
Notice that the first chord, a minor 7, looks just like the II-7 we all
know and love, except that it's been moved right one string and down (lower
in pitch) one fret. That's the easiest way to visualize a tritone on the
Stick. For better voice leading, you'll probably want to invert the RH for
that first chord, that is, move the lower RH note one octave higher. You'll
notice something cool about how the RH moves to each chord. (No, I'm not
telling. You'll have to pick up the Stick and try it yourself.)
major triad sus chord |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |-X-|---|---|---| |-X-|---|---|---| mel |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|---|-X-| |---|---|---|-X-| |---|---|---|-X-| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|
In the second example, we've raised the third one fret. That's called a
"suspended fourth", and that what the "sus" means. We call the fourth
"suspended" because it's traditionally supposed to resolve back down the
third. But in jazz, anything goes. For proof of that, listen to Herbie
Hancock's "Maiden Voyage", which consists entirely of sus chords that never
resolve.
Note: Although you most often will suspend the fourth, It's perfectly legal to have a "sus2" chord, which moves the third down a whole step. Also, don't let anyone tell you that the fourth takes the place of the third. In jazz you can get away with playing the third and fourth together, if you voice the chord tastefully.
A common way to voice a V7sus chord is to play a IV triad in the RH, and
play the V root note in the LH. Here's one way to play that:
V7sus or IV/V |---|---|---|---| |---|-X-|---|---| mel |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|-X-|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|-X-|---|---| bas |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|
VI/V is known as a "slash" chord, for obvious reasons. You
play the chord above the slash, but put the single note underneath
the slash in the bass. In the key of C, our slash chord would be
"F/G", which you would pronounce "F slash G" or "F with G in the
bass". No matter how you say it, it's a great substitution for a
Gsus chord.
Note: Remember, I don't intend for you to play an F chord *and* a G chord on top of each other. The bottom note is just the bass note. Multiple triads played on top of each other (called polychords) will be covered in more depth in a later lesson. Be aware that although this is the notation style employed in most fake books, some people *do* use a slash to indicate a polychord.
Slash chords are very handy at indicating the inversion of chord.
You would never see "C major, first inversion" in a jazz chart, but
you would see "C/E". Slash chord are also an easy way to play seventh
chords using triads, as you learned back in lesson 4. But the
question remains, why does F/G substitute for G7sus? Look at the
notes in each chord:
G7sus F/G D-7/G F ← 7th C ← 4th C ← 4th D ← 5th A ← 9th A ← 9th C ← 4th F ← 7th F ← 7th G ← root G ← root D ← 5th G ← root
With the F/G, we got rid of the fifth (which is the least important note,
remember?), and added a ninth. (What's a ninth? We'll get to that.) If you
were dead-set on putting that fifth back in, you could play the third
chord, a D-7 chord over a G root note. Which leads us to...
Universal Truth #979: "A single V7sus chord can substitute for an entire
major key II/V progression." Why? Because it contains many of the notes of
the II-7 and the V7, rolled up into one handy-dandy chord.
In lesson 4, part 2, you learned that a triad can be derived from a scale
or mode by choosing every other note, until you have three notes. Each note
is a third away from the other. In other words, a C major triad is C-E-G,
because it's made up of every other note in a C major scale. Taking that
concept further, you learned that you can add another third on top, making
it a 7th chord. Going even further, you were introduced to chord extensions
beyond the 7th, namely the 9th, 11th and 13th. (This stuff is important, so
if it seems fuzzy, go back and reread Rick's lesson. I'll wait...)
Let's dig into that concept of extended voicings a bit more. Take a look at
this C major scale, which repeats a bit. I've added numbers on top,
representing the scale degree, or "note number":
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 C D E F G A B C D E F G A [ one octave higher ]
So it stands to reason that if you played C-E-G-B-D, that D is called a
ninth. If you added yet another third on top of that, an F, it's an
eleventh. Still another third, the A, gives you the thirteenth. These added
notes, beyond the seventh, are called "tensions" in jazz theory.
Technically, tensions are an octave higher, but in jazz you can voice a
chord pretty much any way you want. A handy formula to remember is that the
the ninth corresponds to the second note in the mode, the eleventh to the
fourth, and the thirteenth to the sixth.
To get you started, here's a chart of ninth chords, derived from the C
major scale:
Mode | notes (R,3,5,7,9) | type of chord | example |
---|---|---|---|
Ionian | C, E, G, B, D | Major 7, add 9 | Cmaj7 (9) |
Dorian | D, F, A, C, E | Minor 7, add 9 | D-7 (9) |
Phrygian | E, G, B, D, F | Minor 7, flat 9 | E-7 (b9) |
Lydian | F, A, C, E, G | Major 7, add 9 | Fmaj7 (9) |
Mixolydian | G, B, D, F, A | Dominant 9 | G9 |
Aeolian | A, C, E, G, B | Minor 7, add 9 | A-7 (9) |
Locrian | B, D, F, A, C | Minor 7, flat 5, flat 9 | B-7 (b5,b9) |
ALT CHORDS![]() |
|
![]() |
[Side Note: Often a chart will call for something like a G7(alt), which basically means "play a G7, then throw a bunch of flat and sharp tensions". Usually, your best bet is to raise the ninth and lower the thirteenth.] |
MINOR TWO-FIVES![]() |
I ? II V I Eb-7 C-7b5 F-7b5 Bb7(alt) Eb-7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / etc... |
![]() |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
![]() |
|||||||||||||
MODAL INTERCHANGE![]() |
|||||||||||||
![]() |
|||||||||||||
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER![]() |
|||||||||||||
![]() |
|||||||||||||
A-7 D7 Gmaj7 Cmaj7 |:/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 1 2 3 4 F#-7b5 B7 E-7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / /:| 5 6 7 8 F#-7b5 B7(b9) E-7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 9 10 11 12 A-7 D7 Gmaj7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 13 14 15 16 F#-7b5 B7(b9) E-7 Eb7 D-7 Db7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 17 18 19 20 Cmaj7 B7(b9) E- | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 21 22 23 24 |
|||||||||||||
ANSWERSExercise #1
|
|||||||||||||
Song AnalysisII V I IV A-7 D7 Gmaj7 Cmaj7 |:/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 1 2 3 4 II V I F#-7b5 B7 E-7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / /:| 5 6 7 8 II V I F#-7b5 B7(b9) E-7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 9 10 11 12 II V I A-7 D7 Gmaj7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 13 14 15 16 II V II V(ts) II V(ts) F#-7b5 B7(b9) E-7 Eb7 D-7 Db7 | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 17 18 19 20 VI V I Cmaj7 B7(b9) E- | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | 21 22 23 24 |
|||||||||||||
Notes: ![]() |
|||||||||||||
![]() |
|||||||||||||
![]() |
G/A D-7 G7 | / / / / | / / / / | 19 20 | |
![]() |