Theory On Tap
Lesson 10, More Jazz Progressions
by: Jeff Jetton, Et al.
Introduction
As in my last lesson, the goal of "More Jazz Progressions" is to
show some common chord changes found in standard jazz, and to explain
why they work the way they do. Also like my previous lesson, the
style of chord notation is slightly different from other Theory on
Tap lessons
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:
Tritone Substitutions
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:
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:
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.)
Sus Chords and Slash Chords
Take a look at these triads:
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:
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.
Tensions
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 (♭9) |
| 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 (♭5,♭9) |
|
Notice that the ninths, like all tensions, are usually notated in
parenthesis. It can get a little confusing. Even though the second and the
ninth are the same, a "9" by itself, not in parenthesis, means a dominant
seventh chord, with the second/ninth added. Even though the sixth and the
thirteenth are the same, you usually only call dominant chords "thirteenth
chords", and reserve "sixth" chords for major and minor. To make things
even worse, the word "fourth" is used when referring to major and sus
chords, but minor and dominant chords would get the word "eleventh". Whew!
|
|
Exercise #1: What are the notes in the
following chords (answers at the end):
- Dmaj7 (9)
- F-7 (9)
- E9
|
|
Now in a jazz chart, you'll mostly just see seventh chords. The only time
you'll see a tension written out explicitly is when the arrangement calls
for that exact chord.
|
|
The rest of the time, you're expected to add your own nines, elevens and/or
thirteens, as you see fit. That's a lot of notes, so you're also expected
to leave out less important notes, like the fifth or even the root, as you
see fit, to make room for everything. Plus, you can make the tensions flat
or sharp in certain circumstances (more on that in a bit).
|
|
The notes you put in, and the notes you leave out, depend on the key of the
song, the "key of the moment", the melody, and (more importantly) your
personal style. This is a theory lesson, not a "how to play jazz on the
Stick" lesson, so I won't go into exact voicings. As you play and listen to
tunes, you'll get more of a feel for what sounds good when.
|
Alt Chords
Look back at the chord for the Locrian mode in the chart above. Notice how,
to fit the mode, we've lowered the fifth and ninth of the chord. Notes that
have been "flatted" or "sharped" are called "altered" notes. When you
venture outside the standard, major scale, you'll run across several
altered notes in your chords. In fact, you'll almost never come across an
unaltered eleventh in a major or dominant chord, usually it's raised. Flat
and sharp nines, flat fives, and flat thirteens are some other common and
useful altered notes to know.
So what's the difference between a flat thirteen and a sharp five? On an
enharmonic basis, nothing, the note, after alteration, is the same in both
cases. But if the chord is notated as a sharp five, that means the raised
fifth takes the place of the perfect fifth normally found in the chord.
(And unlike the perfect fifth, you won't be able to leave it out of the
voicing without changing the character of the chord.) You most often see
flat fives on minor seventh chords. A flat thirteen, on the other hand,
indicates that you should play a dominant seventh chord with a lowered
thirteenth in it. You can actually get away with sneaking in the perfect
fifth, if you voice it so that the fifth and the flat thirteenth aren't
right next to each other.
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
So far, we've been dealing with chords based on modes of the major scale.
There's a whole truckload of jazz standards that are in minor keys though,
and our friend the II/V/I progression has a home there, too. Check out this
chord progression, which sounds suspiciously like the beginning to
Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight":
I ? II V I
E♭-7 C-7♭5 F-7♭5 B♭7(alt) E♭-7
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / etc...
It's common for minor jazz tunes to have a dominant V chord as we
see here. This would indicate that we're in harmonic minor, right?
But if we're in harmonic minor, shouldn't the first chord be
E♭-(maj7), instead of E♭-7? Truth is, we're in natural
minor for some chords, and harmonic for others. As you learned in
the two previous lessons by Grant Green on minor scales and chords,
most music tends to use chords from various types of minor scales.
Even in a mostly major song, like "Stella by Starlight", you may
still find some minor two-fives. Just as in a major key, being able
to spot them will help you decide what scale to play, and what
tensions to add. In a minor II/V/I, you're likely to see:
| Position | Chord | Suggested Tensions |
|---|
| I | minor7 | 9 |
| II | minor7, ♭5 | ♭9 |
| V | dom7 | ♭9, ♯9, ♭13 |
Usually, when soloing in a minor key like this, you can play natural minor
on the I chord, then switch to harmonic minor for the II/V.
Modal Interchange
You may have wondered about that C-7♭5 chord up there, the one
I put a question mark over. The chord could come from melodic minor
(ascending), but playing melodic minor's natural seventh there
sounds pretty awful in context with everything else. It's not derived
from E♭ natural minor or E♭ harmonic minor either, so
where does it come from? You might want to go ahead and take some
aspirin for this one--it's a doozy.
As it turns out, the entire first bar is an example of "modal
interchange". For that one bar, we're actually in E♭ Phrygian,
and the C-7♭5 is the VI chord. By the time we get to bar two,
we're back in E♭ minor. The E♭-7 chord really exists in
both "worlds" and serves as a sort of anchor point for the ear. If
you're familiar with the rest of "'Round Midnight", you may also
notice that it goes back into Phrygian with an A♭7 in bar three
(right where I put "etc..."). Steely Dan's "Doctor Wu" is another
good example of modal interchange, going from Ionian to Aeolian and
back in the chorus.
Putting It All Together
Your final exam is to analyze the following song, identifying the
key of the moment, minor and major II/V progressions, and other fun
stuff. For extra credit, try reharmonizing the tunes with a few
chord substitutions.
These chords sound a heck of a lot like the jazz standard "Autumn Leaves".
If this were a real chart, you'd see that the key signature has one sharp.
The numbers below are bar numbers for later reference, and the colons are
supposed to be repeat signs. Good Luck!
A-7 D7 Gmaj7 Cmaj7
|:/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
1 2 3 4
F♯-7♭5 B7 E-7
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / /:|
5 6 7 8
F♯-7♭5 B7(♭9) E-7
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
9 10 11 12
A-7 D7 Gmaj7
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
13 14 15 16
F♯-7♭5 B7(♭9) E-7 E♭7 D-7 D♭7
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
17 18 19 20
Cmaj7 B7(♭9) E-
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
21 22 23 24
Answers
Exercise #1
- Dmaj7 (9): D, F♯, A, C♯, E
- F-7 (9): F, A♭, C, E♭, G
- E9: E, G♯, B, D, F♯
Song Analysis
II V I IV
A-7 D7 Gmaj7 Cmaj7
|:/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
1 2 3 4
II V I
F♯-7♭5 B7 E-7
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / /:|
5 6 7 8
II V I
F♯-7♭5 B7(♭9) 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♯-7♭5 B7(♭9) E-7 E♭7 D-7 D♭7
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
17 18 19 20
VI V I
Cmaj7 B7(♭9) E-
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
21 22 23 24
Notes:
The key signature and the first four bars put us firmly in the key
of G. At bar 5, we suddenly switch to the key of E minor, which is the
relative minor of G major. It might be tempting to just call the F♯-7♭5 a
VII chord, and the E-7 a VI chord, but the dominant B7(♭9) strongly
suggests E harmonic minor for that section. We go back to G major for bars
13-16, then back to E minor for the rest of the song, taking a brief side
trip into D major and C major, in bars 19 and 20 respectively.
Bars 19 and 20 are tricky. Resist the urge to consider the E-7 in bar 19 to
be a I in E minor, or a VI in G major, although it's both of these. It
actually serves a more important role as part of a two-five into the D-7 of
bar 20. That D-7 is in turn part of a two-five into the Cmaj7 of bar 21. In
each two-five, the tritone substitute of the V7 chord is used. You would
expect the E-7 and E♭7 to resolve to Dmaj7, but it throws you a curve ball,
going to still another two-five. These "cascades" of two-fives are common
in jazz.
That section would be a good spot for some reharmonization. You could
replace the two-five in bar 19 with a single sus chord, and "un-tritone"
the D♭7 in bar 20. That would give you:
G/A D-7 G7
| / / / / | / / / / |
19 20
But of course, that's just a suggestion. In the end, the theory doesn't
matter a bit--it all comes down to playing what your ears want to hear.
Lessons:
Intro |
1 |
2 |
3 - Part I|
3 - Part II|
4 - Part I|
4 - Part II|
5|
6|
7|
8|
9|
10|
11|
12|
copyright © 1995 Jeff Jetton
This piece may be freely distributed in its original, unaltered form
without charge. It may not be sold, or included in a collection that is
sold, without permission from the author. It may not be included in a fruit
basket without persimmons from the author.
