Tutorial: The seven easiest-to-use jazz chords

[Klemperer]

Hi Timewastin,

thanks for that! Just gave up using (and reading about) my new software-purchase to play with your chords. Wouldn't have thought ANYTHING could do that.... Nice tutorial. And I'm sure worth to look at for many of us round here. With Sascha's guitar-tut and yours it's fine here.

[THK]

...

7) lost me...

7) C6add11

C E G = C
C E G A = C6
C E G A F = C6add11

[Klemperer]

Played half an hour with the 7, timewastin, hey I#m a jazz-pianist! (röchel). My girlfriend wants me to play more x-masly chords, though, she said, meaning the old'n rather bad stuff I once sent you, hihi... And C6add11 explained, thanks THK. Pretty easy once you've read it.

[Sascha Franck]

1) C/D

Usually used as a D7sus4 (or, more concrete, D7/9sus4). Try to resolve the G to an F# and it'll give some nice "resolving" effect.

3) Dm13?

Yes, usually only useful for modal stuff (note: There's exceptions for everything).

4) F6/9?

Actually as timewastin said, Dm11, move it up (eventually without the root) a wholestep and back down and you're almost at Miles' "So What". Accidentally it's even the same tonality.

6) Cmaj7/A(that is the lazy way I know)

Which results in a nice Amin9.
One of the most important techniques for piano voicings, btw. (and for quite a lot of other things as well).
Rule of thumb: Play the 4-part 7th chord starting on the third (in this case the Cmaj7) and along with the root (which is often played by the bass anyways) you'll get a nice 9th chord for the "source root".
Examples:
Cmaj7 / A = Amin9
Emin7 / C = Cmaj9
Bmin7/b5 / G = G9

7) lost me...

As THK said, indeed a C6add11 - wouldn't use that term though in this combination as it often wouldn't make much sense from a functional point of view (clashing intervals/functions between E and F) - just try that in some closer voicing and you'll know what I mean. But, because the chords are put apart pretty much the resulting sound is plausible anyways. Still, I'd just call it a polychord, F on C that is (usually represented by a "-" line between them, rather than the slash used for chords over bassnotes, as in F/C).

[egbert]

Sascha is right about the polychord thing: Cma/Fma

If you see a chord voiced like this:
C F A (1,4,6) there is no way you should think of it as C6 add 4 or C6sus4 - it is an inversion of the F major triad and it sounds/functions like one too.

Eg

[mwa]

hey timewastin.. nice little tutorial there. thanks for that!

and kurrelraven, that's a sweet little pdf there. thanks as well.

[atomic_(no)afro]

http://www.learnjazzpiano.com/
thats got some good stuff

Wow, that guy lives in my town. B'ham is in the house!

ATA

[Caleb]

This is all gold. Thanks everyone.

I've been looking for a good jazz piano tutorial site for a while.

Who would have thought all I had to do was type in the domain name "learnjazzpiano.com".



Caleb

[declassified]

Thanks for bumping and further feedbacking this thread!

Danke @Sascha für die nützlichen mehr-als-Ergänzungen

Referring to the links: It's cool that anyone with a PC and internet access (or a friend who has an internet cafe) can learn quite alot about music, just depending on his intelligence, willingness and his efforts.
Compared with, say, 20 years ago when you had to spend high values of money to get a musical education