Jazz Guitar
Chords for
Accompaniment (aka Comping)
This page of
jazz guitar
chords contains everything you need to get
started. It also hosts advanced material if you're an intermediate
player and wish to refine
your
chordal skills.
You will find
three jazz
guitar chord
charts along with good progressions to
practice with. We will then discuss applications to chord
melody and chord substitutions.
Ready. Aim. Comp!
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Historically,
the guitar
became popular as an
accompaniment
instrument. Open chords (such as C, E, G, A, D ...) were easy to learn,
good
sounding  and suited folk, rock and pop
music.
The sound of a strummed
guitar
is now so common that it has become a part of our culture!
Jazz guitar chords simply took advantage of the instrument's
natural tendencies : in jazz, rich and warm guitar
tones meet modern harmony.
To
many guitarists, jazz harmony feels like the "best of both worlds"!
Jazz guitar is now accepted as a complete
chordal instrument. Many master guitarists demonstrate great command of
jazz harmony and voicings (great examples are Lenny Breau, Ed Bickert
and Ted Greene
amongst many others... check them out on youtube!)
Learn the
chords...
As a
starting point, I
suggest that you learn four basic types of chords :
major,
minor, dominant and diminished. You can find good
fingerings in
the first
jazz guitar chord chart. This basic chart will give you a
strong
harmonic
foundation : it gets the sound of the chords
in your ear. After
mastering the basic
chords, it's time to
look at other voicings in the second
chord chart.
The most common for guitar are drop-2 and drop-3 voicings. They sound
good, are easy to learn and, most of all, they're made to move
around on the guitar. [There's now a video lesson about that second chord chart] Spend
enough time with drop-2 and drop-3 in the second chart
as they will
surely become the bulk of
your comping technique. Be analytical about it and learn the notes
that are contained in each of the chords. To make the
most out of
newly learned chords, try to use each of them in different contexts :
keep your ears open for other
possibilities. For example:
C maj 6
and A min 7
are
interchangeable because
they contain the same four notes : C E G A
This kind of
thinking leads
you to discover more and more music inside the basic things that you already know!
I've found out
that having
many different approaches (or contexts) to one topic is very rewarding!
Read this practicing
article to learn more.
It is the creativity and the curiosity that
lead the
way... not how many beautiful chord voicings you can
play... or,
as Albert Einstein put it :
"Imagination is more important
than
knowledge."
...and play
around
(jazz comping) with them
We learn new
jazz guitar
chords to become better accompanists (aka to comp
better). But the chord "shapes" in themselves represent nothing of true
interest. It is the chord progressions that make
the music
happen.
No doubts about that : a good jazz guitar "comping"
requires a
good
set of chord changes!
A good
starting place is
this lesson on common progressions
in major. Use  it to
learn the some new
chord "shapes" or simply to get familiar with jazz
progressions.
After covering
some of the
basic major harmony, try to play through some of the modulations in
this second lesson.
Some jazz blues is also
covered in
the basic
modulation
article. It's always good to be reminded that the blues vehicle (and
variations on it)
constitute a big part of the american jazz
heritage!
Finally, when
all of this
makes sense to you, try chord
progressions in minor. covered on the third
chord progression page.
At that point,
it is
probably a good idea to play chord progressions based on standard jazz tunes.
Read from a
fakebook or play along to jazz recordings. Accompany other improvising
musicians whenever possible.
And then add
some
substitutions...
Once you feel comfortable
with chord progressions in
general, spice up the harmony with some interesting chord
substitutions.
Don't forget :
never limit
yourself to one use for each
chord! As I stated earlier C6 = Am7 ... and that's the tip
of
the iceberg!
The chord
substitutions is a great starting point but it is not
extensive.
You have to discover what works for you and...
...look for different contexts
and/or
different approaches in jazz harmony!
...but keep
the goal in
mind!
While
assimilating all of
this material (jazz guitar chords and
progressions) keep the ultimate goal in mind :You want to be prepared
to accompany a jazz soloist or jazz singer.
You can "make
or break" a
performance with your
comping. Put your focus on the person that has the spotlight (usually
the soloist or singer).
Get in the
habit of
listening to jazz soloists even
when
you are not accompanying. Follow them and imagine how you
could complement
their improvisation. (!)
Chord Melody
Chord
melody is a widely used expression in the jazz guitar field.
It simply means to play chords underneath a melodic line.
We usually
employ the term
"chord melody" to
describe the way a song is
 played. I
personally
learn most standard tunes this way : playing the melody on the top
strings while harmonizing with chords on the
bottom.
This
type of playing can also be applied in improvisation. I often hear
great jazz guitarists play some chordal material while they improvise.
Learn chord melody on standard
tunes ... then
simply harmonize your own improvised lines the same
way you harmonize a tune !
Please contact me if you have jazz
guitar chords questions!
Can't find what you're looking
for?
Want more jazz guitar lessons?
Search all pages on JazzGuitarLessons.net
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useful, please
help by making a donation.
Don't forget
to take a look at
video
lessons before you go!
Jazz Guitar
Chords Wrap-up
Let's now review the topics I've covered on this page. The jazz guitar
chords covered :
Learning the chords (charts) :
-Chord Chart 1 : Basic
chords
-Chord Chart 2 : Drop-2
and Drop-3
Applying jazz guitar chords :
-Chord Progression 1 : Major
Harmony
-Chord Progression 2 : Basic
Modulation
-Chord Progression 3 : Minor
Harmony
-More On Progressions :Chord
Substitutions
Going further with chord melodies :
-Chord Melody : On
Standard Tunes
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