Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Progressions
by Marc-Andre Seguin
Ever wonder why certain songs sound "jazzy"? It's all in the chord
progression.
Jazz chord progressions are the backdrop to the songs in the Great
American Songbook. Typically, these progressions contain seventh
chords and move by the interval of a fourth. Some examples of
common jazz chord progressions would be ii V I, I vi ii V, and iii vi ii
V.
Every Jazz story begins somewhere, and this one starts out mightily,
with the major scale!
The major scale is made up of seven notes from which we can
harmonize seven corresponding chords. These are typically called
"diatonic chords" (the chords belonging to a key). The diatonic
chords in the key of C are:
These are written in roman numerals: IV – VII – III – VI – II – V – I –
(I) and is the source for many other segments of jazz harmony.
2
The A7 (VI) creates more tension and really wants to resolve to Dm7
(II). While we’re here… why not make the II dominant also? Let’s
see…
You now have three effective ways to play on and around the tonic
chord in any major key:
1 I – VI – II – V
2 Make the Vl dominant
3 Make the ll dominant as well
4
You can play this in all 12 keys by reading this article on Chord
Cycles.
Let’s try something else. Have you ever heard of the II-V, or the II-
V-I ? What would happen if the three variations above started on the
D chord instead of the C ? (Remember, the D is the ll.)
3
We can qualify this as “the II-V-I chord progression with an extra
chord at the end that wants to resolve back to the II” … or simply II-
V-I-VI !
You can play these progressions in any key. Let's look at some
basic modulation.
Basic Modulation in Jazz
Modulation to IV
4
the following progression on the guitar:
I will not go into theoretical details here. If you are interested in more
jazz harmony, check this out; “The Ultimate No Nonsense Guide to
Jazz Harmony”.
Try embellishing the fourth bar of the blues with some alterations
such as a; b9, #9, b5 or a #5. They create a tension that is released
when establishing the IV such as going from a C7(b9) to an F7.
Here’s an example of some of that jazzier blues with those
alterations added:
5
It's possible to use a II-V-I in the key of the IV to create an even
clearer modulation in bars 3, 4 and 5. For example, to go to F, we
use Gm7 and then a C7 with a b9:
6
The Bird Blues
7
This progression can be found in the tune “Autumn Leaves” by
Johnny Mercer and in many other songs. As you can see, the roman
numerals are the same as in the major. It is only slightly altered to fit
the minor quality:
IV – bVII – bIII – bVI – II – V – I
I – VI – II – V and friends
Like the major I-VI-II-V there are plenty of variations in minor.
Here’s the basic one from which you can derive more progressions:
The first one uses a “tonic minor” sound using melodic and harmonic
minor scales with the I and IV as a minor 6th or a minor maj7th
8
chord quality:
The second one, often called “modal” blues, uses the minor 7th
chord quality (Dorian sound) for the I and the IV:
Wrap-up
You are on your way to playing every possible jazz progression on
the guitar, in all keys, in all styles and at all tempos... Well, maybe
we will learn them one at time.
9
continually study jazz and classical harmony. Don’t forget; we
comp… lots! Have you ever noticed your “comping to soloing ratio”
on a gig? In a band, we'll accompany more than anything.
Happy Chording!
10