JA-003 • Easy Jazz Standards

[justinguitar]

Questions...

Lesson Link: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/JA-003-JazzStandards.php

[Defkon000]

I've got a question about some of the symbols used to describe the chords.  My sheet reading skills are pretty poor, but I can usually figure out the chord names, and the general rhythm based on the notes but some of the symbols I'm not familiar with.  I'm not quite sure how to read something like "E-" my best guess would be E minor but usually you see it as E min, or even just a lower case "e".  Another one is the symbol that looks like a percentage sign. "%"  It's in the 9th measure of "autumn leaves".  Does that mean to repeat the previous bar?  I'm trying to guess based on what I think I hear, but I just would like to clarify.   

Thanks

[bluepingu34]

Hi Defkon
E on its own means E major, and the thing that looks like % means play the same as the bar you just played.
Hope that helps
A

[Defkon000]

Thanks for the quick reply, although your answer has me somewhat puzzled. Maybe you could set me straight.

Here's how I've been reading & practicing the chords of Autumn Leaves as shown on the lesson page. I'm only playing with thumb + the 3 fingers so thats why all the chords are only 4 notes.

What's written |  what i think it says (lol) |  chord tab |
A-7               | A minor 7th                   |  X0201X    |   
D7                | D Dom 7                       |  XX0212    |
G Maj7          | G Major 7th                    |  3X443X    |
C Maj7          | C Major 7th                    |   8X998X    |
F#-7b5          | F# minor 7 flat 5 (half dim)  |X 9 10 9 10 X|
B7                | B Dom 7                       |  7X787X    |
E-                 | E minor ?                      | X7998X   | 

These chords get repeated more than once  and then there's the last few i haven't quite worked out?

B7b9  ?  B dom 7 with a flat 9?    (no idea)
Db7  ?  Db dom7th or a D dom with a flat 7?     not sure.

anyhow if anyone can fix any errors or offer better chords I'm all ears.  :p
hopefully some other beginner will find this post a little help in any case.

Thanks

[bluepingu34]

Hi Defkon
I'm not 100% certain on this myself, but I'll have a go anyway:
In your list of chords they are all correct except E, which means E major.
Db7 - Db minor 7th (like A7)
Please someone correct me if I'm wrong
A

[TB-AV]

E- = E minor

Db7 = D Flat Dom 7 like D7 one fret lower

B7b9 = B Dom7 + flat 9

[whitebelt]

Thanks for the quick reply, although your answer has me somewhat puzzled. Maybe you could set me straight.

Here's how I've been reading & practicing the chords of Autumn Leaves as shown on the lesson page. I'm only playing with thumb + the 3 fingers so thats why all the chords are only 4 notes.

What's written |  what i think it says (lol) |  chord tab |
A-7               | A minor 7th                   |  X0201X    |   
D7                | D Dom 7                       |  XX0212    |
G Maj7          | G Major 7th                    |  3X443X    |
C Maj7          | C Major 7th                    |   8X998X    |
F#-7b5          | F# minor 7 flat 5 (half dim)  |X 9 10 9 10 X|
B7                | B Dom 7                       |  7X787X    |
E-                 | E minor ?                      | X7998X   | 

These chords get repeated more than once  and then there's the last few i haven't quite worked out?

B7b9  ?  B dom 7 with a flat 9?    (no idea)
Db7  ?  Db dom7th or a D dom with a flat 7?     not sure.

anyhow if anyone can fix any errors or offer better chords I'm all ears.  :p
hopefully some other beginner will find this post a little help in any case.

Thanks

Hi Defcon,
I play some of the chords differently:

C Maj7          | C Major 7th                    |   X35453    |
F#-7b5          | F#m7b5                        |   2X223X    |
B7                | B Dom 7                         |    X24242    |
E-                 | E minor                         |   022000    | 

Here're what I think were the chords you're asking about
B7b9                 | X24542    | 
Eb7                   | X68686    | 
Db7                   | X46464    |

[Kojo27]

I realize that this is an old, old topic, but I *think* there are some minor boo-boos, so just to address those:

F#m7b5 (F sharp minor seven, flat five) is | 2X221X |  (The 5th in F# is C#, so to "flat" it, you'd play C natural, which is the 1st fret of the second string -- not the third fret as shown...

B7b9 (B seven, flat nine) would normally be played:  | 2X121X |     This omits the root (B) and puts the 5th (F#) in the bass.  A standard voicing for seventh chords.  Note that you'll need to barre strings 4, 3, and 2 at the 1st fret with the first finger.  Second finger plays the low F# on the 6th string, ring finger plays the A note on the 3rd string, 2nd fret.  Mute the 5th and 1st strings with your second and first fingers, respectively.

Other than those two chords, all look correct to me.  As a general rule, avoid open strings in jazz rhythm chords.  This makes them movable AND "chunk-able" -- meaning you can dampen them by releasing the pressure of your left hand fingers.  Strum, dampen.  Repeat.  : )  This is how jazz players (and swing players) get that "sock" rhythm sound.  Boom-CHUNK, boom-CHUNK.  The "chunk" is a strummed chord, quickly released by the left hand so that the sound stops, making that strong rhythmic accent (assuming you're playing a strong rhythm.) 

If you REALLY want to dig into jazz guitar, do it the way a ba-jillion players from past decades did it: get a little book (takes a year to work through the lessons!) called _Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar_.  Volume one.  Make it your life.  Work hard, sacrifice everything else.  Don't eat, don't sleep -- break up with your girlfriend.  Drop out of school.  Listen to Eddie Lang, Charlie Christian, Django, Barney Kessel, George Benson, Wes Montgomery, Howard Roberts.  You'll become a jazz player.  Or you'll BEGIN to become a jazz player.  There's probably no better way.  Go to Amazon guys.  Buy a used copy.  You'll thank me, I betcha : )  (Okay, stay in school if they have a good music program.)

[Josh Orton]

For the major chord C, the sequesnce is -  C  Dmin  Emin  F  G7  Amin  Bdim. I know the chord sequesnces for the major and minor chords.

Same way, could anyone plz let me know the jazz chord sequesnces for major7, minor7, dom7 and minor7b5 in any key. And also f possible, how its done, so I could figure it out for the remaining keys. Because I do know how to play quite a few jazz chords, but I don't know the chord sequences. Thanking u in advance.
Josh

[bub]

There is something totally wrong in the title of this lesson!  It's absolutely NOT EASY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BarcelonaGuitar]

Just want to agree with two previous posts . . .

1. Mickey Baker's books are absolutely brilliant, I've had a copy of his 'Jazz Guitar' for over twenty years and I go back to it again and again.

2. Although these tunes are very standard and every aspiring jazz guitarist should learn them, they are not necessarily easy. OK . . . Blue Bossa and Autumn Leaves are not excessively difficult and are good ones to start with but All The Things You Are!!!!! - you can spend a lifetime exploring those harmonies. Mozart would have been proud if he'd written it!

[David V]

Josh, I'm gonna guess that you've figured out the answer already, but in case not, here goes.  

You can figure out the 7 chords by taking the basic chords and adding a 7th according to what is available in the scale of the key you're working in.  For instance, if we take the C major scale and start with the I chord, we have the C major triad.  If we add the seventh, we use B natural (because that is the 7 available in the scale) and we get a major seventh chord.  Moving on to the II chord, we have D minor.  The 7th would be some variation of the note C.  We know it must be C natural, because that is the C in the C major scale.  This gives a D minor 7.  For the III we add D natural to E min, also giving a minor 7 chord.

On the whole for the scale, you should be able to get:
Cmaj7, Dmi7, Emi7, Fmaj7, G7, Ami7, Bmi7b5, Cmaj

In general then you can say for any key that you have the pattern:
Imaj7, IImi7, IIImi7, IVmaj7, V7, VImi7, VIImi7b5 and Ima7

You can figure the same thing out for a minor key as well.  It's the same pattern, but starts on the 6th scale degree of the corresponding major scale (i.e. Imi7, IImi7b5, IIImaj7 etc...)

One of the things about jazz is that songs tend to change keys a lot within the song.  You can spot this by looking for dominant 7ths, since each key only has 1 possible dominant 7.  If you want to see this in action, take a look at the first 2 lines of Autumn Leaves.  The copy I'm looking at has the progession: Ami7, D7, Gmaj7, Cmaj7, F#mi7b5, B7, Emi.  Look at the first V7.  It is D7, which is the fifth scale degree of G major.  Immediately after it is the chord Gmaj7.  We are in the key of G major here.  Also, before the D7 is Ami7, which is the second scale degree of G major.  This is a classic II, V, I pattern.

The next time a 7 chord comes up, it's B7.  This is the fifth of E, but after the B7 is an E minor chord, meaning that we're in E minor now.  Before the B7 was F#mi7b5.  This is the II chord of the E minor scale.  This is a II, V, I progression in E minor.

Looking at the first 2 lines as a whole we have: II, V, I in the key of G major, a stray C maj7th Chord (which could be considered the 4th of G major) and then a II, V, I in the key of E minor.

Hope that makes some sense.

[justinguitar]

I called them easy in that if you just play the normal real book changes and don't add in too much them you can play them with my 10 basic jazz chords lesson...

But of course you can spend a lifetime on these tunes, I still play Blue Bossa and All the things you are and explore new stuff in them...

I don't think I will ever stop learning new stuff in them or trying out new stuff...

[fretbevel]

Has anyone tried the electronic version of the Real Book which is advertised on the web. Appears to have midi files and audio versions of the songs, with a flexible file management system? Any comments on its effectiveness?

[fretbevel]

A previous mention of Mickey Bakers jazz guitar book reminded me that my copy had been 'lost' for many years. After a web search, I found this site where you can download it. The 'free' download is a bit slow and will take about 10-15 mins but I got it OK. Try this link:  

http://rapidshare.com/files/252435971/Mickey_Baker_s_Jazz_Guitar.pdf

If  you have no luck, send me a PM.

Cheers all.