The 5-Quality Jazz 7th Chords From a Static Position

Prerequisite: You've got to know your major & minor triads well... and know your major scales. (check out the posts on these subjects) This post is primarily for intermediate players who wish learn and play more advanced chord voicings. This is the foundation on which all those modern, beautiful voicing's are based. In some circles it's called the '60 chord system'. What follows is the steps for 'voicing' them with two hands and then applying those voicing's to tunes. I'll be posting examples of that.

What follows is readily available from a variety of sources; but I have a problem with most of them... there's no follow-up on the application of this info. (or I just can't find it) Just the theory and presentation of this chord system will note be of much help. I will be posting HOW to use these chords on real tunes.

This is just 'One Way' of looking at... approaching... the jazz 7th chords. Another way would be the Diatonic 7ths. This is where we learn the relationship of one chord to another. This will be the subject of many more posts. But for now... I think this might be a good intro into the learning of the 7th chords.

Also, no highly technical or theoretical explanations here. I'll leave that to the academics. I just want you to have the basic foundation so we could move on. At the end of the post are a couple of links for some PDF reference charts that I have created. You can download them gratis.

Jazz Harmony is primarily concerned with 4-note chords called 7ths. With 3-note chords, we have only a simple triad chord. Triad chords are rarely used in jazz voicings. The 4-note 7th chords are formed from major scales.








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THE 1st QUALITY 7th CHORD WE LEARN IS THE MAJOR 7th CHORD.

We build/form the Major 7th chord by playing the 1st (Root), 3rd, 5th, & 7th intervals of the major scale or, (Every other note of the scale starting with the root)

I'm showing Cmaj7 as the 'Chord Symbol', but other common symbols might be CM7, Cma7, or just 'C' which is always interpreted as more than just a 'C' major chord.

THE 2nd QUALITY 7th CHORD WE LEARN IS THE DOMINANT 7th CHORD.

We build/form the Dominant 7th chord by lowering (altering) the 7th interval one half step - thereby playing the ROOT (1), 3rd, 5th, & b7th intervals.

THE 3rd QUALITY 7th CHORD WE LEARN IS THE MINOR 7th CHORD.

We build/form the Minor 7th chord by lowering (Altering) the 3rd & 7th intervals one half step - thereby playing the ROOT (1), b3rd, 5th, & b7th intervals.

THE 4th QUALITY 7th CHORD WE LEARN IS THE MINOR 7b5 CHORD.

We build/form the Minor 7th(b5) by lowering (Altering) the 3rd, 5th & 7th intervals one half step - thereby playing the ROOT (1), b3rd, b5th, & b7th intervals. Another common 'Chord Symbol' for this chord is seen above the Cm7b5.

THE 5th QUALITY 7th CHORD WE LEARN IS THE DIMINISHED 7th CHORD.

We build/form the Diminished 7th by lowering (Altering) the 3rd, 5th intervals one half step, and lowering the 7th interval by a two half steps. Thereby playing the 1st (ROOT), b3rd, b5th, & 6th intervals.

When the 7th is lowered (2) half steps shown with the symbol (bb) it just becomes the 6th. It simpler just to think of this chord as the 1, b3, b5, and 6th. As you can see, another common symbol for this is the small subscript circle next to the name of the chord. You may also just see (dim) after the name.

EVERYTHING ABOVE ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS 5-CHORD SUMMARY

THERE ARE TWO MORE CHORDS USED QUITE OFTEN THAT ARE NOT IN THE 7th FAMILY. They would be the C6 and Cm6 - Let's just say they're in the family. We build/form the Major 6th by playing the 1st (ROOT), 3rd, or (b3rd for minor) 5th, & 6th intervals of the major scale.







HERE ARE THE C6 & Cm6 INTEGRATED INTO THE 5-CHORD SUMMARY






Here's the link for a complete summary in all keys..........
Here's the link for a complete summary of all inversions.....

Now, how do you practice these? The audio above used the 'C', 'F', and 'G'. Practice these on one session. On another practice session pick 2 more... maybe 'Bb' and 'D'. And another time maybe 'Eb and 'A'. I just picked them by thinking in keys...... 'F' & 'G' have (1) accidental. 'Bb' and 'D' have (2). And 'Eb' & 'A' have (3) accidentals.
Don't overdue it, don't overload the brain. Just take a couple a day and it will all sink in over weeks. You have to allocate 'x' amount of time to each category of study. Organization is the key. I'm in the middle of writing some practice articles that discuss this very important factor. Ok... see ya shortly.

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