- So in today's video, I'm going
to attempt the unthinkable.
That's right, I'm going to try to explain
jazz theory in one video.
So I've broken this lesson
into three sections.
First of all, chords,
then chord progressions,
and last of all, scales.
So these are three of the
main topics in jazz theory.
These are the main topics
which cause a lot of confusion.
So by the end of this lesson,
you're going to walk away
with a deeper confidence
in your understanding of jazz.
Now, we've got a lot to cover,
so we're gonna get straight in.
Enjoy the video.
(gentle jazz music)
So first of all, let's
talk about jazz chords.
Now, chords in jazz go a lot higher
than in other styles of music.
So in most styles of music,
you'll only encounter three-note chords.
These are known as triads.
So you'll play the root,
(piano music)
the third, and the fifth,
and you can get different types of chord
within just these three notes.
So you can get a major
chord, a minor chord,
an augmented chord,
and a diminished chord.
However, in jazz, we build
this stack of thirds higher,
so instead of just
stopping at the fifth...
(piano music)
We'll go up and add another
third above the fifth,
which gives us the seventh,
and all of these numbers are numbered
from the root of the chord,
so if this is a C chord, then this is one.
We call this the root.
So, one, three, five, seven.
And that's why all chord extensions
are generally odd numbers,
because they're built in thirds,
which means we're
skipping every other note.
One, three, five, seven.
Then we can go up to the ninth.
We can even go up to the 11th,
and we can even go up to the 13th.
And 13 is pretty much the biggest number
you'll see in a chord,
because if you go up a third from 13,
then you come back to the root,
so there's never a 15 in jazz.
It's always seventh chords, ninth chords,
11th chords, and 13th chords.
(jazz music)
So now let's get specific
and look at the actual
types of seventh chord.
There's different types of seventh chord.
They all are based on the same idea.
They have a root, third,
fifth and seventh,
but we can create different
types of seventh chord
by making different combinations
of the major third and the minor third.
So, we're gonna go through
the three main seventh chords
to begin with.
(piano music)
First of all, we have
a major seventh chord.
This is C major seven,
so if you just imagine the
notes of C major scale.
(piano music)
And you just play the root,
third, fifth and seventh,
then you get a major seven chord.
Next, let's look look at
the minor seven chord.
(piano music)
This is C minor seven,
and if you just imagine a
minor scale, C minor scale,
(piano music)
and you just play the root, third,
fifth and seventh of that scale,
well, you end up playing
a minor seven chord.
(piano music)
And next we have the dominant seven chord.
Here is C dominant seven.
(piano music)
So it's basically a major
triad, but with a minor seventh.
(piano music)
So those are the three most common types
of seventh chord in jazz.
I would say about 90% of jazz music
is built of just these
three seventh chords.
(piano music)
Again, the major seven chord,
(piano music)
the minor seven chord,
(piano music)
and the dominant seven chord,
and they're all just
different combinations
of major thirds and minor thirds.
(piano music)
Now above any type of seventh chord,
you can add what's known
as chord extensions,
and these are the ninth,
the 11th and 13th,
which we mentioned just a moment ago.
So for the chord below,
(piano music)
the root third, fifth and seventh
are known as chordal tones, chord tones,
the root, third, fifth and seventh,
whatever type of chord it is,
minor seven, dominant seven, et cetera.
But above these, you can add
(piano music)
a chord extension, like
the ninth, the 11th
or the 13th, or all three.
(piano music)
You get all sorts of big chords like this.
So how do you find the
ninth, the 11th and the 13th?
Well, regardless of what
type of chord it is,
whether it's a major seven chord,
minor seven chord or a
dominant seven chord,
the chord extensions are always
built from the major scale.
So you imagine a major scale
from the root of the chord,
so this is a C chord.
Doesn't matter what chord type it is.
We're just gonna imagine a major scale
starting from the root.
(piano music)
And you're going to find
the chord extensions
based on that major scale.
So the ninth,
(piano music)
is really the same note
as the two of the scale,
so they're one, two.
The 11th is the same as the fourth,
so three, four, that's our 11th.
And the 13th is the same as
the sixth, which is five, six.
So even if it's a minor seven chord,
let's take a C minor seven chord here.
(piano music)
If it tells you to add
a ninth, 1th or 13th,
you would still imagine C major
scale to find those notes.
(piano music)
It's gonna be the same ninth,
same 11th, and the same 13th,
as if it was a major seven
chord or a dominant seven chord.
This is the natural
ninth, the natural 11th,
and the natural 13th,
and they're all built
from the major scale.
(piano music)
Now the extended harmony
notes can also be altered.
Which means they can be
sharpened or flattened.
So you won't always just see nine, 11, 13.
Sometimes you'll see flat nine,
sharp nine, you'll see sharp 11,
and sometimes you'll see flat 13.
So, how do you find an
altered chord extension?
Well, let's say the chord symbol
says C dominant seven, flat nine.
Well, we're gonna start by finding
the natural extension first
and we just imagine the major scale.
So C major scale, is gonna be D natural,
and then you flatten it.
(piano music)
And that's your chord
extension, that's the flat nine.
Or if it said sharp nine,
again you find the natural nine
first, and then sharpen it.
(piano music)
Or if it said C seven sharp 11,
where you find the natural 11 first,
so run up the major scale to the fourth,
which is the 11th and then sharpen it.
And the same if it were
the 13th, C dominant seven,
flat 13, let's say.
Find the natural 13 first by
running up the major scale.
(piano music)
And then flatten it.
(piano music)
That's where you get these nice...
(piano music)
chords with altered extensions.
Things like the flat nine, sharp nine,
sharp 11, and flat 13.
(piano music)
Now before we move onto the next topic,
I've actually notated
a chord symbol reference guide for you.
You can download that for
free at the link below.
And you'll get my one page
sheet where I've just notated
all of the common types of
seventh chord, ninth chord,
11th chord and 13th chord.
(piano music)
So now a quick word on chord voicings.
So there's many different
ways so that you can play
any chord in jazz.
So if we just take a look
at the seventh chords
(piano music)
This C major seventh chord,
which we've looked at.
So if you imagine a group of
singers were singing this,
(piano music)
while each note is a
voice, a separate voice.
We can redistribute these
voices and turn them upside down
and add a few notes in,
and do all sorts of things
to create different voicings.
These are called chord voicings.
So just to demonstrate, we can play this
which is a literal voicing.
You're playing literally
what the chord symbol says.
Then there's more sophisticated voicings
like fourth voicings.
(piano music)
It's just a stack of fourths,
(piano music)
using notes from C major scale.
(piano music)
We also have fifth voicings.
(piano music)
Where we're using mostly fifths.
(piano music)
And this is still considered
a voicing for C major seven.
And really, the list goes on.
There's all sorts of possibilities...
(piano music)
So now let's talk about
chord progressions in jazz.
So, every start of music has it's own
characteristic chord progressions.
So classical music has it's
sort of one-four-five-one
type progressions.
We have pop music which has
those sort of four pop chords
you might have heard of.
Well, jazz is the same.
We have what what's known as
the two-five-one chord progression.
Now there's two types of two-five-one,
there's a major two-five-one
and a minor two-five-one.
Let's start by looking
at the major two-five-one
because this is far more common.
So let's demonstrate a major two-five-one
in the scale of C major.
(piano music)
So this gonna be a set of three chords
that are gonna be built from the notes
of C major scale and the two, five and one
refers to which scale degree
we're building the chord from.
So the two chord is going to be built
from the second note of the scale.
(piano music)
That's going to be D.
And we're just going to
build a stack of thirds
up to the seventh
(piano music)
using notes from C major scale,
which is all the white notes.
And this gives us what type of chord?
This is a D chord, this is D minor seven.
Next we're going to find the five chord,
so we're gonna find
the fifth scale degree.
One, two, three, four,
five, that's gonna be G.
And we're going to do the same thing,
let's build a stack of thirds up from G
using notes of C major scale.
(piano music)
And this is a dominant seven
chord, G dominant seven.
And then let's find the one chord.
It's gonna be built from the root.
And we're gonna build a stack of thirds
using notes of C major
scale, so every other note.
(piano music)
Gives us this.
And what type of chord is this?
(piano music)
That's right, that's a major seven chord.
So three different types of chord,
minor seven chord, dominant seven chord,
and a major seven chord.
And they're built from the two, the five
and the one of the scale.
So that's why it's called a two-five-one.
Now a very distinctive
part of this two-five one
is the bass line,
(piano music)
which sounds like this.
You hear this pattern
all of the time in jazz.
It's the two, going up
a fourth to the five,
which goes down a fifth to the root.
(piano music)
You hear this all the time.
(piano music)
So most of jazz is built off this
major two-five-one chord progression.
And that's why most of the
chord types that you see
in a real book or a lead sheet
are going to be these three chord types.
It's the minor seven chord,
the dominant seven chord
and a major seven chord.
(gentle piano music)
Now in jazz you don't always
get the complete two-five-one.
Sometimes you do, which is
nice, you get all three chords.
But sometimes the composer
cuts the two-five-one short.
So a good example would be "Satin Doll."
(jazzy piano music)
Here we have a D minor seven,
going to a G dominant seven.
(piano music)
But you don't get
(piano music)
the one chord, which
would be C major seven.
You just get two-five-two-five
and then he modulates to a different key.
And we have an E minor seven chord.
(piano music)
Going to an A dominant seven.
What's that?
Well, that's another
two-five, in which key?
(piano music)
If E minor seven is the two chord,
and A dominant seven is the five chord,
then we're gonna be in the key of D major.
So this is another two-five.
(piano music)
And sometimes you get a five-one.
So you don't always get the two chord,
sometimes you just get the five-one.
An example would be
"Stompin' at the Savoy."
(jazzy piano music)
We have a C dominant seven
chord going down a fifth
to an F major seven chord.
Well, what's that?
That's a five-one progression in F major.
But we don't have the two chord here,
which would be G minor seven,
'cause that's the two chord,
we don't get the two chord,
we just have the five-one.
(piano music)
And to end the section let's talk about
the minor two-five-one,
which is much less common
than the major two-five-one.
I would say that only
about 10% of two-five-ones
are the minor two-five-one.
But let's demonstrate in C minor.
So the concept is the same.
We're gonna have three
chords built from the two,
the five and the one.
But instead of building
from the major scale
we're going to build from
the harmonic minor scale.
(piano music)
Normal minor scale up to the
fifth, you have a minor sixth,
but then we have a major seventh.
So really this is just
a normal minor scale
except it has a major seventh.
(piano music)
And let's see what three chords we get.
So let's find the two chord.
(piano music)
Gonna build a stack of thirds upwards,
using the notes of C
harmonic minor scale here.
We're gonna do an F, we're
gonna do A flat, and C.
(piano music)
And this introduces a
new type of seventh chord
which we haven't look at yet.
(piano music)
And this is called the
half-diminished chord,
although it's sometimes also called
a minor seventh chord flat five.
(piano music)
Now let's find the five chord.
(piano music)
This is the fifth, G.
Let's build a stack of thirds using notes
from C harmonic minor.
Remember we have that
major seventh of the scale.
We have a D natural and an F.
And what type of chord is this?
Well this is the same
dominant seventh chord
that you get in the major two-five-one,
so nothing's new here.
And finally let's find the one chord,
we're going to get a minor
third, a natural fifth,
and then we're going to get
that major seventh, B natural.
And here we get another
type of seventh chord
which we haven't looked at yet.
(piano music)
This is called C minor-major seven.
C minor-major seven.
(piano music)
Now you've heard the minor two-five-one
in songs like "Blue Bossa."
(jazzy piano music)
So that was a minor
two-five-one in our key
that we're already in of C minor.
D half-diminished, G dominant seven,
going to C minor-major seven.
(piano music)
And sometimes with the minor two-five-one,
the one chord gets tweaked.
It's not always played as
a minor-major seven chord,
sometimes the composer will
write is as a minor seven chord.
So he might do D half-diminished,
going to G dominant seven,
going to C minor seven.
And this is done because it's
just more of a casual sound.
As a composer you don't always want
this sort of intense sound of
this minor-major seven chord.
It's quite an intense chord
and sometimes composers will tweak it
and make it a minor seven chord.
(piano music)
And finally for today,
let's talk about scales.
So as a jazz musician it's
essential that you know
what scale to play from
over any chord type.
This is gonna be useful
if you're ever improvising
or if you're composing a melody.
Well, you need to know
what scale to play from
when you're playing any chord.
So the first key principle is to make sure
that the scale you use
agrees on the chordal tones of the chord.
So if you have a C major seven chord...
(piano music)
That means that your scale has to have
a C, an E, a G and a B natural.
And it's not going to work
if you play an E flat.
(out of tune piano music)
Or any notes that disagree
with these four chordal tones.
So if it's a major seven chord,
root third, fifth and seventh.
If it's a minor seven chord, same thing.
But tweak them to this type of chord.
And if it's a dominant seven chord,
make sure you have your chordal tones.
Now, when it comes to the remaining notes,
the two, four and six.
You actually have some freedom here.
You can tweak them different ways
and it will generally sound
consonant over the chord.
As long as there's no clash
with the chordal tones.
However, I'm gonna share
with you a good principle
that you can follow,
certainly, as a beginner
or an intermediate jazz pianist.
And that is the chordal tone
plus whole-step principle.
This is just one method
you can use to choose
which scale to play over any chord type.
So let's say we have C major seven.
You're gonna start with the chordal tones.
The root, the major third, the fifth
and the major seventh.
And then we're going to add a whole step
to the root, third and fifth.
So C, up a whole step, gives
us D, E, up a whole step,
gives us F sharp a
sharp four, that's nice.
And G, up a whole step, gives
us A natural, a major sixth.
(piano music)
And we end up playing,
what's called C Lydian scale.
So over the major seven chords
we can use this principle.
(piano music)
Whatever the chord is,
this will always work well.
If it's a minor seven chord,
C minor seven, same thing.
Chordal tones first...
(piano music)
then we'll add a whole step
to the root, third and fifth.
Gives us D natural, E flat up a whole step
gives us F natural, and G
up a whole step gives us A.
(piano music)
And that gives us C Dorian scale.
(piano music)
So we can play the Dorian
scale over minor seven chords.
And last of all, let's look
at the dominant seven chord,
chordal tones first...
(piano music)
We have to have these in
place to sound consonant.
Then let's add a whole step
to the root, third and fifth.
(piano music)
Gives us D natural, E up a
whole step gives us F sharp,
the sharp four, and G up
a whole step gives us A.
(piano music)
And we end up playing this
very nice, sophisticated scale
that's called the Lydian-Dominant scale.
This is C Lydian-Dominant scale.
(piano music)
And that's a great scale to
play over dominant seven chords.
So very briefly, that
is a great principle,
which you can use.
It generates complex scales,
but it's very easy to
understand and it works
for just about any chord
you'll ever encounter.
(piano music)
So that was a lesson and a half.
Well done for making it
to the end of this lesson.
If it's the first video
of mine you've seen,
make sure you don't miss
out on future videos
by subscribing to my channel.
Now, one of the most confusing
aspects of jazz piano
is all of the different
chord symbols that we get.
We have seventh chords,
ninth chords, 11th chords.
So to help you with this,
I've put together a chord
symbol reference guide.
You can download it for
free at the link below.
And I've just notated all
of the common chord symbols
which you encounter as a jazz pianist.
And this is just gonna
help you get clarity
on jazz piano chord symbols.
And apart from that, I'm gonna hand-pick
the next video right here.
So you can keep on watching
more jazz tutorial.
My name's Julian Bradley,
thank you for watching.
And I'll see you in the next video.
(piano music)
