Any "easy" jazz chord progressions?

GuyBoden

viz said:

The Dom V7 should be based around the super locrian which has a dim 5 and minor 6 but no perfect 5th; the tritone starts on this dim 5th note so shouldn't clash. Furthermore, the tritone sub chord should be based on the overtone scale (commensurate with the domV superlocrian), ie with an augmented 4th, which is the root of the domV. So nothing should clash (unless the bassist is indeed playing perfect 5ths off the domV, or the guitarist is doing some sort of sus4 on the tritone (unlikely)).

If the so called "Improvisation" and chords are all prearranged then, yes, nothing clashes.

But, if you've played a lot of Jazz, you'll soon realize that these so called ii-V-I "improvisations" are really a player's pet licks over a ii-V-I, a lot of the time this includes the V chord's 5th note. It's this that then clashes if you use a Tritone sub.

In my experience, it's best to play the chords as written for a Jazz standard, unless a chord's subs are discussed before hand with the players or if the players all have very, very good Jazz ears.

viz

Absolutely spot on. Bassists should stay on the chord's root anyway. Like Smoke on the Water.

Chalky

Walk down the following chords in these beat counts
4 Emaj7 (barre Amaj7 up at 7th fret)
2 Bmin7 (barre at 7th fret)
2 Bb7 (6th fret)
4 Amaj7 (5th fret)
2 Amin7 (5th fret)
2 Amin7b5 (5th fret)
2 Abmin7 (4th fret)
2 Gmin7 (3rd fret)
2 Gbmin7 (2nd fret)
2 F7 (1st fret)
4 E open chord.
Then play 2 Gbmin7 and 2 B7 or similar for the turnaround and repeat.

GuyBoden

Chalky said:

Walk down the following chords in these beat counts
4 Emaj7 (barre Amaj7 up at 7th fret)
2 Bmin7 (barre at 7th fret)
2 Bb7 (6th fret)
4 Amaj7 (5th fret)
2 Amin7 (5th fret)
2 Amin7b5 (5th fret)
2 Abmin7 (4th fret)
2 Gmin7 (3rd fret)
2 Gbmin7 (2nd fret)
2 F7 (1st fret)
4 E open chord.
Then play 2 Gbmin7 and 2 B7 or similar for the turnaround and repeat.

As a improvisor, I don't want to hear lots and lots of subs, I want to hear the actual harmony, so I can improvise over it. Comping lots of complex subs is just annoying for most improvisor's trying to solo, unless you've got the ears of a Jazz pro like Herbie Hancock or someone.

viz

Me too generally speaking, but I thought Chalky's harmonic progression there was a particularly beautiful set of subs, and really quite natural to noodle over.

GuyBoden

viz said:

Me too generally speaking, but I thought Chalky's harmonic progression there was a particularly beautiful set of subs, and really quite natural to noodle over.

There's too many tritone subs, over basic ii-V-Is,  hence my previous post about the Dom's fifth clashing with the tritone. It's easy to forget that the guitar's main role in Jazz standards is accompanying "Comping".

GuyBoden

Anyway, I prefer this type of comping:

Chalky

I used to help a group of saxophonists learn how to improvise. I'd use progressions like this and suggest they improvise using the E major scale (in this case). Lo and behold they would suddenly feel like they were getting somewhere because while some notes sounded a little 'outside' and a few were too dissonant, the majority of what they played sounded 'jazzy'. It didnt teach them much theory. But wow, what it did for their self-confidence for improvising!

viz

GuyBoden said:

Anyway, I prefer this type of comping:

nice.

Chalky

Another one for the looper?
4 x Am7 barre at 5th fret 5x5555
2 x Bm7b5 7x775x
2 x E7 076750
Repeat these above 3 times then
2 x Am7 5x5555
2 x Dm7 x57565
2 x Am7 5x5555
2 x E7#9#5 076788

Try a Latin feel like Samba or Bossa Nova. Try playing the bass separately with your thumb and rest of chord with a claw action to bounce the rhythm between them.

Frankieabbot

Chalky said:

Another one for the looper?
4 x Am7 barre at 5th fret 5x5555
2 x Bm7b5 7x775x
2 x E7 076750
Repeat these above 3 times then
2 x Am7 5x5555
2 x Dm7 x57565
2 x Am7 5x5555
2 x E7#9#5 076788

Try a Latin feel like Samba or Bossa Nova. Try playing the bass separately with your thumb and rest of chord with a claw action to bounce the rhythm between them.

This sounds great...makes me feel that I'm actually playing something rather than just strumming out chords. Also introducing me to moveable chord shapes and the need to 'dampen' the x strings.

octatonic

Jalapeno said:

Dm / G7 / C   or   Em / A7 / D     a Maj 251 sequence - 80%-90+% of jazz uses this progression like a lego brick.

Then use Dom7 chords cycling through the Cycle of 4ths/5ths (depends if you're going up or down) , say ....

E7 / A7 / D7 / G7 (then end with C)

This.

You can do some interesting stuff with parallel modulation too.

When you play a ii V I such as Dm7 G7 C, then convert the I chord to being a minor 7 chord and it becomes the ii of the next ii V I.

So the progression is 

Dm7, G7, C, Cm7, F7, Bbm7

Then you can do the same with the Bbm7 and so on... forever.

GuyBoden

octatonic said:

You can do some interesting stuff with parallel modulation too.

When you play a ii V I such as Dm7 G7 C, then convert the I chord to being a minor 7 chord and it becomes the ii of the next ii V I.

Yeah, these type are very common: | Em7 A7 | DMaj7 DMaj7 | Dm7 G7 | CMaj7 CMaj7 | Cm7 F7 | BbMaj7 BbMaj7 | 

From that you can get into Coltrane type changes using major third movements:
(example using down a major third. DMaj to BbMaj to GbMaj back to DMaj )

Typical ii V I:
|   Em7   |   A7   |   DMaj7   |   DMaj7   |

Coltrane type changes using major third movement.
|   DMaj7   F7 | BbMaj7  Db7   |   GbMaj7 A7   |   DMaj7  |

Here's a simplistic explanation of how to use Coltrane type changes:

First write the major chords in major third downward movement.
|   DMaj  | BbMaj  |   GbMaj |   DMaj  |

Then add each major's dominate chord to create tension/movement that resolves to each major chord.
(Example F7 to BbMaj)

|   DMaj7  F7 | BbMaj7  Db7 |   GbMaj7 A7 |   DMaj7  |