Easy Jazz Guitar Chords Your stress free guide to learning jazz guitar chords. Published By: mattwarnockguitar.com Copyright © 2017 Matt Warnock The moral right of this author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission in writing from the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. Website: mattwarnockguitar.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/mattwarnockguitar Twitter: twitter.com/matthewwarnock For the Best Free Jazz Guitar Lessons Online Visit mattwarnockguitar.com Cover Image by Twizzlebird Creative Other Books From Matt Warnock 30 Days to Better Jazz Guitar Jazz Guitar Practice Guide Modern Time: Jazz Rhythm Fundamentals Anatomy of a Lick - Essential Jazz Lines Table of Contents Get Your Audio Files Glossary of Terms Introduction to Shell Chords Essential Jazz Chord Rhythms m7 Shell Chords th 7 Shell Chords maj7 Shell Chords Dim7 Shell Chords ii V I Shell Chords Major ii V I Shell Chords Minor Easy Jazz Guitar Chord Studies Further Studies About the Author Get Your Audio Files Welcome to Easy Jazz Guitar Chords, great to have you here! The audio examples and backing tracks for this book are available to download from http://mattwarnockguitar.com/chords-audio. I recommend that you download the mp3 files to your computer first, and then drag them to your phone, tablet, or other device from there. If you don’t have a computer, no worries, just email me at my contact page and I’ll be glad to sort out the audio files for you. As well, feel free to send me an email on my contact page if you have any questions about the material in this book. I’m glad to help you out any way I can with your journey to learning jazz guitar chords. Have fun with this book. Now, on to learning easy jazz guitar chords! Cheers, Matt Glossary of Terms Jazz has a language all its own. To help you understand the material in this book, here are common jazz terms and definitions. Changes – Jazz term for chords. Comping – Short for accompanying, to play rhythm guitar in a jazz context. Guide Tones – The two most essential notes in a chord, most often the 3rd and 7th. Rootless – A chord that contains all the essential notes minus the root. Shapes – Jazz term for chords. Syncopation – A rhythm that uses up beats, the &’s of each beat, as opposed to downbeats, the 1- 2-3-4 of each bar. The Pocket – Jazz term for groove, to play in the pocket means to be playing with great time and feel. Tonic – The main chord of a key, for example in C the tonic chord is Cmaj7. Tunes – Jazz term for songs. Voice Leading – To change from one chord to the next with as little movement on the fretboard as possible. Voicing – Jazz term for chord. Woodshed – Jazz term for a practice room. How to Use This Book Before you get started, let’s talk about how to use this book in a practical and effective way. Now, I bet the first question you’re asking yourself is: “Jazz sounds difficult, how could any jazz chord be easy?” Well, I’m happy to say that yes, jazz sounds hard to play, but there are shapes that make playing any jazz chord easy. These chords aren’t much more difficult than playing open chords, and they’re definitely easier than barre chords. These easy jazz guitar chords are called “shell chords,” three-note shapes that are easy to play and sound jazzy. In this book, you’ll study shell chord theory, two positions for each chord, and play them through rhythms, progressions, and full jazz songs. This gives you everything you need to play every song in the Real Book. Yes, you can dig into more advanced chords such as 7#9, maj7#5, m9b5, and other extended chords in your studies. But, and this is a big BUT, you don’t have to know complex chords to start playing and sounding like jazz today. This is key, getting started with easy shapes rather than waiting for months or years before you attempt to play your first jazz tune. By working shell chords in two positions, and practicing them in all keys with different rhythms, you set yourself up for future success. This allows you to learn easy jazz chords, play your favorite tunes, and build a foundation for more complex shapes down the road. So, yes there are such things as easy jazz chords. No they’re not the end of your chord studies. But, they get you playing jazz guitar today. Sounds like a good plan to me. Start by reading the first few chapters, play through each example, and then move on to the chord types from there. As you progress through the book, you’ll learn maj7, m7, 7, m7b5, dim7, and 7alt shell chords. You’ll also study essential jazz rhythms, chord progressions, and jazz standards, such as jazz blues, Solar, Blue Bossa, and more. By the end of this book, you’ll know enough jazz chords to go to your first jam session and be successful from a rhythm guitar standpoint. Learning jazz chords can seem impossible at first, but with the right shapes, and a good practice plan, the impossible becomes possible. So, grab your guitar, crank up your favorite amp, and let’s get started on your journey to learning easy jazz guitar chords. Introduction to Shell Chords As this book teaches easy jazz chords, you’ll learn the smallest, easiest shapes that still sound any chord change. The easiest shapes you can play on guitar that accomplish these goals are called shell chords. Shell chords are built like their name suggest, they’re the “shell” of a larger chord shape. To build a shell chord, you start with the full shape, 1-3-5-7, and you remove the 5th to leave the “shell” of the chord, 1-3-7. When doing so, you keep enough information to sound the chord, while making it easier on your hands compared to larger shapes. There are myriad ways to play shell chords on guitar, but you’ll focus on two main shapes in this book. These shapes are the easiest to play, give you two positions for every chord type, and allow you to play the chords to any jazz standard. These two shapes use the following intervals, there’s one on the 6th and one on the 5th string to give you options on the fretboard. 6th-String Root (R-7-3) 5th-String Root (R-3-7) Now that you know what shell chords are, you can play them on guitar. The first example features a standard Amaj7 chord followed by the shell version of that same chord. Notice that you play three of the same notes, as the 5th is absent in the shell voicing vs. the standard shape. When doing so, you maintain the overall sound of the chord, but the shell version is easier to play than the standard voicing. Play through both back-to-back to hear how they sound similar, yet the shell shape is easier to grab than the standard shape. Audio Example 1 Here’s an example of an E7 standard shape next to its shell version. Notice that you drop the upper note, the root, from the first shape to create the E7 shell chord. Play both chords back-to-back to hear how they sound similar, but have their own unique characteristics. Audio Example 2 Here’s an example of standard and shell chords over a ii V I progression. Notice that both chord shapes sound good, but the shell voicings are easier to play as they use fewer notes. As well, though they use fewer notes, shell chords don’t sound like they’re missing anything. This is the power of shell chords, they’re easy to play and sound the chords accurately over any progression. Audio Example 3