JAZZ CHORD SUBSTITUTIONS

JAZZ CHORD SUBSTITUTIONS

Chord substitutions are no more than just playing one chord in place of another. It is good to have options when it comes to playing music or anything you enjoy doing. Music is made fun when your chord vocabulary is not limited to jus a few chords. Expanding your vocabulary of chords enables you to use chords other than basic triads of 3 note.

For example a 1 chord or a beginning and ending chord can be played many ways that will not affect the nature of the song. Let's look at some examples of a chord in C major use at the beginning of any song.

These substitutions are chords that are used in jazz. Chord substitutions are extended chords which consist of the 7^th, 9^th, 11^th, and 13^th. The ^3rd illustrations below are jus an example of popular jazz chord substitutions used to begin or end a song.

Note : the note(s) to the left of the slash / is played in the left hand. The notes to the rights of the slash / is for the chord played in the right hand.

Traditional or basic chord

C Major = C / C E G ( chord to begin or end song )

Below 4 types of jazz chord subtitutions for this basic chord

Try these chords substitutions in some of your favorite songs to begin or end a song as illustrated above.

1. You can use thes in Mary had a little lamb
2. London bridge is falling down

These will work great with some of your favorite songs at church. You can apply this application immediately to any song.