JAZZ GUITAR - BASIC to WILD

Music is all about tension and release.

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So I'm playing one, six, two, five, which is a super common progression in music, in pop and rock, and there's just a million songs that uses this progression.

What we're gonna do is talk about 10 levels where we embellish this sound and explore different harmonic devices and different mechanisms, harmonically and guitarly, that we can really take from that.

So the first thing we're gonna do is just add the seventh.

Ready?

Here we go.

Really simple, but super cool.

Sounds really cool.

Let's sing it.

Just the bass.

So the reason I wanna sing it is because I wanna feel it.

Sometimes I'll tell myself, one, six, like the harmonic progression, so I really understand what's going on.

Next, I'm gonna add extensions.

It's gonna go pretty well, so you just wait.

This is A minor 7, 9, D minor 7, 9, G7, 13, flat 13.

So C major 7, 6, A minor 7, 9, D minor 7, 9.

Cool, you probably know this, but check this out.

Now I'm gonna just change this to D flat.

Why D flat?

So I'm using what we call a trident substitution, D minor, instead of the G7, D flat.

One more time.

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So this is the next step.

After I understand the triad substitution, which sounds really cool, what I just did a second ago is playing Ab minor.

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So after the D minor, I'm playing Ab minor, Db7, C6.

Again, check this out.

Kind of wild, but super cool.

and we can add extensions of course for example and it doesn't have to be in this neck of the wood

right super cool and the reason it works is because we're basically doing the two of the triad substitution okay next I'm using what we call a secondary dominant simple but super super effective see a7 instead of a minor to lead us to D minor so the idea here is I'm think of creating tension of course we can do it with some extensions

What is this?

So this is basically like C major 7, E half, A7, D minor, maybe I'll go with B flat.

So why am I doing that?

The same idea.

I'm creating a 2, 5 to the D minor and maybe keep that, try this out again.

Listen.

could be also just with the g7 maybe it's already too much so

highlighting that degree and it's really really nice okay next I'm gonna use the F minor six which is the four minor instead of the g7 so just play simple chord for a second so you can hear it I'll play first inversion so see

D minor, F minor first inversion, maybe a little Gsus there.

So what's cool about it is because for me, I'm getting some cool tension, especially in the second that you'll see, I'll play the full chord.

So the F minor six there is functioning as a dominant substitution.

Even if the bass is G, it's still going to work because we're going to get a bunch of extension.

We're going to get the F, the A flat, the D, and sometimes the G if you want to do it with a nine.

So you're getting basically like some lashiness, which is what I like.

Next, I'm going to use something simple right now.

So C, A minor, D minor, G, but I'm using all first inversion.

but super strong and maybe root first root first root first and what's cool about it is we can also combine it with the other stuff

So by taking simple stuff and simple elements like just inversions and connecting that with extensions, we get these kind of weaving colors that I love.

Let's listen one more time.

It's really nice.

Next, what I want to do is just maybe solo a little bit, and I'll start with just C major pentatonic, something simple, before I try to express more.

Simple ideas.

But I'm not expressing the chords.

Maybe A7.

E half.

That was F minor.

So I can start expressing ideas around the harmonic framework that we're talking about.

I know it's a lot of stuff, but you can choose one subject or one progression and start messing around with it.

Thank you so much for listening and checking this out.

I really appreciate it.

I'll mess around a little bit more.

It's hard to speak and play, but I'll do my best.

That was giant substitution.

A flat.