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Guitar Tutorial

Chord Substitutions

Instructor: Mike Edwin
Topic: Chords
Style: Jazz
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  • Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

    Excerpt: Welcome Guitar Players! Over the next several lessons we are going to be looking at possible chord substitutions that can be used over a 'I Vi ii V' progression. To begin with, I want you to have a go at this sequence of chords and try and get them sounding nice under your finger tips. Once you have a feel for this progression join me in the next lesson an...

    Media Length: 1:12

  • Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

    Excerpt: Tonic Substitute The first substitution I want to introduce is called a 'tonic substitute'. It is also known to some as 'two to the right'. In the key of C Major there are 7 chords. That's one chord for each note in the C Major scale. Every Major key works the same way. In the image below you will see an example of how the C Major scale appears harmonized....

    Media Length: 2:43

  • Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

    Excerpt: Now we are going to experiment with turning some minor chords into Dominant Chords. Dominant chords generally resolve down to a Perfect 5th. You can see an example of this in our progression via the G7 > Cmaj7 movement. Typically in pop and rock styles of music you will only ever see a Dominant 7 chord resolving to a Major chord. In jazz though, it is ...

    Media Length: 2:39

  • Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

    Excerpt: Before we get into Tri-tone substitutions, I owe some people the answer to the homework task from last lesson. Am7 contains the notes - A C E G also expressed as R b3 5 b7. If the b3 (minor 3rd) of this chord is C, and we know that the only difference between a minor7 and a Dominant7 is the 3rd. Then we need to raise C, the b3, to a C#, making it a 3(Major ...

    Media Length: 2:13

  • Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

    Excerpt: The next chord we are going to manipulate is chord ii (D7), which was earlier a Dm7. Just as in our previous lesson, we are going to identify the 5th of this chord: D F# (A) C. Now we lower it by a half step, giving us Ab. All we do now is use this note as the root of a new Dominant7 chord, leaving us with Ab7. Again, both the 3rd and 7th of these chords...

    Media Length: 1:49

  • Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

    Excerpt: For our final tri-tone substitution, A7 will become Eb7. We identify the 5th of A7: A C# (E) G. Lower it by a half step. Eb Build a new Dominant7 chord from Eb. Eb7 = Eb G Bb Db Once again you will see that the 3rd and 7th of both these chords are the same, simply inverted. Eb7 moving into D7 will sound just as nice as Eb7 to Ab7 (the tri-tone of D7) beca...

    Media Length: 1:05