Every Jazz Chord Progression You Need to Know

So if you want to be able to play and  improvise over Jazz standards you need   to understand the chord progressions  that they are built out of so here's   every single chord progression that  you need to know for jazz coming on up   so there are two categories of chord progressions  that we're going to talk about number one major   and number two minor chord progressions and  then we'll talk about two very important bonus   chord progressions at the end so stick around to  the end of the video alright so category one is   major chord progressions and the first chord  progression you need to know is the two five   one chord progression the 251 chord progression  sounds like this two five one and a great example   of this chord progression can be found in the  Jazz standard called Autumn Leaves where we   have a C minor seven F7 B flat major seven which  is a two five one in the key of B flat major now   for this video it's really important that you  understand how chord progressions work because   if you don't understand that you won't understand  what a two five one actually means so take a look   at this major diatonic series of seventh chords  we're going to go back to the key of C since a   lot of people know the key of C really well at  the very top line here we have a C major scale now when we harmonize each scale tone with  seventh chords it ends up sounding like this   the one is a C Major seven the two is a D minor  seven the three is an E minor seven the four is   an F major seven the five is a G7 the six is an  A minor seven and the Seven is a B minor seven   flat five or half diminished chord and for jazz  we use Roman numerals uppercase means that it's   major or dominant and a lowercase means that  it's minor so when we look at what a two five   one in the key of C major is we see that the two  chord is a D minor seven the five chord is a g   seven and the one chord the parent key Center  is C Major seven so it sounds like this the two   the five and the one so going back to Autumn  Leaves when we look at this B flat major seven   we're really asking what is the B flat major  scale how do we harmonize that with seventh   chords and we come up with C minor seven F7 I  can't stress enough that the major two five one   progression is so important in the Jazz that you  will see it come up all the time so if there's   any chord progression that you learned from  this video today it needs to be this one the   major 251 chord progression however there's also  in jazz variations on the 251. so let's go to   the second chord progression where we have a two  five one like we have in the tune but not for me [Music] right but instead of a minor seventh  chord we start with a dominant seven chord so   it's F7 B flat seven the five chord and E flat  major seven the one chord now we call this a   secondary dominant which basically just means  we're like tonicizing the five chord here if   that goes way over your head that's okay for  now the most important thing to know is that   sometimes Jazz musicians will turn that Minor  7 2 chord into a dominant seventh chord and it   really adds a different flavor to the chord  progression you'll see this happen in Tunes   like but not for me but many others as well  now the next chord progression is called the   one six two five chord progression another  really important one and this is exemplified   really well in the tune my shining hour  where we have a 16251 in the key of E   flat major and it sounds like this E flat  major is the one chord c minor seven is the   sixth chord F minor seven is the two chord  and B flat seven is the V chord thank you very common chord progression also often used in  turnarounds now another very common alteration   to the 16251 can be found in a tune like Olio  which is what we call a rhythm changes tune in   which most of the song form of Rhythm changes is  one six two five ones but with one Minor Detail   changed and that would be we turn the six chord  from a minor seventh chord into a dominant seventh   chord so in the case of Oleo it's in the key of  B-flat major so it's B flat major seven as the   one chord and then G7 so the dominant six chord  instead of minor and then two five so [Music] right so Jazz musicians do this a lot especially  to the six chord again this dominant six now kind   of sounds like it's the five of that C minor seven  and it creates this tension and resolution sound   now yet another variation of the 16251 is the one  sharp one diminished two five chord progression   you can find this in Tunes like have you met Miss  Jones where in this particular case the one chord   IS F major seven so we have F major seven then an  F sharp diminished seven which is the sharp one   diminished chord and then a two the G minor seven  and then a five with the C7 now really with this   sharp one diminished is doing it says substituting  for the six so in the key of f it would be D   7 would be the dominant six chord so instead of  doing that you're actually just playing a sharp   one diminished chord because you can substitute  that chord for for example a dominant seven flat   nine the D7 flat nine is almost the same as an F  sharp diminished seventh except for we have this   nice movement in the bass that sounds good so  definitely be on the lookout for this kind of   a chord progression the next chord progression  is a three six two five one which you could also   think of as a variation of the one six two five  now going back to Oleo what we have is we start   with a B flat major seven that's the one chord  A G7 the six a two and a five but then when we   do it again we actually go to the three which is  a D minor seven and instead go D minor seven is   the three g seven has the six dominant C minor  seven is the two and F7 is the five and what   happens is you can substitute the three chord  in any given key for the one chord and that's   what happens in Rhythm changes so you'll often  times see this happen not only Rhythm changes   but many other Tunes where we're using this as  a turn around to get back eventually to the one   chord again now one thing you may have noticed  is that a lot of chord progressions in jazz move   in fourths for example the 251 let's say in the  key of B flat major we start with a c and then   we go to an F that's the five that's a fourth  interval away and then a fourth interval away   from the V chord is the B flat so a lot of these  chord progressions move in force like even the six   the two five one these are all moving in fourths  we call this the cycle of fourths and there's no   better tune that exemplifies this than the tune  all the things you are and that introduces our   next chord progression which is the six two five  one so all the things you are sounds like this [Music] okay but we have to start the tune is  an F minor seven now the F minor seven is not   the one chord or the key Center of this tune the  one chord is actually over here in bar four which   is the A flat major seven and so the way we get  there is a six two five one so F minor seven B   flat minor seven E flat seven a flat major seven  so when we understand the cycle of force we can   pretty much come to the conclusion that no matter  what chord in the parent key Center the diatonic   series we're playing we can start on that and  cycle and force to get back to some kind of a   resolution center like the one chord so be on the  lookout for this playing out in jazz standards   like all the things you are and many others  now another very common chord progression in   jazz is the one dominant four seven three six  chord progression the one dominant four three   six chord progression a great tune that shows this  is this tune called there is no greater love it's   in the key of B flat major and it goes B flat  major is the one and then E flat seven the four   chord now normally again if we go back to our  major diatonic series we see that the IV chord   is actually a Major Seventh chord however in our  particular case we're actually boring from what's   called Blue's Harmony and making the IV chord  dominant so we have the one chord the dominant   four chord and then a three in the form of a D  minor seven in this particular case it's a D minor   seven flat five but typically it would just be  a regular minor seventh chord but that's totally   fine and then to the sixth chord here so B flat  major seven E flat seven D minor seven to g seven usually to some some kind of two chord which  in this case it does land on the two chord but   in the dominant seventh form which we talked  about earlier in the example of the two five   one with but not for me now by the way if this  is like a lot of information and you're like I   don't know how I'm gonna remember all these chord  progressions I don't want you to worry about that   because ultimately what happens is the more Jazz  standards you learn the more you start to see   these patterns and you start to just understand  what they mean automatically and you can hear   them in your head but you have to learn more  Jazz standards so I have a free guide called   learn jazz standards the smart way I'll leave a  link to that in the description and also when you   sign up for that you get for free our masterclass  Jazz standards Mastery formula which will help you   learn and master improvising over Jazz standards  so click the link in the description below to get   that for free okay so now let's move on to the  next category of chord progressions which is   the minor chord progressions that come up in jazz  so let's head back to Autumn Leaves we recognize   this from the major 251 to the B-flat major that  we first first discussed now let's look a little   further into the tune where we have this minor  two five one and in this case it's in the key   of G minor and so it sounds like this it's an  A minor seven flat five or we call that a half   diminished chord to a dominant seven for the five  chord to a one chord which in this case is G minor   seven [Music] now again we have to step back for  a second and ask ourselves the question how did   I know in this case that the two chord in a minor  key is a half diminished chord well we also have   to look at some sort of a diatonic series in order  to understand how we come up with the chords in   minor Keys the only problem with that is there  are three different scales you need to harmonize   the natural minor the harmonic minor and the  melodic minor now this makes things complicated   because every single time you harmonize those  scales with seventh chords like we did with the   major diatonic series you come up with different  results of what quality of chord it's going to be   depending on it's the fifth or the sixth or even  the one chord so while we won't be going over all   those harmonizations in this video it's important  that you do your due diligence there but what I've   come up with is this minor diatonic series of  seventh chords which essentially shows what I   see most often happening in jazz standards the  way that they're harmonized and this is really   drawing from all three of those scales it's not  just one scale so for example this Top Line unlike   the major diatonic series that I had for you is  not a scale it's just simply what the base note   of each chord in the series actually is and so  when you do that you have in the key of C Minor   A C minor seven is the one chord A D minor seven  flat five is the two chord an E flat major seven   is the three chord and F minor seven is the four  chord a g seven is the V chord and the sixth chord   is an A minor seven flat five chord and then a  finally of course the seven chord is B flat seven   again please huge disclaimer on using this chart  here there are other options these are just some   very common ones I see in jazz standards the next  minor chord progression is the one six two five in   of course A minor key now a good example of this  is in the tune Lullaby of Birdland where you have   a one six two five chord progression in the key  of F minor so that'd be F minor seven D minor   seven flat five is the sixth chord G minor  seven flat five is the G chord and then C7   5 chord so you'll hear this come up in minor blues  as well and so you really want to know these and   to be honest with you as far as the category of  minor chord progressions goes there's actually not   a whole lot of them other than variations or chord  substitutions which we're not going to fully dive   into here so as long as you know the minor 251 and  the minor one six two five one you're going to be   covered for most of the time when looking at jazz  standards speaking of chord substitutions though   there are a few that I want to give as a bonus  here that I think do come up in jazz standards   the first one is a tritone sub of five two five  one chord progression so going to the key of C   we have a D minor seven two chord and then a d  flat seven this is a tritone substitution for   the V chord which would have been a G7 arriving  at the one chord now a tritone substitution just   to catch anybody up here is essentially when you  substitute one chord for another dominant seventh   chord a tritone interval away so if the V chord  of C is g a tritone interval or the flat five or   the sharp four of the scale however you want to  think about it is d flat so if we make d flat a   dominant seventh chord then we have a tritone  sub of in this case five so now it's D minor   seven d flat seven and C Major seven now this  doesn't always come up as being composed into   jazz standards but it's a very common substitution  that jazz musicians will often use now another   tritone substitution that is used in a minor key  is a tritone sub of two so in the key of C minor   that would be a flat seven g seven and C minor  seven so again going back to what is the two chord   in c minor that's a D minor seven flat five a  tritone away from D Minor is a flat making it to a   dominant seventh chord and now you have a tritone  sub of two so the next step you might be thinking   is okay we know all these chord progressions in  jazz standards but how do I go about memorizing   these chord progressions within the Jazz standards  so I don't forget them so that I can actually play   and improvise over these Tunes well I have a video  on the screen right now called how to memorize   chords from Jazz standards so go ahead and click  on that right now hey also check out my inner   circle membership this is where we learn a new  Jazz standard every single month link down in the   description or up here on the screen if you like  this video make sure you give it a thumbs up make   sure you subscribe to the channel if you haven't  already and we'll see you in the next video cheers

Channel: Learn Jazz Standards

Views: 32,641

Keywords: jazz, learn jazz standards, jazz standards, chord progression, jazz lesson, jazz advice, jazz tutorial

Id: 970VkmWa6IY

Length: 15min 9sec (909 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 13 2022