Bill W. Brazil Blog: Minor Blues Chords

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Minor Blues Chords – Jazz Chord Sub Study

Comping over a minor blues tune is an essential skill for any jazz guitarist to posses, as minor blues tunes are some of the most commonly called songs on jam sessions. While it’s an important form to have under your fingers, many guitarists spend the majority of their practicing on the major blues form, and less on minor blues.

In this lesson, you’ll work on a common minor blues chord progression that uses an important chord substitution in bars 7 and 8 of the form.

Not only will this prepare you to jam on a common minor blues form, but you’ll have a nifty group of subs to add in there as well.

Chord Concepts in This Minor Blues Chords Study

Before you dive in to the chord study as a whole, here are a few important concepts that are used in the study that you can expand upon in your studies.

If you dig any, or all, of these sounds, you can take them to other keys, other progressions, and other tunes as you apply them to other musical situations.

4^th Chords

Contrary to traditional chords, which are built in stacked 3rds, 4^th chords are built by stacking 4^th intervals up from the root note.

You can see this comparison in the example below, where and Am7 drop 2 and Am7 4^th chord are side by side.

Notice that the intervals are all different for the Drop 2 chord, which comes from a stacked 3^rd foundation.

But, in the 4^th chords, all of the intervals are symmetrical. This gives it a more ambiguous sound that many jazz pianists and guitarists enjoy using in their playing.

3 to 7 Triads

These chords are built using three-note shapes, triads, but are used in a non-traditional sense to “jazz” them up a bit.

Here, rather than playing the triads from the root of any given chord, you’re playing it from the 3^rd, which highlights the 3-5-7 intervals of that chord.

You can see this technique in action with the Am7 chord below.

In the first chord, you’re playing a drop 3 root-position shape, then in the second chord you’re removing the root, leaving a C major triad, the 3-5-7 of Am7.

There are two ways to go about 3 to 7 triads, you can simply remove the root of the underlying 1-3-5-7 chord, or you can learn the triads for each chord shape.

Either is fine, so go with what works best for you.

Drop 2 Chords

Drop 2 chords are some of the most popular shapes in jazz guitar, and are found in the playing of just about every great jazz guitarist.

These shapes are built from a R-5-7-3 root-position shape, with inversions constructed out from there.

You can see drop 2 shape over both Am7 and F7 in the examples below.

Notice that they don’t have any string skips in them, as drop 3 chords do, which allows you to strum them with ease and not worry about open strings ringing out.

iii VI ii V Subs in Bars 7 and 8

The final chord concept in this study doesn’t have anything to do with chord voicings at all; it’s a chord substitution concept.

In the basic minor jazz blues progression, bars 7 and 8 are the Im7 chord, a return to the tonic after the ivm7 chord in bars 5 and 6.

In the chord study below, you’ll be using a common minor jazz blues chord sub in bars 7 and 8, where you’ll lead the Im7 chord to the bVI7 chord in bar 9.

Here, you’re playing a iiim7-VI7/iim7-V7 progression from the key of F, as the F7 chord is the target chord in bar 9.

This group of subs leads the tune smoothly from the Im7 to the bVI7 chord, both from a soloing and listening standpoint.

It’s tough to see one chord on the page and play other chords on the guitar, so take your time with this sub.

After a while you’ll get used to this concept, and it’ll start showing up in your soloing and comping without any effort.

Minor Blues Chords Study

Now that you’ve looked at what’s behind the chords in this solo, you’re ready to learn the solo itself as you dive into this minor blues chord study.

Take each four-bar phrase at a time at first. Then, when you’re ready, put it all together in the woodshed.

Start slow, and when ready, play it along to the sample audio file below, before playing it over the backing track when comfortable.

Have fun with this chord study, and make sure to take these shapes, rhythms, and phrases into your other comping ideas of minor blues, and other minor jazz tunes.

Backing Track

Listen & Play