The Complete Jazz Theory Course - Jazz Chords/Scales & More

Explore adding notes to seventh chords for color, such as placing the D on top to form C9 or add9; apply to minor and major seventh chords.

Explore adding color tones to dominant seventh chords: 9th, #9, b9, #11, and 13th, and hear how omitting the 5th yields an open sound in jazz, blues, and rock.

Discover how to color minor seven chords: add the 9th (often omitted), the 11th (F in C) with a b5 form Cm7b5 (half-diminished), and the 6th (A) with b6 (Ab).

Identify which notes color major seventh chords: add the ninth, sharpened fourth, sharpened fifth, and the sixth; avoid the 4th and flat/sharp ninth for a true major sound.

Explore adding multiple notes to minor seven, dominant seven, and major seven chords, including 9th, 13th, b9, #9, #11, and b13, and learn about the altered scale and altered chords.

Explore major scale theory by examining the C major scale and its modes, learning how starting on different degrees yields Ionian through Locrian and their parent major scales.

Hear the seven modes of the major scale on C, including ionian, dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian, and locrian, with their corresponding notes.

Explore major scale modes from C major form chords. Ionian to Cmaj7; Dorian to Dmin7; Phrygian to Emin7; Lydian to Fmaj7; Mixolydian to G7; Locrian to B half diminished.

Explore the 2-5-1 progression in jazz, linking dorian, mixolydian, and ionian modes to minor seven, dominant seven, and major seven chords, with key examples in C and E.

Discover common jazz progressions beyond 2-5-1, such as 5-1, 1-6-2-5 with A7 substitution for Am7, 3-6-2-5, 1-2-3-4, and 1-4, plus the v of v pattern circling the circle of fifths.

Explore jazz chord progressions, including 2-5-1 and 3-6-2-5 patterns, with practical examples from Satin Doll, Take the A Train, and Yesterdays, and learn circle of fifths insights.

Explore improvising over a 2-5-1 in c, identifying avoid notes on major 7th chords and using dorian, mixolydian, lydian, and ionian scales to create tensions and resolutions.

Explore how to use the modes—Ionian, Lydian, Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian, and Locrian—over major 7th, II, dominant 7th, sus, susb9, and half diminished chords, with avoid notes and passing tones.

Explore Phrygian and sus chords, including susb9 voicings, their relation to dominant 7th chords with a 13th in bass, and practical voicings and voice-leading for sus chords.

Explore tritone substitution as a common jazz reharmonization technique, where a dominant 7th chord substitutes a chord a tritone away, creating tension and leading to the I chord.

The lecture explains natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales, their links to major keys and leading tones, and their use in harmony and jazz improvisation.

Explore melodic minor theory by deriving seven modes from the melodic minor scale, each starting on a note, using roman numerals i to vii, and avoiding Greek names for modes.

Explore melodic minor harmony through the first mode, forming a C minor major seventh chord from 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes, learn its substitute in II-V progressions and improvisation.

Explore the second mode of melodic minor and its use with a d phrygian susb9 harmony, avoiding minor 7th chords for improvisation.

Explore the 3rd mode of melodic minor harmony from Eb to Eb, revealing an augmented fifth and the Eb major 7th sharp 5 chord, with improvisation guidance over that harmony.

Explore how the fourth mode of melodic minor builds lydian dominant harmony, producing 7#11 chords like F7, and learn to improvise over them using the mode from melodic minor.

Examine the 5th mode of melodic minor from G to G, its dominant 7th, and compare it to G mixolydian, noting the b13 and why the mode is rarely used.

The 6th mode of melodic minor runs from a to a and fits half diminished chords. Known as locrian #2, it has a natural 9th for improvising over half-diminished harmony.

Explore the 7th mode of melodic minor, from B to B, revealing a dominant 7th chord with b9, #9, #11, and b13—the altered scale for B7 altered improvisation.

Explore melodic minor harmony and its modes, where there are no avoid notes and a single voicing can serve multiple chords within the melodic minor key.

Explains minor ii-V-I progression, with ii half diminished, v alt, and i minor major seven; chords derive from melodic minor scales, unlike harmony, and licks transpose by a minor third.

Explore D half-diminished voicings in a 2-5-1 progression and learn to think key, not chord, since the same voicing works across chords in the melodic minor key.

Explore the diminished scale harmony and its two forms: half-step/whole-step and whole-step/half-step. See how they share the same notes when transposed by a minor third, totaling eight notes.

Explore how the G half-step/whole-step diminished scale creates a G7b9#9#11 chord with a major 3rd and minor 7th, and how four related chords share this diminished-scale family.

Explore the diminished harmony across whole-step and half-step scales, building F diminished from root, minor third, diminished fifth, and diminished seventh, and apply voicings to 7b9 chords.

Used sparingly in jazz harmony, there are two 6-note whole tone scales, and they yield chords like C7#5 or C7#11#5.

Explore the pentatonic scale, a five-note subset of the major scale, and see how C, F, and G pentatonics fit II–V–I progressions, avoid notes, and relate major and minor pentatonics.

Explore how the blues scale, a minor pentatonic with a #4 passing note, uses C and F blues scales and relates to pentatonic choices on jazz progressions.

Learn bebop scales: dominant, dorian, mixolydian, major, and melodic minor, and how chromatic passing notes on the beat deepen the C7 and II–V harmony.

Explore playing outside the changes in a structured way using sequences or notes a half-step away from the chord scale. Return inside to release the tension and restore cohesion.

Explore slash chords, where a triad or seventh chord over a bass note creates voicings and tense colors; analyze examples like E/F and C/D to reveal alterations and sus chords.

Explore scales that fit slash chords, such as C/C and Db/C, pairing major triads over bass with modes like lydian, dorian, and altered; build a practical scale table.

Explore slash chords beyond major triads over a bass note, including minor, seventh, diminished, and augmented forms in inversions. See jazz tunes with chromatic bass lines and pedal tones.

Learn reharmonization techniques using tritone substitution and chromatic root motion in a 2-5-1 progression. Apply on the spot or ahead of time.

Explore reharmonizing minor seventh chords within and outside 2-5 progressions, substituting half-diminished or V of V chords, and using tonic minor substitutions, chromatic descents and ascents in Summertime.

Discover how to reharmonize v-chords using b9, #11, and altered tones by considering the next chord, with strong resolutions and possibilities to major seventh, minor seventh, or dominant seventh chords.

Learn how to reharmonize I chords by substituting major 7th with major 6/9 or lydian voicings, and use major 7th #4 or #5 substitutions while noting the 4th avoid note.