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o2i0sr2018 ‘Advanced Jazz Harmony -3 Tips -PianoWihWilie
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Advanced Jazz Harmony - 3 Tips
‘Advanced jazz harmony. That's the topic for this article, And this is going to be an article
that youll all want to check out because we're going to give you 3 awesome tips to use in
your playing. These are tips that will not only help you achieve that pro sound in your
playing, but also help you generate ideas for arranging or composing music.
Advanced Jazz Harmony: Inserting a “ii” Chord
We're going to start in the shallow end of the pool and gradually make our way to the deep
end. This tip is a basic reharmonization idea that is used very frequently in jazz. The idea is
simple: whenever you see a ‘V7' chord, you can insert a ‘it chord before it and create a ‘ii-
V7-I' progression. Why might you want to do that? Well, usually the addition of chords
creates the sound of a longer chord progression. The listener gets a longer sense of
anticipation or excitement as their ear waits for the resolution. Also, placing a new chord
under the melody note can sometimes create more interest in the sound of the melody,
Consider the following example:
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("The Days of Wine and Roses” (original chord)
F Br D
[FThe Days of Wine and Roses” Gnserted W chord in mensure 3)
F Br Ant Dv
ii v
Advanced Jazz Harmony: Moving the ‘I’ Chord Up a Half-Step
Ok, now we're in the mid-section of the pool. This is an easy jazz reharm tip and itis also
used very frequently. It can be used anywhere, but it is most commonly employed at the
end of the tune, on the final 'l chord, (Most tunes end on a'l’ chord, so that's how we will
discuss this tip). For any of you classical musicians out there, what we're talking about here
is often referred to as the Neapolitan chord (or the “flat-two” chord). It’s really as simple as
replacing the 1’ chord with the ‘flat-II chord. Just get rid of that T chord altogether and
replace it with the ‘lat-ll chord. This little trick works best when the melody note is either
the root or the Sth of the‘ chord,
Here's how it work:
Fem"5) Be Em? al Dm? @ comin (Dm? Gt)
[On Green Dolphin Sire” (with Il chord in place of Cmaj? chord]
Fen) BP En? ” Da? Domajxéin
ol
Advanced Jazz Harmony: Playing a Diminished ‘i’ Chord Before
Resolving to‘
We're not quite in the deep-deep end of the pool yet, but we're getting there with this final
tip. This jazz tip that is used less frequently (because it’s only possible in a limited number
of circumstances) but is very effective when done correctly. Here itis: use a diminished 't
chord right before resolving to a major ‘t chord when the melody note is the root or 6th of the
‘major chord. Let's break that down with our “Days of Wine and Roses” example again
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‘Advanced Jazz Harmony ~3 Tips -PianoWithWilie
[Days of Wine and Roses" (original chords, last 5 measures)
Be ‘Am? Du? Ga? ° F Gu?
("Days of Wine and Roses” (diminished T resolving to major T chord)
Br Am’ Dm? Gmi c pro Gm
Notice that in the 4th measure of the example above, the original chords show an F major
chord (the ‘! chord in the key of F). In our reharmonized example we used an F diminished
7th chord before resolving to the F major chord. Notice also that we were able to do this
because the melody uses the root of the major chord, which works because it is also the
root of the diminished chord. The 6th of the major chord works because we can
harmonize the chord as a major 6th chord, and that 6th functions as the double-flatted 7th
of the diminished chord.
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