Chord Subs & Reharmonisation
Chord substitutions allow you to add interesting variations to a common progression. We explore tritone subs, suspended chords & passing chords.
to this course, right now!
Summary Information:
One-time purchase - learn at your own pace, with unlimited access to this course.
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- View Online with Lifetime Access
- Video Slow Down Controls
- A/B Loop
- Theory Lessons
- Performances & Arrangements
- 37 PDF Files & Lesson Supplements
Chord Subs & Reharmonisation
Chord substitutions allow you to add interesting variations to a common progression. We explore tritone subs, suspended chords & passing chords.
Playing the same chord changes over and over can become repetitive. Chord substitution & reharmonisation allows jazz musicians to add interesting variations to jazz standards and brings new life to common chord changes and progressions.
The first substitution you will come across as a jazz musician will likely be tritone substitution. This can be applied to any 251 progression and achieves a smooth, chromatically descending bass line.
Next we introduce suspended harmony and explore the use of sus chords resolving to altered dominants & upper structures. Understanding this principle will help you add movement to your 251 progressions and bring out interesting inner voices in your progressions.
A useful area of jazz to understand is Passing Chords. Passing Chords can be viewed as temporary stepping stones between the chords in a progression and they are a great tool to delay the sense of resolution, making your playing sound more interesting and dynamic.
The most common passing chord is a dominant chord a half step above the target chord. We explore some of the many different options available to you when for passing chords to common progressions.
In the jazz standard lessons in this course, we apply all of the theory topics in context of actual tunes. The arrangements have been carefully selected to demonstrate the principles covered earlier in the course.
Tritone Substitution is a useful reharmonisation technique that can be used to add harmonic interest and variety to a chord progression.
In this lesson, we're going to explore an important tritone relationship to help you quickly access altered dominant chord voicings in all keys.
We explore various ways to add harmonic interest over dominant chords using tritones. We use the tunes 'Body and Soul' and 'Misty'.
We explore how you can use So What voicings not only for minor chords, but also major chords by creating a quartal maj13 voicing.
We start the lesson by recapping the basic theory behind sus chords and then explore them in context of major and minor 251s
Passing chords are temporary stepping stones between chords, adding variety and making your playing sound more interesting & dynamic.
Michel Legrand's 'What are you doing the rest of your life' is a challenging tune to learn and contains some difficult-to-navigate chord changes.
We will examine the minor line cliche in the A Sections and then discuss the use of suspended chords in the bridge of the tune.
In part 3 of "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" we will explore some alternative ways that we can play through the A section.
‘The Shadow Of Your Smile’ follows a 32 measure AB form. In this lesson we are going to play it as a ballad to learn the chords and changes.
In part 2 we create a full solo piano arrangement incorporating chord extensions, suspended chords and altered dominant chords.
‘I Fall in Love To Easily’ has a very short form at just 16 measures. It's a great tune for applying altered and suspended harmony.
Here’s That Rainy Day is a jazz ballad composed by Jimmy Van Heusen. Written in the key of G Major, the tune follows a 32 measure A-B form.
Cole Porter's Easy to Love is a very accessible jazz standard for beginners as you will be familiar with most of the chords and progressions in the tune.
The tune is written in ¾ so it’s played with a waltz feel. We interpret some of the tune quite freely, in particular in the introduction and the ending.
In this lesson we explore the A Section of the tune "But Beautiful" as arranged by Beegie Adair in her solo piano recording of the tune.
In this lesson we explore a secret ingredient to Beegie Adair’s captivating solo piano performances; the use of sus chords.
-
Tritone Substitution Worksheet File Type: pdf
-
Rootless Major 251 Progressions – 12 Keys File Type: pdf
-
Dominant Tritone Trick Notation File Type: pdf
-
So What Chords – All 12 Keys File Type: pdf
-
Sus Chords Lesson Supplement File Type: pdf
-
Upper Structure Cheat Sheet File Type: pdf
to this course, right now!