Chord Construction and Harmonic Mastery for Acing The Real Book goes over the basics in the three basics of Jazz and Gospel harmony: 1) Putting chords together. 2) Altering chords and 3) Connecting them. This is usually the starting point for most of my students. You can skip over it if you are already proficient at chord construction and Roman Numeral Analysis.
Mastering The Changes is for students who understand the basics of chord construction, substitution and Roman Numeral analysis, but 1) Do not have a large repertoire. 2) Want to did down deeper when analyzing tunes and substituting chords.
Mastering The Changes is for students who have already mastered the basics of chord construction, but need to become much more adept at learning tunes. It provides a system of analyzing chord changes, and many tips and skills how to retain as well as alter and substitute them.
Digging Down Deeper is the advanced level of my basic course on Jazz Harmony. Get it if you've already mastered the basics of chord construction and have no problem learning lot's of tunes in a very efficient manner, but want to dig down deeper when it comes to analyzing, harmonizing and reharmonizing tunes.
Study piano, organ, keyboards, Jazz, popular and Gospel music theory and get performance coaching at a top level pro and an unbeatable rate no matter where in the world you live!
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Do you live in the Philly Metropolitan Area, South, Central or Northern NJ, or within hollering distance of NYC? If so, please be advised that I'm planning to return East in April 2017 and will be accepting a limited number of students.
If you live outside the area where I live and teach you can still study with me. Click here for info on my modular learning system. Its simple, its afforable, and most important, I promise you its effective. |
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Methodology |
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The 7 Basic Rules of All Musical Harmony 1. The root is usually played by the bass player (if there is no bass player in the band) so you don't need to use them in your chord voicing unless you are doing voice leading or trying to sound real "down home grindy". The root is usually the tone the chord is named after. Get used to not playing them, especially if you are a keyboardist and/or guitarist. essential tones: 2. Thirds Thirds are mandatory unless you're going for a suspended sound. To find the third, count up 4 half steps from the root for a major or dominant chord or three half steps for a minor or diminished chord. 3. Sevenths These tones add stability to your chord voicings, especially when they're played with the third. A third and seventh is all you need for a professional sounding chord voicing. (Remember, the bass player is already playing the root and the soloist will be playing another tone, so together, even if you are only playing 2 notes, the band is actually playing a nice 4 part harmony.) To find the 7th, count down a half step for major chords and two half steps for minor and dominant chords. -- 4. Fifths Relatively neutral. The fifth is 7 half steps up (or 5 half steps down) from the root. They are of most importance to the bass player. Soloists can raise and flatten them. Some modern pianists like to avoid them. (I don't. When you don't have a fifth to flatten you can't bop and play the blues !) -- color tones (a.k.a. upper structures): 5. Ninths Optional but they can really bring some chords to life! The ninth is just the second scale degree. A whole step above the root. In dominant chords they can be flattened or raised. Flatten them, and the chord sounds more bluesy, sharpen them and the chord sounds more funky. b9 is just a half step up from the root. A #9 is 3 half steps up from the root... 6. Thirteenth Gospel players love these, also great for altering chords in Jazz. To find the thirteenth, just count down 3 half steps from the root. They can be flattened, especially in minor and dominant chords. Alt. chords usually have a b13. Gospel chords sound great with the 7th 3rd and the 13th (instead of the fifth!) When you feel like playing a fifth, if you need something "more-ish", consider raising the fifth a half step and playing the thirteenth instead. 7. The Fourth (or eleventh) what modern Jazz is all about. I think they're sometimes somewhat over-rated, or atleast abused ! They are located 5 half steps up from the root. Modern players love raising them up a half step, especially in major chords. This will get you a Lydian Major Chord. Some modern players also prefer to view the flattened fifth (ex. half diminished chord) as a sharp fourth. Fourth Chords are also common in modernistic Jazz. By dropping the third and and playing the fourth you get a suspended chord like this : C F Bb... And if you play just the root fourth and fifth you have a "power chord". (*These are just the rules of thumb on how to pinpoint your tones. My method goes on with the simple rules of thumb on how to use and connect them. The connections and resolutions are the tricky part !) |
 by revolving the inner circle each of twelve time the tonal functions of any chord in any key can be figured out in an instant.  This visual I developed explains the 12 tones and their harmonic functions. But the most essential rule of learning any style of music is that you must listen to it first and study up on its history and players. All the music theory and music lessons in the world can not replace diligent listening, cultural understanding and conceptual awareness of what the music is about. An hour of listening with moderate coaching after is worth about 10 lessons... one gig with a good band leader in the style after you have basic instrumental skill is worth about 100.
suggested reading prior to taking up my method:
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