Do you (or your ears!) ever get bored with staying on the same chord for an extended period of time? You may have noticed that while the less advanced player is sitting on one chord for measure after measure, the flashier players are moving from one cool chord to another. In this lesson you’ll learn how to choose chords that will create that type of interest in your rhythm playing.
Extended Chords
You can expand your chord playing a lot by simply using chord extensions. First, be sure you have a command of the rules for extensions and alterations. (I explain this in another lesson in the studio.) Once you do, you can understand that if you want to substitute a chord for a major triad, such as C, you can use a CMaj7, C6 or CMaj 9, as they are all major type chords. If, however, you want to substitute one or more chords for a C7 (a dominant chord), you would need to use chords that have a number higher than 7 for the first extension, such as C9 or C13.
The following is an example of how you could use this information to change the first of the next two chord progressions into the second, more interesting version.
- C / / / I C / / / I C 7 / / / I C 7 / / / I F/ / / I F/ / / I C / / / I C / / / I
- C / CMaj7 / I C6 / CMaj7 / I C7 / C9 / IC13 / / / I F / FMaj7 / I F / FMaj7 / I CMaj9 / C / I CMaj7 / C / I
Chords with Common Tones
Another easy way to change or increase the number of chords you are playing is to use chords that have common tones with the given chord and that function the same. For example, the iii chord and vi are often used to substitute for the I chord. When you look at the spelling for the I, iii and vi chords in the key of C, it becomes clear that two of the three notes in each of the iii chord and vi chord are found in the I chord.
C – CEG; Em – EGB; Am – ACE
When you use 7th chords, you will have even more common tones:
CMaj7 – CEGB; Em7 – EGBD; Am7 – ACEG
Use your ear to determine which chords you want to use and stay true to the style of music you are playing. If you are interested in playing jazz, you will want to go deeper into chord substitution, becoming proficient with tritone substitutions, turnarounds and more. Start with these easy and straightforward substitutions and incorporate them into your playing, then seek out more as you feel ready. Enjoy!