How to Play Major Chord and Minor Chords on Jazz Guitar

Major and minor chords are the building blocks of jazz guitar music. Jazz guitar music is written in chords and jazz improvisations on the guitar are constructed on major and minor chords. Playing jazz guitar requires a detailed familiarity with chord structure.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Start with the relationship between the notes and the major scale pattern. The individual notes within the major chords are related to the key note or the root note of the chord.

2. Use a root second of the chord and play the second through the seventh and play the root again. This pattern can be used repeatedly to build numerous chords as long as the root note is alternated.

3. Play a major chord in the key of A and change the fifth. Repeat the pattern and change the fifth once again. Each substitution creates a different chord.

4. Create a major triad with the root, third and fifth. This pattern for triad construction is the foundation of the various chords.

5. Change the triad into a minor chord by flattening the third. In this way the major chord identified by the root note (e.g., A Major, B Major) is used to develop a minor chord. The minor chord is then identified in the following manor: A flat minor, G flat minor.