How to Play Seven Chords in Jazz Guitar

Learning to play jazz guitar is a fun and exciting experience. Part of that experience should be learning to play the seven chords that are prominent in jazz guitar. Once mastered, your jazz guitar playing options will be endless.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Understand the placement and scale of the seven chords of the jazz guitar. The seven chords work from a scale's first, third, fifth and seventh notes. Jazz guitar rarely uses triads, they use the extended chords, including the seven chords mentioned.

2. Create a major seven chord by combining roots, thirds, fifth and seventh notes of the major scales. Notice the scale is built in an upward fashion, using the odd number notes of the scale: one, three, five and seven. This is where the seven chord name comes from. This same identification of roots, thirds, fifths and sevenths can be used with any major scale.

3. Pick any major scale to play and count through the notes, such as in the B major, B, D#, F#, A#. These are the four notes that make up the B major scale. It would be similar, just shifted, to find the notes on a different scale. Think of it in a two octave major scale, in this case the B major scale.

4. Practice the seven chords for the jazz guitar until you are familiar with them, both physically under your fingers and with the sound. Once you understand the seven chords, you can cross scales and majors to find different sounds and rhythms.