A place to discuss Jazz Theory, and its applications in music.

Every time someone on youtube tries to teach it, they just say something like “first just play chord tones, then add some notes in between them.” And they end up playing some crazy master degree music major solo. I don’t understand. HOW?? I try “adding notes in between them” and it just sounds basic like a children’s song. Are there any actually good tutorials or books?

I realize that there are a lot of materials out there about Barry Harris' 6 diminished scale, and about his "method" generally. I will confess, I've tried reading a few of these materials but nothing had ever clicked. I know the scale, I can harmonize it in thirds, in different voicings, in different keys. I understand that harmonizing in thirds creates two alternating sets of chords and their inversions: a major 6 chord and a fully diminished 7th chord. It sort of sounds cool to play.

But...what am I supposed to do with this info? At this point, for me, it's purely an exercise, and I feel like I understand the purpose of the scale and its harmonization so poorly that I wouldn't even know how to go about integrating into my playing.

Can someone help a dummy?

Hey r/jazztheory!

I'm a jazz guitarist and software developer. I built a little free web app called Chord Flow that finds the mathematically smoothest way to connect triads in any progression.

You can choose from about 1,700 jazz standards (from iReal) or punch in your own progression. The app uses Dijkstra's algorithm to find the path through triad inversions that minimizes total voice movement. It's got options for open/close voicings, which voices to optimize, and arpeggiator patterns.

I built this because I was curious about the "optimal" way to voice lead through chord changes. It's been really helpful for my own practice - especially for finding new ways to approach familiar progressions.

Check it out at chordflow.net if you're interested! Works best on desktop, but mobile audio works too (just needs to be unmuted). Would love feedback.

Hey,

I figured since 7#9 has b3 and 3 in it, and the half-whole octatonic does too, this could be fun to share:

If you're in A7#9 and the "root" of the half-whole is on A, You have these triads to work with:

M, m, and dim with roots on C, Eb, F#, and A

dim on C#, E, G, and Bb

There's two fun ways to climb the scale using triads:

1. In pairs: C, F#m etc. in their respective inversions up or down

https://preview.redd.it/16mr3q1r11ee1.png?width=1880&format=png&auto=webp&s=18b41057465163fe41b5f8935d1fbea23328fbcb

2. Consecutive root position majors (or minors) then the second inversion of the minor chord a tritone higher: CM-F#m-EbM-Am-F#M-C

https://preview.redd.it/psq51q4111ee1.png?width=1832&format=png&auto=webp&s=793600504d3d085acc3bd94cb9653c5dbb8bc33b

Hooray!

Any idea of the chord progression from the beautiful song Breathe by Alfa Mist?

Spiritual Jazz Theory (Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry)

Hi there, as someone that has a rudimentary understanding of music theory, is there any sort of framework to understand the spiritual side of jazz, specifically Alice Coltrane?

Let’s narrow it down to her Piano playing, for example in this amazing song: https://youtu.be/jOkBpSItuP8?si=3CIutOHvFYON8YZn

I can hear some blues influence in her opening riff, and then it all just dissolves into psychedelic arpeggios 😅 how can I approach and learn from her sound in any way as a piano player?

I used Everand frequently on gigs as a substitute for carrying around my real book on gigs. Any alternatives?

I am writing a series of articles looking at Steely Dan’s music from a theoretical perspective - the latest is Glamour Profession from Gaucho. For any fans of the band or anyone interested in a 53-chord jazz-pop tune, please take look. Comments and questions welcome!

https://steelydantheory.awal.cc/gaucho/glamour-profession

Please help me to understand the use of a dominant I chord (maj7#11) and the function of the Balt in the key of C.

This is the beginning of a neo-soul progression in C. I realize the Balt is functioning as the V of Eminor which is the iii chord in the key of C.

However I don’t understand the relationship of the Balt within the context of the key of C, is this analyzed as a secondary dominant V of iii?

Also what are the implications of starting with an implied dominant I chord? Or does the maj7#11 just add some color to the I?

Hello,

I've been diving into klezmer music and similarity with jazz is really prominent, not to mention all the jazz klezmer albums there are, this, being a favorite.

I'm wondering how to approach bringing forward a more jazz sound in klezmer music. Jazz itself extends western music theory whose foundation is the tonic, dominant and subdominant. In jazz the subdominant is usually replaced with its parallel minor resulting in the ii-V7-I. The (unaltered) extensions are then its respective scale of origin, the major scale. This remains true for minor, with the scale being harmonic minor.

From what I have seen a common chord "progression" or sets of chords in klezmer is for instance pendulating between D major and G minor (minor iv) but also going to C minor. From my point of view this looks like a tonic (G minor), subdominant (C minor) and dominant (D major) where the dominant has been tonized. Something which supports this theory is that the scale used for melodies is D phrygian dominant in this scale which is a mode of G harmonic minor.

I've played around with extensions on the chords, using harmonic minor, resulting D7b9b13, GmM9 or Gm6/9, and Cm7#11, but none of them really sounded that good. Does anyone here have experience mixing jazz and klezmer? Should I have a different perspective on it?

Why is a chord on a chart written as a diminished 7th--i.e., Eo7--instead of a minor seventh with a flatted fifth--i.e., E-7b5, and vice versa?

Hadn't ever pondered this, but was playing around with Bewitched (6th edition of The Real Book) and there are a bunch written as o7 in the head but then one written as -7b5 leading into the bridge.

Do you know any arrangement of "All or nothing at all" in 5/4 time ?

Hi everyone!

I've always had a bit of trouble using rootless diminished chord voicings, and recently I think I realised why.

It's because for all other chord voicings, you can easily describe them with degrees of the chord. Example - a big 2 handed dominant voicing is LH b7 3 6 RH 9 5 1. When it comes to diminished voicings, I can't equate the voicing to the chord or the scale.

Does anyone have any advice for me on this? Should I just learn the diminished scale better and make sure I can name each individual note?

On that topic - how do you all name the degrees of the diminished scale?

Also, I would love to hear what your go-to diminished voicings are! I can't seem to find many good resources for that and haven't had much luck asking my tutors either!!

Thanks!

Part of the reason I began learning jazz theory is that, whenever I came up with a melody in my mind, I often found that it was somehow always in the blues scale. I have attempted many times to harmonise these melodies, however it has been unsuccessful.

One method I have tried was to merely use the chords of the natural minor scale, and treat the additional b5 as a passing note, however this did not work when the melody treated the b5 as a chord tone.

Another method I tried was this method, which I devised in order to attempt to harmonise these melodies. However this did not work as, similarly to the previous method, I felt as though the standard Aeolian chords did not suit the blues genre.

One piece of advise I was given was to simply use the dominant primary chords (that is, I7, IV7, and V7), as is the case in the standard 12-bar blues progression, however I felt as though only ever limiting myself to these chords would give very little variation across different songs.

Furthermore, I was also told that blues harmony is different fundamentally to what is referred to as "western" harmony, and that the subject would be difficult for a classically taught musician to understand (particularly one who could not grasp the concept of chord/scale theory, such as myself).

That being said, how can one harmonise a melody in the blues scale without simply resorting to the standard 12-bar blues schemata (and/or simply using dominant primary chords)?

I was taught music theory in the way that it applies in classical music, and have been trying to learn jazz theory for a while now. However, I am aware that most resources for jazz theory are based upon chord/scale theory, which is a system that is not used in classical music, and as such, I have been struggling to learn jazz theory.

I was hoping that there might be some resources that explain chord/scale theory in a way which is intuitive to those who are classically taught, so that I might be able to understand jazz theory resources which utilise it, as I am aware that jazz theory resources which do not utilise CST in their teaching methods to some degree are rather scarce.

Would anyone have any recommendations for resources that explain CST in a way which is friendly to people who are classically taught?