Jazz chords?

AnonymousLou

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I really love singing and writing jazz inspired pieces of music and wondered if anyone had any uke chord suggestions to make a song more jazz inclined in it influence?
Thanks for your help,
-Lou
 
Rhythm: use syncopation and swing the 8th notes.
Harmony: embellish chords with 9th, 11th, 13th and altered tones (e.g., augmented 5th, sharp 11, etc. and write progressions with secondary dominants and multiple tonal areas. For example, the progression Am D7 sounds a bit more jazzy as Am9 D7#9. If it progresses to Gm9 C9 you have a second tonal area. Here's much more but those items are a good start.
 
Fred Sokolow has a great book, Jazzing Up The Ukulele.
Also Glen Rose’s Jazzy Ukulele is a excellent resource.
 
I really love singing and writing jazz inspired pieces of music and wondered if anyone had any uke chord suggestions to make a song more jazz inclined in it influence?
Thanks for your help,
-Lou

Here are the chords that I think of as jazzy:

maj7
m7
m6
dom9 or add9
dom13

those are the main ones and I didn't mention more rudimentary chords that everyone should know like minor triads or dom7's.

In parting, I will mention one hurdle that I've struggled with in the process of jazzing something up. To my ear you have to commit to jazz or not. By that I mean if you convert something bland like C F7 G7 to C F9 G7, it just doesn't sound correct. The jazz chord chord doesn't fit. However if you go from C F7 G7 to C13 F9 G9, then it sounds appropriate. Maybe that's just me. Maybe you can find a way of combining spicy chords and buttery chords. I cannot.
 
It's not the individual chords that make it jazz -- it's how chords work together to build a tune's structure. That's why a jazz band can play through the "rhythm changes" (the chords Gershwin wrote in "I Got Rhythm") and improvise all night over that one chord progression. Learn to play some of the standard jazz chord progressions and see where they take you.
https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/jazz-chord-progressions/
https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/...mportant-jazz-chord-progressions-need-master/
 
Need more strings ;)
 
That is an interesting video! I'm gonna steal that intro. Niiice!

John Colter
 
Thanks so much guys- I am gonna take on all of your advice- it is much appreciated!! xxx
-Lou
 
The only thing I will add is to refrain from getting freaked out about the jazz chords. They seem difficult because they're new, but they're not difficult at all. When you started out, you learnt to put your finger 'there,' 'there,' and 'there' and now you're playing a major chord. With jazz, to make a m7b5 or a dominant 13 or a major 7 chord you put your finger 'there' 'there' and 'there.' The only difference is that some of the 'theres' will be different.
 
Thank you all so much for all your help!!! It is much appreciated!!
-Lou
 
No quite the opposite. Jazz chords are mainly tetrads consisting of four notes which are a pain on guitar as they require muting strings. The uke is perfect for that.

exactly. You need the third and the seventh to identify the quality of the chord, the rest are nuances. I used to not acknowledge this fact until someone on a piano played me a full dom13 chord; it was just a pile of musical mud--a primordial mess. Discretion is the greater part of valor and the greater part of jazz chords.
 
A few turn-arounds in C. These can also be used for intros. Two beats per chord, all starting on the C and ending on a G dominant.

C-5433, A7-6757, Dm7-5555, G9-4555 (Also called Dm6) You could play a G7-4535 in place of the 4th chord.

C-5433, C#dim-3434, Dm7, G9 or G7

C-5433, *Em7-7777 *Ebm7-6666, Dm7-5555, G9 or G7 (*Em7-7777 and *Ebm7-6666 get one beat each)
 
A few turn-arounds in C. These can also be used for intros. Two beats per chord, all starting on the C and ending on a G dominant.

C-5433, A7-6757, Dm7-5555, G9-4555 (Also called Dm6) You could play a G7-4535 in place of the 4th chord.

C-5433, C#dim-3434, Dm7, G9 or G7

C-5433, *Em7-7777 *Ebm7-6666, Dm7-5555, G9 or G7 (*Em7-7777 and *Ebm7-6666 get one beat each)

Wow so many new chords to try out- thanks so much!
-Lou
 
Here's a jazzy blues in C (Maybe a Joe Williams style Goin' To Chicago)
One beat per chord. If a chord is followed by a /, each slash adds another beat on that chord. Bars are separated by commas. There are 4 bars per line.

C-5433 / C7-5463 /, F7-2313 / E7-1202 F7-2313, C-5433 / / /, C7-5463 / / /,
F7-2313 / / /, E7-1202 / F7-2313 B-4322, C-5433 C#m7-4444 Dm7-5555 D#m7-6666, Em7-7777 Fm7-8888 Em7-7777 D#m7-6666,
Dm7-5555 / Dm6-4555 /, Dm7-5555 / G7-4535, C-5433 / A7-6757 /, Dm7-5555 / G7-4535 /


Goin' to Chicago, Sorry but I can't take you
Goin' to Chicago, Sorry but I can't take you
I can't take you with me 'cause you always make me blue

A little simpler, but just as nice, second line:

F7-2313 / / /, E7-1202 / F7-2313 /, C-5433 / Dm7-5555 /, Em7-7777 / D#m7-6666 /,
 
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