Jazz chord progressions – lesson 3

The third lesson will present a new chord type that is seen a lot in jazz: the 13th chord. In a jazz context, Bb13 is generally more popular than Bb7 (6X676X) when the root is on the 6th string. The progression will once again be based on the ii - V - I structure.

Progression:
Fm7 | Bb13 | Ebmaj7 | Ebmaj7

1st bar | 2nd bar | 3rd bar | 4th bar

Repeats: 5 times
BPM: 80
Time signature: 3/4


Click the buttons to play or pause the audio.

Volume - +

Chord diagrams

These four-note voicings are all very common chord choices for jazz guitarists. Notice the minimal finger shift between Bb13 and Ebmaj7 when the fingerings below are used.

Fm7

  • Fm7 chord voicing X6467X

Bb13

  • Bb13 chord diagram 6X678X

Ebmaj7

  • Ebmaj7 chord diagram X6578X

Alternative chords diagrams

If you find some of the voicings presented above difficult (especially Fm7 can be hard), three-string shell voicings can be used. Notice that the Fm7 and Ebma7 three-string voicings has other fingerings compared to the minor 7th and major 7th voicings presented in Lesson 1 – both shapes are movable and can be used.

Fm7

  • Dm7 chord voicing X353XX

Bb7

  • G7 chord diagram 3X34XX

Ebmaj7

  • Emaj7 chord diagram X687XX




<< Back to lessons overview
Advertisement