There are a number of common jazz piano voicings that you need to get under your fingers. See the lesson on the rootless 251 progression for more information. You also need to be comfortable playing rootless jazz piano chords for common chord progressions. When playing in a jazz band or any situation where a bass player is present, the root note will already be covered and so there is no need for you to include it in your chord voicing. This is a very important concept to understand we drop the root out of the chord and this frees up a finger for a more interesting and colourful note choice such as the 9th, 11th, or 13th. Once you understand the theory behind chord extensions, you will be ready to build rootless voicings. This lesson gives you all the background theory and will get you playing your first extended chord voicings!

For example major and minor 9th chords, 11th chords and 13th chords. Extended chord contain chord tones that go past the 7th degree. This lesson follows on logically from the lesson on 7th chords so make sure you check that out first. Firstly you need to understand the concept of jazz piano chord extensions. Extended Jazz Piano ChordsĪs a beginner jazz student, learning a selection of common jazz piano chords and voicings is a very important step. It’s important that you fully understand the construction of each. These 5 essential chord types make up the vast majority of chords you will come across when playing jazz piano. Next it’s time to learn the 5 types of 7th chords for jazz piano.

You should be familiar and comfortable playing these triad shapes before moving onto other types of chords.

The 4 types of triad for jazz piano are the basic building blocks for 7th chords and other extended chords. If you are completely new to jazz piano, there is a certain amount of ‘essential’ chord theory that you have to be familiar with. Most lessons come with downloadable PDFs containing the chord notation in all 12 keys. We explore the different voicings that can be used under each of the 7 notes of the Dorian scale.īuilding your knowledge of jazz piano chords is a very important skill and learning and memorising the common voicings will help you to read and interpret lead sheets. This is a supplement for the minor voicings lesson.

Jazz chord progressions piano chart pdf