Analyzing Chord progressions is something we all do as Jazz Guitar players. We need to understand Jazz Harmony in order to play good solos and to improve our Jazz Comping.
Here’s what most people seem to get wrong: Understanding the chords in the context of the song and not just looking at what type of chord it is.
The way we apply Music Theory to our harmonic analysis of a song decides how well we understand the chord progression and helps us play better solos.
In this video I will go over 5 types of progressions that if you can use to better understand the functional harmony that you find in a jazz standard.
0:02 What we use Music Theory for in jazz
0:23 The II V I problem
1:21 What I want from Music Theory
2:08 Examples of why you want to think beyond “it’s a II V I”
2:13 The III VI7 II V I
2:34 Cmaj7 and Em7 both Tonic
3:26 Why Modes fail in Jazz: Phrygian
3:46 IV IVm I and IV bVII I
4:25 Why group in functions?
4:53 V I and II V I progressions
5:36 “Turnaround” the II V I
6:19 Secondary Dom7th and Cadences
8:15 IVm progressions
9:01 Common IVm chords
9:28 The two uses of IVm chords
11:31 How #IV progressions are treated in Jazz
14:47 No Modulations?
16:03 Examples of songs that modulate
17:10 The point of this way of thinking