Between The Licks

View the video lesson (open new window).

Continuing the tradition of talking about extensions, let's speak a bit about dominant 7th chords. Arguably the most common, all purpose harmony structure in jazz and especially blues, the dominant seventh is a regular old major triad with a b7th up top. This gives it that classic jangly blue sound that is hugely popular in jazz and blues alike.

Today we'll just use three things again, the G dominant chord, the D minor 7th and then we'll use the C major scale to tie them together at the end for a little diatonic theory.

Starting With A G7 Arpeggio

A G7 is a pretty standard shape, so let's just look at the arpeggio:

1  3  5  b7
G  B  D  F

Just like in our previous lesson, we want to extend this harmony beyond the basic major 3rd and dominant 7th. We can do that by effectively stacking some another chord on top, more specifically, a minor 7th chord on the the 5th. You can already see the D and F which will make up the root and minor 3rd. Here it is with the full Dm7:

1  3  5  b7 9  11
G  B  D  F  A  C

For the people playing along at home, if you caught the last lesson, I am sure you're noticing a pattern here. So let me go a step further and try looking at it in a different light, from a different chords' perspective. Let's see if you can pick it out... (I know its just a Dm9, and that's the preferred way, but let's think a little...)

1  3  5  b7 9  11 13
G  B  D  F  A  C  E

Do you see the chord we're using now starting on the b7 or F? It's an Fmaj7! Basically, you are stacking diatonic chords upon each other, and it doesn't really matter which one you think of, though there is a reason I chose Dm7, we'll talk about it in a bit.

Since we're keeping it nice and short here, let's play a couple arpeggios and then we'll talk about the theory we're playing with.

The Basic Theory

Now why did I talk about Dm7 on top of the G7 instead of a F major triad? Well, it has to do with this super common progression in jazz: IIm7 | V7 | Imaj7. This progression is everywhere in jazz, especially if you start looking for it in keys that are off the natural key center of the tune.

For example, if a song is in C, then the natural key center would dictate a II-V-I movement of D-G-C. However, if you saw an A-D-F in that same song, it would be a II-V-I movement as well, but in F instead. It's important to remember these movements and style your phrasing around them.

For the next lesson, perhaps we'll build some blues licks around these intervals and starting stylizing our licks.

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