Between The Licks

Check out the video!

Today we're going to talk about jazzing up a standard blues progression. I assume you know what a normal blues progression is, it focuses on the I-IV-V over 12 bars. While we will still be following the classic framework, we will replace a few key things. Read on if you want to know more!

Putting the Jazz in It

The first thing we do is always play a 7th. This shouldn't be too revolutionary, as you probably do it a lot in blues already, but it bears repeating. Those sevenths add much of the color and sparkle to jazz. We'll worry about extra extensions later (like 9, 11 and 13), for now, we are gonna focus on chord substitution and harmonic structure. Below is the tab from the video I posted:

As you can see, there are a few notable changes that take place. Let's look at measure 2 which starts on the IV or F7: notice how the bass note moves and the chord reflects the movement to F#? We could just as easily called that F7/F# (F7 with a F# in the bass), but F#dim7 is a much better, jazzier representation. We are using the F# to "bridge" into the next substitution of Gm7 (or, C11/G) for the I chord, C7. Note that in jazz, you'll use these chromatic "bridges" a lot.

As we continue on in measure 3, we do some walking. This helps take up space, but note the chromatacism. During measure 3 & 4, we're still "on" the I chord, or C7 (though we play some other colors like C11/G). Measure 5 is the IV chord, or F7, so in measure 4 we go chromatic crazy with some substitutions that give us some forward momentum into that IV chord. The C#7 is a substitution of G7 (which again, is close enough to our Gm7 or C11/G). The C#7 serves as a "bump" or "bridge" into the C7, which grounds us before we hit the F#7 (a substitution of C7) which "bumps" or "bridges" us to the F7 in measure 5. Bumps and bridges galore!

Now we repeat a little of what we saw in measure 2, the F#dim7 (measure 6) comes after the F7 (measure 5). Nothing too fancy there, but measure 7 returns to the I chord (C7) before dropping us in the lap of some extra movement in measure 8. The Em7-Am7 serves as a II-IV setup to the REAL II-IV turnaround. For a single measure, we act like D is the key center, or I chord (not C). This lets us target D with the II-IV progression. This is a great example of jazz harmony, more of which you'll see in just about any jazz standard.

After we get to the Dm7 (the true II chord in the key of C), we move to the true V chord, the G7 before settling back on the true I chord, C7. I hope you don't confuse the fact that we played around with two II-V-I progressions, only one is in true key (Dm7-G7-C7), the other just added some extra sparkle and movement (Em7-Am7-Dm7). Now, the final turnaround is based off the classic I-VI-II-V progression, or C7-Am7-Dm7-G7 in the key of C. Instead of playing that clichéd ending, we sub a Eb6 for Am7 and C#7 for G7. This hopefully sounds much better!

Well, I hope that gives you a good idea of some of the key ideas in jazz harmony in a context you can understand. Feel free to let me know what you think!

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