July 14, 2026

[00:00:00]I want to show you guys a really cool little jazz progression that I just learned the other day.

[00:00:08]>> [music] [music] >> I'm going to break this down for you guys cuz there's some really cool stuff happening here. When you get to a point where you understand the guitar, it not only makes learning songs easier, but you can also take a song that you learned >> [music] >> and you can start to change it because you understand [music] you understand the framework of what's happening. So, let's break down what's happening here. So, this song is in the key of A major.

[00:00:54]So, most of the notes that we're going to play in this song are going to be within E major scale.

[00:01:01]>> [music] >> Why did I say most of the notes? A really cool thing about jazz and blues is that they often go outside of the major scale a little bit and they do this little dance between major and minor. So, if we're in the key of A major, our first chord is the two chord.

[00:01:20]A is one. There's the root of our two chord. I'm playing it like this.

[00:01:24]It comes from [music] that shape, our E minor shape, but it's an E minor seven chord.

[00:01:30]And so, I like to play those like this.

[00:01:31]>> [music] >> First chord is a a two chord, two minor seven, right? Then we go to our five chord. One, two, three, four, >> [music] >> five, five is treated as a dominant seven chord very often, especially in jazz and blues.

[00:01:46]So, that's our C shape. This is why you should know the arpeggio. Root, third, five, six, flat seven. There's your major seven, there's your dominant seven.

[00:01:57]Comes from the C shape. So, we're going [music] two, five dominant seven.

[00:02:02]Then we go to the one chord.

[00:02:04]To be honest with you guys, I had never seen this shape before. I knew the major seven shape, [music] but I had always kind of seen it played like this. I had never even thought of playing the shape like that. But, you have your [music] root, your major seven, your third, and your fifth. So, it's a complete >> [music] >> It's a complete chord. I had never even thought about playing it this way, even though I knew how a major seven chord was constructed, and I knew that my major seven was right there. I had just always played it like this. I never even considered playing it like that. And so, that's another really great thing um when you learn new songs, you see things that you had never even thought of, even though you know the foundation of music, and you know dominant [snorts] seven and minor seven and major seven chords, you'll learn new things by learning new songs. And so, that's one thing that I learned from this was, you can play [music] your major seven chord like that. And so, it comes from this shape.

[00:03:03]>> [music] >> There's our root, there's our major seven. So, if you can see the arpeggio, we have root, fifth, root, third, fifth.

[00:03:11]>> [music] >> We have a major seven there, a major seven there.

[00:03:14]And so, we're just piecing it up.

[00:03:16]So, anyways, we're going from the two chord to the five, to the one.

[00:03:22]And then we go to the three chord, [music] right? One, two, three.

[00:03:26]It's another minor seven chord, just like our two chord was.

[00:03:29]>> [music] >> And then we go to the six chord, but this is what's really cool about jazz and blues is there's this dance between major and minor. So, normally, your six chord is a minor chord shape, but for a moment here in this progression, they make it major.

[00:03:46]And so, it's a major dominant seven [music] add nine. Another reason why you should know your arpeggios is cuz you can see >> [music] >> root, third, fifth, sixth, flat seven, root. There's our two, which is the nine.

[00:04:01]So, it's a dominant seven add nine. And it's on the six chord. Six chord is usually minor, but in jazz and blues you often go outside of the major scale and you can get some really cool sounds with that.

[00:04:13]And so, [music] we're playing this on our six chord. It's a dominant seven.

[00:04:17]It's a major chord add nine.

[00:04:20]Right?

[00:04:21]>> [music] >> And then, this is the two chord.

[00:04:25]And an interesting thing about your minor chords, minor chords are usually accompanied with a minor seven, >> [music] >> which is a whole step below the root.

[00:04:35]But what we do here with the two chord is we make it a major seven. So, we're [music] playing a major seven over a minor chord, which again we're going outside of the major scale here with that note.

[00:04:47]>> [music] >> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2.

[00:04:52]>> [music] >> So, it's this note in between the one and the two of the key that we're in.

[00:04:57]And you can see with our six chord, we're playing that note. If we were playing the minor six [music] chord, we're playing a note we're playing that A. It's in the key.

[00:05:07]But by making it major, [music] we're playing that note that's outside of the key.

[00:05:10]Same thing when we play this two chord with a major seven.

[00:05:15]We're going outside of the major scale here, right? But we're still using the major scale as the foundation for everything that we do. And when I look at this six chord and this two chord [music] with the major seven, I just know that that's the note between the one and the two that we're going outside of the key with. In my mind, I'm still thinking of this as a two to a five >> [music] >> to a one to a three to a six to and I just know, you know, for this song that we're playing that six is a major chord >> [music] >> very briefly.

[00:05:56]>> [music] >> Very cool. This is like a bossa nova rhythm. Um but you could change the rhythm and get a different feel on it.

[00:06:17]>> [music] >> Right?

[00:06:21]So, anyways, I hope you guys can take away something from that. It's the power of learning new songs, especially if you like jazz and blues. There's so much cool stuff happening where you go outside of the key. But, I'm still using the Nashville number system. I'm still putting the numbers of the major scale on the neck. And even when we go outside of the key, I'm still seeing this as my six chord.

[00:06:44]>> [music] >> I just know that for this song, I'm playing it as a major chord. And I know that for my two chord, I'm playing the major seven >> [music] >> instead of the minor seven of the two chord.

[00:06:54]That's a lot here. Uh some of this probably went over you guys's head. In order to really understand what I'm saying here, you have to be able to put the major scale on the neck. You have to understand the caged shapes. You have to understand the Nashville number system.

[00:07:09]And so, if this went over your head, don't worry. This is a little bit more like late intermediate stuff, but hopefully you could take away something from this. Um hopefully, I hope this was helpful in some way for you guys.

[00:07:21]Anyways, if you like these videos, I have more like this on my website. I have live group lessons where you can practice with me uh every week live in a group setting, you can learn from me and other players, and get direct help and feedback from me. Uh you also get a one-on-one lesson with me when you sign up. Um for 30 minutes, I'll sit down with you and help you with where you're at right now. If that sounds cool to you, click the link on my profile and I'll see you over there.