HomeBlogMajor 7(b5) Chord Workout

Major 7(b5) Chord Workout

This post in our Jazz Workouts series is our Major 7 (b5) Workout.  This will help you practice your Maj7(b5) chords in all 12 keys.  The exercise goes through the Circle of 4ths (C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-B-E-A-D-G) and each chord is played for 8 bars before switching to the next. These chords can be tricky to improvise over so it is incredibly helpful to practice these chords isolated to get the sounds in your ears and onto your instrument.  There are a lot of ways to think about approaching Maj7(b5) chords, but two great theoretical ways are the Lydian mode and Minor Pentatonic a half step down.

For example, if we are playing a Cmaj7(b5), you could play C Lydian which would be related to the G major scale.

If we use the Minor Pentatonic scale over this chord we would play an B minor pentatonic in this case (half step down from tonic).

Use the chord charts below as a guide, and use the play-along to practice!

Chord Charts

Major 7 (b5) Chord Workout Bb Instruments

Major 7 (b5) Chord Workout C Instruments

Major 7 (b5) Chord Workout Eb Instruments

Play-Along

Practice another workout:

Major 7 Chord Workout

Major 7(b5) Chord Workout

Minor 7 Chord Workout

Minor(Major7) Chord Workout

Dominant 7 Chord Workout

Dominant 7(Alt) Chord Workout

Dominant 7(#11) Chord Workout

Half-Diminished Chord Workout

Diminished 7 Chord Workout

Brent Vaartstra
Brent Vaartstrahttp://www.brentvaartstra.com
Brent Vaartstra is a professional jazz guitarist and educator living in New York City. He is the head blogger and podcast host for learnjazzstandards.com which he owns and operates. He actively performs around the New York metropolitan area and is the author of the Hal Leonard publication "Visual Improvisation for Jazz Guitar." He's also the host of the music entrepreneurship podcast "Passive Income Musician."

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