HomeLJS Podcast9 Jazz Chord Progressions You Need to Know

9 Jazz Chord Progressions You Need to Know

The best way to learn jazz and improve over time is simply to learn more songs, aka jazz standards. But those jazz standards, those songs are made up of chord progressions.

The good news is that even though there are a lot of complex chord progressions, or at least seemingly complex chord progressions in jazz standards, a lot of them come up time and time again, over and over.

So once you learn one jazz standard in two or three, you’re going to start seeing those same chord progressions come up in many, many other ones. So what are the chord progressions that you need to know for jazz?

In this episode, we’re going to talk about nine of them that are really common and you’ll see come up a lot.

Welcome to episode 435

In this episode:

1. The major 2-5-1 chord progression
2. The minor 2-5-1 chord progression
3. The major 1-6-2-5 chord progression
4. The minor 1-6-2-5 chord progression
5. Chord progression #5 is when the 3 chord replaces the 1
6.  Chord progression #6 is when the sharp one diminished, replaces the 6th
7.   The 1-4-3-6 chord progression
8.  The chromatic 2-5s or sidestep 2-5s
9.  The tritone sub of 5

Important Links:
Free Guide to learning standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Listen to the Learn Jazz Standards Podcast

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."

Follow Us

Get Our Free Guide

LJS Smart Way Ad Home

Join the LJS Inner Circle Membership

I want to...