Easy Jazz Chord Progression Trick

Ready to learn a simple jazz chord progression trick you can apply to any type of music?

Well, one of the most popular chord progressions you’ll find in most styles of music is a I chord going to a IV chord. (Free video below)

Since this is used all over the place in music it’s always a good idea to know plenty of ways of creating variations on this chord progression.

Otherwise it can get boring if you’re doing the same things on songs as all the other piano players out there. You want to sound interesting right?

In today’s vid, I’m going to show you this simple jazz chord progression reharm technique that you can throw in in the middle of that I to IV chord.

Easy Jazz Chord Progression Trick Video

 Make sure you scroll down for some important tips to help you master this lesson! 

In the video I demonstrated what a basic I to IV sounds like in context of the tune, Fly Me To The Moon.

Then right afterwards, I played the same chords again with that subtle little jazz chord progression reharmonization in there.

How To Apply This To Lots Of Songs

Yes, I demoed Fly Me To The Moon, but the I to IV chord progression is in so many different tunes! You can use it everywhere.

You can find it in tunes like There Is No Greater Love, Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are, and Straight No Chaser, blues tunes, bebop tunes etc. So many different tunes have it.

By the way, if you want to learn how to use this awesome move in the tune list above, then check out this special course right here.

You can learn all the tunes and more inside the program.

The Rudimentary Way

In the video I demonstrated what a basic Cmaj7 sounds like going into an Fmaj7.

It’s a pretty sound but again that’s just a simple I to IV chord. We just kind of hung out the whole time. There’s nothing wrong with it.

You can just let it breathe and let the time kind of take care of itself or just let the natural laws of harmony pull you forward. And there’s nothing wrong with it.

The Much Cooler Way

But again, you’re reading this because want something different.

How are you going to separate ourselves from all of the other people who play this particular tune?

Well here’s one way. Instead of playing Cmaj7 for four beats, you can play Cmaj7 for half the measure.

Then the other half of the measure, you’re going to substitute in those 2 special chords I showed you in video. Can you hear how they have a much stronger pull into the Fmaj7?

Do you love that sound? Can you hear how it’s much more sophisticated sounding? Do you love jazz chord progressions? Cool! 

The Formula For This Sound

Well, here’s what we’re doing. Fmaj7 is our ‘target’ point.

And to set up our target and make it sound really strong, we’re going to play the 2 and 5 chord of our target right before hand.

For an Fmaj7, a G minor is the ii of the Fmaj7.

C 7 is the V. Those are the chords we’re going to throw in right before to get to that Fmaj7.

(Note: To find your 2 and 5 all you have to do is count 1 note up from F to find your ii chord and 5 notes up from F to your V chord.)

Reward Your Listeners With Popular Jazz Harmony

There are many popular jazz chords progressions. The most popular jazz chord progression is the ii V I. So, we’re sneaking in a jazz chord progression into our basic chords.

Our ear recognizes the sound of a ii V I and associates it with jazz right away. So, it’s a way to bring use that jazz flavor in really any tune.

Very subtle stuff but when you keep that listener, you reward them by throwing in little subtle unexpected things like that, it’s just fun to listen to.

We work hard to get people to listen to us play. Reward them for sitting down and listening. Just little subtle things you can do and you can apply this to really any one four you see it.

Just play the 2-5 of your 4 chord right before and voila, you gotta cool little substitution to throw in.

How To Take Your Jazz Chord Progressions To The Next Level

All right so enjoy practicing this one. We have a ton of these reharmonization techniques I feature inside my Premium Jazz Elite Membership program.

If you have a busy schedule and want to get right into the best moves that every jazz pianist needs to know…without having to waste years of time trying to climb the jazz mountain by yourself then check out all the course benefits here .

This is what I do for hours on video. I show you in context of tunes, just all kinds of cool ways of decorating stuff and getting that professional level sound.

Happy practicing. Thanks for watching. If you have questions, please leave a comment below. I’m happy to help.