CHORD SUBSTITUTIONS
Chord substitutions are an awesome way to take your comping (accompanying
while someone takes a solo or sings) to a pro level.
This is the simplest and most common form of chord substitution, and it involves
swapping out a chord with another chord from the same chord family.
I got the concept of chord families from the late, great, Joe Pass. If you've ever
heard Joe play, his chord work is truly inspiring.
Anyway, there are three chord families – major, minor, and dominant.
The major family includes pretty much anything with a major in the name
● major
● 6
th
● major 7
● major 9
● major 11
● 6/9
● major 13
The minor family pretty much is anything with a minor in the name
● minor
● minor 7
th
● minor 6
th
● minor 9
th
● minor 11
th
● minor 13
th
● etc...
The dominant family is really sort a catch all for everything else
● 7
th
● 9
th
● 11
th
● 13
th
● 7#9
● 7b9
● Anything else altered (b9, #9, b5, #5)
So really, we're going to swap out the basic 7th chords with 9th, 11th, and/or 13th
chords. Maybe even a 7#9 or something if we want to get a little out.
The video pretty much spells it all out, so I'll quit rambling here. All of the chord
shapes I use in the video are on the chord sheet, and in genera are written in the
order that they appear in the video.
Any of these chords can be moved up and down and changed to different chords.
For example, if you take the A9 chord up 1 fret, it becomes a Bb9 (or A#, but
that's unusual) chord. If you take D13 down one fret, it becomes C#13 (or
Db13).
Practice by choosing one or two new chords, and incorporate them into your next
jam session or gig. When you feel comfortable with those voicings, try a couple of
more.
The more you use them, the more comfortable they will become. Eventually,
you'll just play them because you want to hear them and you won't have to think
about how.
Enjoy...
