Chord symbols[edit]

Analytic practice in Jazz recognizes four basic chord types, plus diminished seventh chords. The
four basic chord types are major, minor, minor-major, and dominant. When written in a jazz chart,
these chords may have alterations specified in parentheses after the chord symbol. An altered note
is a note which is a deviation from the canonical chord tone.
There is variety in the chord symbols used in jazz notation. A jazz musician must have facility in the
alternate notation styles which are used. The following chord symbol examples use C as a root tone
for example purposes.
Equivalent

Chord tones in example

symbols

key

Name

Audio

C, CM7, Cmaj7

CEGB

major seventh chord

Play (helpinfo)

C7

C E G B

dominant seventh chord

Play (helpinfo)

C-7, Cm7

C E G B

minor seventh chord

Play (helpinfo)

C-7, CmM7, C

C E G B

minor/major seventh chord

Play (helpinfo)

C, Cm75, C-75 C E G B

half-diminished seventh chord

Play (helpinfo)

Co7, Cdim7

C E G B

fully diminished 7th chord

Play (helpinfo)

Csus7

C F G B

dominant or minor suspended 4th

chord

Play (helpinfo)

Most jazz chord symbols designate four notes. Each typically has a "role" as root, third, fifth,
or seventh, although they may be severely altered and possibly use an enharmonic spelling which
masks this underlying identity. For example, jazz harmony theoretician Jim Knapp has suggested
that the 9 and even the 9 alterations are functioning in the root role.
The jazz chord naming system is as deterministic as the composer wishes it to be. A general rule of
thumb is that chord alterations are included in a chart only when the alteration appears in the melody
or is crucial to essence of the composition. Skilled improvisers are able to supply an idiomatic, highly
altered harmonic vocabulary even when written chord symbols contain no alterations.
It is possible to specify chords with more than four notes. For example, the chord C-9 contains the
notes (C E G B D).

Melodic minor scale[edit]

Much of jazz harmony is based on the melodic minor scale (using only the "ascending" scale as
defined in classical harmony). The modes of this scale are the basis for much jazz improvisation and
are variously named as below, using the key of C-minor as an example:

Melodic minor

Characteristic chord

Scale tones (chord

scale tone

in C-minor

tones in bold)

Scale name(s)

I-C

Cm()

C D Eb F G A B

melodic minor

II - D

Dm7

D E F G A B C

Phrygian 6 or Dorian 2

III - E

E(5)

Eb F G A B C D

IV - F

F7

F G A B C D Eb

V-G

G7

G A B C D E F

Mixolydian 6 or "Hindu"

VI - A

A B C D E F G

Locrian 2

VII - B

B7alt

B C D E F G A

Lydian 5 or Lydian
Augmented
Mixolydian 4 or Lydian
Dominant

Altered, diminished whole

tone, or Locrian 4

The VII chord in particular is rich with alterations. As it contains the notes and alterations (, 9,
m3/9, M3, 5/11, 13, m7), it is particularly important in the jazz harmonic idiom, notably as a
chord in a minor key. For our example key of C-minor, the V chord is G7, so the improviser would
draw upon the G7 altered scale (mode VII of the A melodic minor). A complete ii-V-i progression in
C-minor might suggest the following:
ii

D Locrian 2 (mode of the F melodic minor scale)

G7(alt)

G altered scale (mode VII of the A melodic minor scale)

Cm()

C melodic minor (mode I of the C melodic minor scale)