How to Use Jazz Chords in Rock Music

Tired of the same old chords?

Played that song one too many times exactly the same way or perhaps relying on a second guitarist to add nuance with single note augmentation?

Well, you can also add richness and uniqueness to almost any song you have been playing or working on using just a few of the richest chords going; and those chords can be simple jazz chords or even part of a chord. Played in the right place and at the right time these chords can increase ambiance and richness, providing a unique soundscape for solos as well.

I Don’t Play Jazz

Nobody is asking you to play jazz. You can leave that to the jazzers but you might be surprised at how many of your favourite artists have used some pretty cool sounding stuff that a lot of players never quite get right when trying to imitate that certain sound.

Jimi Hendrix famously used “jazz chords” and even jazz guitarists refer to the chord as the “Jimi Hendrix” chord sometimes.

Some of the chords he used sounded so fresh and oddly out there, but that’s because nobody could play them like he could with just so naturally throwing them in like they belonged (at least once you got over the “wow, what was that”).

In all honesty, you don’t have to play like Hendrix to notch things up a little with your chord sounds.

Crank it up and try this chord out.

I know. Seriously, that’s all he was doing there.

Throw in your own bass line by using fingers 1 and 2 between chord strikes by playing frets 5, 6, and 7 on the low E string and then wail on the chord. You can leave fingers three and four in place while you do the bass line.

Note: I left the low E open, but when you move this shape around you have to mute the low E.

Add Some Colour to that Pallet

It’s easy to dig yourself into a barre-chord hole. You can play every note you need using barre-chords but to add that beautifully rich sustained chord that no one is expecting is like taking a sudden left turn (or maybe a smooth left turn, depending on your style). Suddenly the whole landscape changes and it also presents a great opportunity for a soloist to go down that road too.

Try this chord out. Once you realize it’s just based on a C chord from one of the first chords you ever played on the first three frets, it’s a piece of cake. Drop your pinky down and just slide it up the fret board and suddenly the sound has a different flavour when playing it in E on the fifth fret.

Try throwing this chord into a bluesier song, maybe in a 12 bar blues E7 type of vibe.

It’s one of the same chords you first learned, just a different spot on the fretboard, and if you slide into that chord from the fourth fret, it sounds a little more colourful. Plus, you are in a different position on the neck with a slightly different soundscape to the chord and you can hit some different sounding chords in that part of the neck or start a solo from there.

Let your ears be the guide!

Why a Jazz Chord

Here is a philosophical question for you to ponder, like if a tree falls in the forest does it make a noise? A guitarist would answer, “Only if they make a guitar out of it!”

But, I digress; if a rock guitarist plays a jazz chord, is it a jazz chord or a rock chord? I say “who cares?” A chord is a chord.

The jazzier sounding chord above is pretty much not even a jazz chord at this point (although jazzers can use them); it’s just a really cool sound that you can work with. It’s all about context and how you play it.

In general, a jazz chord uses sevenths and sometimes other notes that can really change it up.

At the end of the day a chord is just a chord and we don’t want to get hung-up on names such as “jazz chords” or “blues chords”, or whatever genre you might want to play.

If you want to add some sonic space to your playing it can be a lot of fun trying out some new sounds.

Cool Sounding Chords Derived from the C Major Scale

Note
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
Degree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Chord
CM7
Dm7
Em7
FM7
G7
Am7
Bdim

M=Major
m=minor
G7=G Dominant 7th
B dim=half diminished or Bm7b5 (don’t panic, it sounds great)

Here they are in some neck diagrams. You probably know how to play most of these chords already somewhere on the neck but I’ll show these maybe in a different spot you haven’t accessed on the neck yet.

Check these out!

<images>

             
             

You don’t have to know theory to play these chords but if you want to know more about the why, you could maybe check this out.

All of the above chords are moveable too so mess around a bit and make sure to have some fun trying these chords in spots that you already know versus these chords in order to feel the sound differences that different places on the neck can give.

Summary

Well, this threw some jazzier sounding chords at you, but one of the main things to do is experiment placing some of these chords into songs you already know and see where they will work and where they won’t.

There’s a lot more chords too with tons of variations that can really take your playing to some new sonic places.

Make sure to check out what makes these things tick and why they won’t work in some instances.

A little more knowledge will only but help in creating your own sound.

Have fun!

About the Author

Marc-Andre Seguin is the webmaster, “brains behind” and teacher on JazzGuitarLessons.net, the #1 online resource for learning how to play jazz guitar. He draws from his experience both as a professional jazz guitarist and professional jazz teacher to help thousands of people from all around the world learn the craft of jazz guitar.