good tunes for learning more advanced chords

[fingerpikingood]

I find my greatest weakness when it comes to music at this point in my learning curve, is my chord vocabulary, and degrees of the chords and stuff like that.

so i'd like to learn some jazz tunes since they tend to have some interesting chords in them. however, since i don't know all of my chords i need to figure out alot of the chords as i go.

I know all my major and minor chords, so i think learning new variations will help me learn the degrees of the chords also since, if i know m7 and see m7b5 by learning that chord i will have learned which is the 5 since that's the note that moved.

I also know my 7s and minor 7s, and a few others here and there, but generally not in every inversion.

so what i'm wondering is, if anyone knows some jazz tunes that will not have too many exotic chords in them, but would kind of ease me into it, i've started with autumn leaves, i've heard it mentionned alot before as a tune that serves this exact purpose, and it does do the trick quite nicely. but after i've gotten used to that one, played around with it a little and learned the chords in multiple inversions, i'm wondering which songs might be good to tackle next.

they don't need to be jazz songs either. in fact, the more different genres the better, but i'd really like to learn songs that use some more exotic chords, but somewhat sparingly, because too many in a song will be too much for me to remember.

[mjo]

It sounds like you might appreciate just learning a variety of voicings:
Link:http://www.free-guitar-chords.com/Dr...d-Voicings.pdf

Georgia (on my mind) is a fairly simple tune, maybe too simple if you've done Autumn Leaves.

-best,

[fingerpikingood]

I might checkout georgia, i like that tune. it doesn't need to be too complex. i'm just out to learn chords and ways in which they link up in progressions.

I'm not the type to be able to just study a bunch of voicings though unfortunately. i'd need to learn them for a song. otherwise i go nuts with the blandness of it. but i will do that also for chords i find that i'm not used to when i come accross them in songs.

i've been using this site for all my guitar needs also, which if you haven't come accross yet, is pretty cool. it's got alot of good stuf on it if you checkout the links at the top. virtually anything you could want in a theory site for guitar.

the only thing i kind of find it's missing is to switch between degree and notes mode. it only provides the notes on the fretboard for scales and chords and stuff, and not the degrees.

[jwilliams]

Buy a Real Book, you can get it for about $20 on amazon. It has loads of classic jazz songs, some relatively easy, and some incredibly advanced. It should keep you busy for quite a while. It's very easy to read, large print, one page per song, gives you all the chords you need..it's really just a good buy all around. Or if you can find an underground version, all the better. They also make real books in Bb and other sorts of kinds. Make sure you get the 6th edition.

[JonR]

I might checkout georgia, i like that tune. it doesn't need to be too complex. i'm just out to learn chords and ways in which they link up in progressions.

Georgia is good - has a lot of different chords - but it has some unusual changes. IOW, great song, but atypical in many ways.

More "straight" jazz tunes (common standards in jams) to explore would be:

Stella By Starlight (lots of minor ii-Vs)
All the Things You are (interesting modulations)
Round Midnight (cool Monk ballad, in Eb minor - don't chicken out and transpose to somethng easier!)
Sophisticated Lady (Duke classic, supposedly containing every chromatic note and chord, a serious harmony workout)

and - for fancy chords - almost anything by Jobim: such as Girl from Ipanema, Desafinado or Wave (which is basically a 12-bar blues - in the A section - but buried under loads of cool substitutions).

[bluesking]

Buy a Real Book, you can get it for about $20 on amazon. It has loads of classic jazz songs, some relatively easy, and some incredibly advanced. It should keep you busy for quite a while. It's very easy to read, large print, one page per song, gives you all the chords you need..it's really just a good buy all around. Or if you can find an underground version, all the better. They also make real books in Bb and other sorts of kinds. Make sure you get the 6th edition.

Complete +1 on this front. Realbook should have you set for life all the way from starting learning jazz to playing live jazz gigs. All the regular jazz bands round here have at least one copy of the Realbook and you usually see one on stage at most jazz gigs.

[bluesking]

Round Midnight (cool Monk ballad, in Eb minor - don't chicken out and transpose to somethng easier!)

Sometimes (rarely) drop-tuning pays off.

[JonR]

Sometimes (rarely) drop-tuning pays off.

LOL
Real jazz guitarists don't use open shapes, tho...

[bluesking]

LOL
Real jazz guitarists don't use open shapes, tho...

Thanks ! I still find it easier to play in natural keys, even if I am playing purely fretted notes. Thats probably my biggest weakness at the moment, I'm not the best with note names, I tend to think in intervals all the time. But as I'm trying to improve this by thinking note names more, I am finding accidental keys to be a pain.

That said, despite being drop tuned (on most of my guitars) I still think in standard terms, so when I play in (orchestra) Eb, I am really thinking E.