Jazz Chord Substitutions Explained

Holy smokes! This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for! I'm not even playing guitar: I'm a piano player but this explanation of jazz theory is outstanding. Very clear and really straight forward! I could watch this content every day HAPPILY! Thank you so much!

Great lesson....as a jazz-fusion guitarist myself I always look for new ways to learn and incorporate these notions constructively into my playing. Personally, I noticed that the more you adopt chord substitutions, the further away you get from the "feel" you're trying to express with a chord progression you come up with (so, not necessarily the typical 1,6,2,5), BUT at the same time, being an avid Pat Metheny fan for over 40 years, I couldn't help but noticing the way he uses substitutions in different renditions of his own songs, STILL managing to maintain the overall meaning of the message or the atmosphere of the piece he's playing. I suppose my point is YES, do use chord subs, but be careful on how to use them, try to not abuse them, as I notice some jazz-fusion musicians do, just for the sake of "Hey look how good and articulate I am!".... 🙂

i have heard this explained to me for 30 years. Your explanation is the best that i have heard yet, very informative. Thank you.

Like "AnotherAnonymous" I am also not a guitar player, but this is a great summary of chord substitutions in only 13 minutes! You make it all sound easy!

FANTASTIC lesson. Thanks. Bill Evans did these sort of substitutions SOOOOO cleverly.. subtly and aesthetically. THank you for this lesson.

THANKS! Don't worry about going too fast or whatever. We can back it up and watch again what we didn't get the 1st time. GREAT lesson! Thanks, again!

It's so nice to hear this and understand everything you are talking about. This all sinks in after a while. Very different from when I first started watching all these videos online.

Trumpet player trying to understand what’s going on when I hear “good comping” love this video. Keep making educational content like this. I can’t wait to watch more of your videos

Cool. Just a catch detail. On the 1 4 3m 6m 2m 5 you gave them all the same time value. The 2m 5 should’ve been twice as long.

I feel like a lot of these chord substitution don’t need to entirely replace the chords. Mainly because the chord progression you used to work on was simple for the sake of explaining but like you could keep the chord the same for the first two beats and then sub them for the last two beats of a measure. For example I think in bar two you could do two beats of Am7 and two beats of A7 which both utilized the secondary dominant but also the chromatic motion of the third going from C to C# to finally D as the home.

I dont know about total beginners, but for me, as somebody who has mostly studied classical theory and not much jazz theory, you made it make so much sense to me.

Yo that back door dominant sound was fire. I like reharming lady bird with a circle of fifths from the bIII in the turnaround to the bVII at bar 4.

This is why I love jazz. The creative potential is insane

I would not have had the chance to learn this. I'm 72 and it's the first time I've gotten it. Thanks for the guidance.

great item, nicely compact and concise. without it becoming messy or unclear. well done and thanx!

Really helpful. This sums up 4-5 different concepts that help been perpetually confusing to me. Thx!!

Very helpful. Thanks for the video!

this is really good!! thank you for this video

Well explained

Absolutely amazing lesson dude! Thanks so much, you are really the best! It would be very useful when you also show a freeboard graphic with the chords you are using 💜