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Guitar Technique & Warm Up

Exercises

There Will Never Be Another You -Comping Study

The Bebop Scale - What is it and how

do I use it?

Jazz Guitar Chord Theory - Learn how

to Construct Chords

Mini Licks - Short Phrases that Shape

your Guitar Solo

What is a good guitar for jazz?

What is the best jazz guitar amp?

How to play jazz blues guitar 

What are guitar modes and how do I

use them in Jazz?

How to play gypsy jazz guitar in the

style of Django Reinhardt

 

Ho me Jazz Guitar Chords Tritone Chord Substitution

Tritone = #4 (or b5) interval

 A tritone substitution is the use of a

dominant chord that is 6 half steps higher or 

lower compared to the original dominant

chord. Tritone substitutes are useful for both

chordal playing and single note

improvisation.

Take for example the G7 chord: G B  D F

The 2 most important notes of this chord are:

the 3 (B)

the b7 (F)

(if you didn't know this already I suggest you read the guitar chord tutorial first).

The 3 and the b7 of a dominant chord are a tritone apart. A tritone is a symmetrical interval, it is

precisely in the middle of the chromatic scale. This being the case we change the 3 for the b7 and the

b7 for the 3 and fill in the 1 and 5 to get a new dominant chord.

This chord would be Db7: Db F  Ab B  (more precisely: Db F  Ab Cb)

The tritone chord substitution of G7 = Db7

So compared to the G7 chord the B and F changed places. Knowing that the F is the 3 and the B is

the b7, it's easy to fill in the 1 and 5 (again if you don't agree with me about this being easy, read the

guitar chord tutorial first).

The 1 is Db and the 5 is Ab. Relative to the G7 this is a b5 and a b9, so this means that the Db7 can

substitute an altered G7 chord.

 

What scale would you play on the Db7. The first dominant scale that comes to mind is the mixolydian

scale (if this scale sounds like Chinese to you, read the tutorial about guitar scales). Problem here is

the 4 of the Db mixolydian scale: the Gb or F#. This note is the major 7 of G, while we need a b7 for G

dominant.

 

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