Jazz Guitar Chords: Essential Shapes, Voicings and Progressions

Jazz guitar chords are seventh chords and their extensions (9ths, 11ths and 13ths), played as moveable shapes without open strings so that one fingering works in every key. Five chord types cover most of the symbols on a jazz lead sheet: major 7, dominant 7, minor 7, minor 7♭5 and diminished 7. Learn each one with its root on the sixth string and on the fifth string and you have the ten core shapes below. From there come the three-note shell voicings, drop-2 voicings, 9th and 13th chords, and the ii-V-I progression that ties them together.

What Makes a Guitar Chord a Jazz Chord

Rock and pop guitar runs on triads and power chords with open strings ringing. In jazz the seventh chord is the basic unit, with 9ths, 11ths and 13ths added for color. Two notes in each chord do most of the work: the 3rd (major or minor) and the 7th (major or flat). Together these guide tones separate a major 7 from a dominant 7 and a minor 7. When a bassist is playing the roots, guitarists often leave out the root and 5th and voice chords from the 3rd and 7th upward.

Jazz shapes are also closed, fretted voicings: you learn one shape per chord type and slide it to the key you need, mostly on the middle and upper strings, away from the bass register. For the instruments, players and history of the style, see our overview of jazz guitar; this page sticks to the chords.

The Five Basic Jazz Chord Types

• Major 7 (Cmaj7, CΔ7): 1-3-5-7. The I chord of a major key. C6 (1-3-5-6) often replaces it on the tonic.
• Dominant 7 (C7): 1-3-5-♭7. The 3rd and ♭7 form a tritone, an unstable interval that wants to resolve. This is the V chord.
• Minor 7 (Cm7, C-7): 1-♭3-5-♭7. The ii chord in a major key and the tonic in many minor-key tunes.
• Minor 7♭5 (Cm7♭5, Cø7): 1-♭3-♭5-♭7, also called half-diminished. It is the ii chord of a minor key.
• Diminished 7 (Cdim7, C°7): 1-♭3-♭5-♭♭7, where the double-flat 7th sounds like a major 6th. Built entirely from minor thirds, so there are only three different diminished seventh chords, and any diminished shape repeats every three frets.

Ten Essential Jazz Guitar Chord Shapes

The table gives each chord type in C with the root on the sixth string (8th fret) and on the fifth string (3rd fret). Fret numbers run from the low E string to the high E string, and x means the string is not played. Every shape is moveable: for G7, take the sixth-string C7 shape down to the 3rd fret and play 3 x 3 4 3 x.

The sixth-string shapes are drop-3 voicings, often the first jazz chords guitarists learn; mute the skipped fifth string with the finger that frets the bass note. The fifth-string shapes are drop-2 voicings on four adjacent strings.

Shell Voicings: Three-Note Jazz Chords

A shell voicing keeps only the root, 3rd and 7th. The 3rd and 7th already define the chord, so dropping the 5th costs little, and the smaller shape changes faster. Shells are the easiest way to start comping through a standard.

• Root on 6th string: Cmaj7 8 x 9 9 x x, C7 8 x 8 9 x x, Cm7 8 x 8 8 x x (root, 7th, 3rd).
• Root on 5th string: Cmaj7 x 3 2 4 x x, C7 x 3 2 3 x x, Cm7 x 3 1 3 x x (root, 3rd, 7th).

Going from maj7 to 7 to m7, one note drops a fret at each step, which makes the difference between the three easy to see and hear.

Drop-2 Voicings

A drop-2 chord takes a close-position seventh chord, which is hard to finger on guitar, and lowers the second-highest note by an octave, spreading the chord over four adjacent strings. Take Cmaj7 in close position as G-B-C-E from bottom to top. Drop the C an octave and you get C-G-B-E, which is the fifth-string shape from the table: x 3 5 4 5 x.

Each seventh chord has four drop-2 inversions on each of three string sets (6-5-4-3, 5-4-3-2 and 4-3-2-1). The top four strings sit above the bass and are the most useful for comping. Cmaj7 on strings 4 to 1:

• x x 2 4 1 3 (E-B-C-G, 3rd in the bass)
• x x 5 5 5 7 (G-C-E-B, 5th in the bass)
• x x 9 9 8 8 (B-E-G-C, 7th in the bass)
• x x 10 12 12 12 (C-G-B-E, root in the bass)

Learn the same four inversions for C7, Cm7 and Cm7♭5 and you can put a melody note on top of almost any chord. JazzGuitar.be has drop-2 charts for every string set if you want diagrams.

Extensions and Rootless Voicings

Extensions are chord tones above the octave: the 9th is the 2nd an octave up, the 11th is the 4th and the 13th is the 6th. They change a chord’s color, not its function: G13 is still a dominant chord that wants to go to C. A guitar cannot play all seven notes of a 13th chord, so keep the guide tones, add one or two extensions and drop the root or 5th.

9th and 13th Chords

• Cmaj9: x 3 2 4 3 x
• Cm9: x 3 1 3 3 x
• C9: x 3 2 3 3 3
• C13: 8 x 8 9 10 x (root, ♭7, 3rd, 13th)
• C6/9: x 3 2 2 3 3, a softer alternative to a major 7 on the tonic

Lift the bass note off any of these and you have a rootless voicing. Many rootless sounds are another seventh chord built on the 3rd: Em7 (E-G-B-D) over a C bass is Cmaj9, and Bm7♭5 (B-D-F-A) over G is G9. Pianists use the same idea, covered in our guide to jazz piano chords.

The 11th and Suspended Chords

A natural 11th over a major or dominant chord sits a half step above the major 3rd and clashes with it, so players treat it as an avoid note. Either raise it to a #11 (from the Lydian dominant scale on a dominant chord), or drop the 3rd and let the 4th replace it in a sus chord. C7sus4 on the fifth string is x 3 5 3 6 x. Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” (1965) is built on suspended chords.

Altered Dominants

On a dominant chord the 9th and 5th can be raised or lowered: ♭9, #9, ♭5 (#11) and #5 (♭13). These tensions strengthen the pull to the next chord, and 7♭9 and 7#9 chords are often used as the V of a minor ii-V-i. Two fifth-string shapes:

• C7♭9: x 3 2 3 2 x
• C7#9: x 3 2 3 4 x. Rock players call it the Hendrix chord; Jimi Hendrix used it on “Purple Haze” (1967).

A useful shortcut: a diminished 7 shape built on the 3rd of a dominant chord gives you a rootless 7♭9. On the top four strings, x x 3 4 3 4 (F-B-D-A♭) is Bdim7, and over G it is G7♭9. Because the diminished shape repeats every three frets, the same shape also works as B♭7♭9, D♭7♭9 and E7♭9.

Putting the Chords to Work: The ii-V-I

The ii-V-I is extremely common in jazz standards, and it is the progression to practice first. In C major it is Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7. Using shells and alternating root strings, the hand barely moves:

• Dm7: x 5 3 5 x x
• G7: 3 x 3 4 x x
• Cmaj7: x 3 2 4 x x

Follow the guide tones. The F (3rd of Dm7) stays put and becomes the 7th of G7, while the C (7th of Dm7) drops a half step to B, the 3rd of G7. Then the F drops a half step to E, the 3rd of Cmaj7, and the B stays as its 7th. That half-step motion is what makes comping sound connected. Next, move the pattern to F (Gm7 – C7 – Fmaj7) and B♭ (Cm7 – F7 – B♭maj7), and eventually through all twelve keys.

The Minor ii-V-i

In a minor key the ii chord is half-diminished and the V chord often carries a ♭9 or #9. In C minor: Dm7♭5 (x 5 6 5 6 x) – G7♭9 (3 x 3 4 3 4) – Cm7 (x 3 5 3 4 x). “Autumn Leaves” is a good tune to practice it on, because its changes are built almost entirely from major and minor ii-V progressions.

Other Progressions to Learn

Three more patterns reuse the same shapes. The I-vi-ii-V turnaround (Cmaj7 – Am7 – Dm7 – G7) is often colored with tritone substitutes, dominant chords a tritone away from the original: Cmaj7 – E♭7 – Dm7 – D♭7. A jazz blues in B♭ adds a quick change to the IV chord in bar 2 and a ii-V in bars 9 and 10: B♭7 | E♭7 | B♭7 | B♭7 | E♭7 | E°7 | B♭7 | G7 | Cm7 | F7 | B♭7 G7 | Cm7 F7. Rhythm changes, taken from George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” (1930), use a 32-bar AABA form with I-vi-ii-V in the A sections and a bridge of dominant chords around the cycle of fourths (D7 – G7 – C7 – F7 in B♭). Our guide to jazz chord progressions covers these in more detail.

Comping With Jazz Chords

Comping, short for accompanying, is how a guitarist supports a soloist or singer with chords. Rhythm and space matter as much as the voicing.

In big bands the model is Freddie Green (1911-1987), the Count Basie Orchestra’s rhythm guitarist for about fifty years from 1937. He changed chords rapidly, often on every beat rather than every bar, and his fretting hand covered four strings while letting only some of them sound, so the guitar blended with the drums.

In a small group, guitarists play shorter, syncopated chords and leave gaps for the soloist. A good first pattern is the Charleston figure, a chord on beat 1 and another on the “and” of 2, named after James P. Johnson’s 1923 song “Charleston,” whose rhythm became widespread in jazz comping. Vary it, anticipate chord changes by an eighth note, and react to the soloist instead of repeating one pattern.

How the Chords Connect to Scales

Each chord type has scales that fit over it, which links comping to soloing:

• Major 7: major scale (Ionian), or Lydian when the chord has a #11
• Dominant 7: Mixolydian; Lydian dominant for 7#11
• Minor 7: Dorian, the mode “So What” uses over its D minor chord
• Minor 7♭5: Locrian
• Diminished 7: the whole-half diminished scale
• 7♭9: the half-whole diminished scale
• Altered dominant: the altered scale, the seventh mode of melodic minor (G altered has the same notes as A♭ melodic minor)

Our jazz scales guide spells out each of these scales and the chords they fit, and the guide to jazz improvisation covers how to build lines from chord tones.

Records to Study for Jazz Guitar Chords

• Wes Montgomery, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (Riverside, 1960): Montgomery often built a solo from single notes to octaves to block chords; hear “Four on Six.” The album entered the National Recording Registry in 2017.
• Bill Evans and Jim Hall, Undercurrent (United Artists, 1962): a duo with no bass or drums, so you hear exactly how Hall voices chords around the piano.
• Joe Pass, Virtuoso (Pablo, recorded 1973): solo guitar, with melody, chords and bass lines played together.

For more players and records, see our list of the greatest jazz guitarists.

A 30-Minute Practice Routine

1. Shapes (5 minutes): the ten table shapes, moved up a half step at a time.
2. Shells (5 minutes): the ii-V-I in one new key per day around the cycle of fourths.
3. Drop-2 (10 minutes): four inversions of one chord type on the top four strings.
4. Color (5 minutes): swap a 9th, 13th or 7♭9 into the progression.
5. Comping (5 minutes): play along with one of the easy jazz standards for beginners using shells and the Charleston figure.

For backing tracks, iReal Pro plays chord charts with a virtual band and lets you change key and tempo. For further study: Ted Greene’s Chord Chemistry (Alfred, 1971), a large catalog of voicings; Mickey Baker’s Complete Course in Jazz Guitar, in print for more than fifty years; Mick Goodrick’s The Advancing Guitarist (Hal Leonard, 1987); and Mark Levine’s The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995), which is not guitar-specific but explains the harmony.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most important jazz guitar chords for beginners?

Start with major 7, dominant 7, minor 7 and minor 7♭5, each with the root on the sixth and on the fifth string. Those eight shapes cover many standards. Add the diminished 7 next, then 9th and 13th chords.

What makes a guitar chord sound jazzy?

The 7th and the extensions above it. A C major triad sounds like pop; Cmaj7, C6/9 or Cmaj9 sounds like jazz. Leaving out the root and putting a 9th or 13th above the 3rd and 7th gives the typical jazz guitar sound.

What is the difference between shell voicings and drop-2 voicings?

Shell voicings have three notes (root, 3rd and 7th) and change quickly, which suits fast tunes. Drop-2 voicings have four notes on four adjacent strings, made by lowering the second-highest note of a close-position chord an octave. They sound fuller and carry a melody note on top, which suits ballads and chord melody.