Common chord types with alternative symbols Serious jazz composers needed to invent symbols rather than notation as it was much more conducive to the creative and spontaneous process of jazz improvising.Ĭhord symbols can work best when they are as short as possible, otherwise sheet music can become very cluttered, but be careful they aren’t confusing, especially when written by hand in a hurry. In early traditional jazz, triads were often used so a chord symbol could be as simple as C (for a C major triad) and Cm (for a C minor triad).Įarly sheet music started to include chord symbols, but very often they were written with banjo players in mind and (rightly or wrongly) were simplified.

Jazz evolved from using simple harmony back in the old days to quite complex harmony that was made popular by the bebop innovators, which used upper extensions (9ths, 11ths and 13ths etc.), and chromatic alterations (b5, #11 etc.). Over the years there have been various different methods used to write chord symbols.

Common chord types with alternative symbols.

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Jazz chords chart piano printable