Easy Progressions

[mahayana]

Thought I'd put down some easy stuff that makes an interesting introduction to jazz concepts.

Like "Hotel California"- I think everyone knows that one.

Bm--F#--A--E--G--D--Em--F#

(chorus)--G--D--Em--Bm--G--D--Em--F#

What makes this a jazz progression is that the verse chords harmonize a chromatically descending bass line-

B---Bb---A---Ab--G--F#--E--F#

The chords are near-related, rather than all in one key, which is common in jazz.

Another example is "Colour My World," a ballad from the '60s which featured a beautiful flute solo. If you ever sang this tune, it slips from key to key effortlessly. Not exactly modal, but not typical pop music either.

G--Bm--C--F--Bb--Ab--E7--A--F--D7--G--C--D--G

This one is excellent practice for maj7 arpeggios, which are played over most of the chords in the tune. (My only complaint about this one is that it needed another verse or two, hah!)

Anyone else have an easy progression that showed you something new?

[jazzalta]

The song below "All the Things You Are" really opened up my eyes re the ii V progresssion, and how many of the "Standards" employ this device.

Fm7 Bbm7 Eb7 Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 G7 Cmaj7

Cm7 Fm7 Bb7 Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 Am7 D9 Gmaj7

Am7 D7 Gmaj7 F#m7b5 B7 Emaj7 Caug
> > >

[mahayana]

I play ATTYA almost like that, JA. Guess I'll have to indicate measures, as I play a chord on the last beat of a couple of measures.

Fm7 l Bbm7 l Eb7 l Abmaj7 l Dbmaj7 l G7 Db7 l Cmaj7 l C6

Cm7 l Fm7 l Bb7 l Ebmaj7 l Abmaj7 l D7 Ab7 l Gmaj7 l

G6 l Am7 l D9 l Gmaj7 l G6 l F#m7-5 l B7 l Emaj 7 l C+

[mahayana]

Here's a Really simple progression that's fun to jam over.

It's the Frank Sinatra tune "It Was A Very Good Year"

ll:Em l Em l F l F l Em l G l F l F l E l E l D l D l E l E l

Em l Em l Bm G l B7 :ll

A crowd pleaser (believe it or not), and an easy pattern that's easy to modulate.

[mahayana]

Another simple one that's fun to play is Little River Band's 'Reminiscing.' I thought this was Paul McCartney singing for awhile. Do you remember the song? It's 4/4 but hits the chord on the first beat, then does three strums on the second beat, one at the beginning of the third beat, two on the fourth beat, so it sounds like

dum...da-da-da-da..dum..dum.. l dum...da-da-da-da..dum..dum l so on.

It's just 3 Mickey Baker chords and a B and a D chord-

l:Gmaj7 (3x443x)l Gmaj 7 l F#7#5 (xx2332)l F#7#5 l B (x2444x) l B l Gmaj7 l Gmaj7 l F#7#5 l F#7#5 l B l B l Gmaj7 l Gm7 (3x3333) l D l G l D :l

[mahayana]

Part of the interest of this song is the intro in Eb which resolves to D. Also easy. It uses several forms of the same minor9th to minor7th change.

xx5343 xx1113 xx1111

xx5343 xx4446 xx4444

xx2224 xx2222 xx0002 xx0000 xx0232