Jazz Chord Progression

Chord progressions are a succession of chords played one after another and during a specified duration. On this page you can find the most popular chord progressions in jazz, a list of songs that use similar chord progressions and the jazz guitarists who recorded these songs.

Because learning to play through different common progressions in various keys is such an important part of the modern jazz guitarist, in this lesson you will learn how to recognize these progressions from a Roman Numeral standpoint, allowing you to quickly transpose them to other keys, as well as two different ways to comp through each progression on the guitar.

It's important that you learn to recognize these classic chord progressions and that you practice improvising over them, so grab your axe, turn up your amp and let’s dig in to these 10 Must Know Jazz Guitar Chord Progressions!

Jazz Guitar Chord Progressions 1 - ii V I Major

1)

| IIm7 | V7 | Imaj7 | %
| Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7 | %

The 2 5 1 progression is without any doubt the most popular chord progression in jazz.   I'm not going to give you a list with songs that use this progression, since a jazz standard without a II V I is almost unthinkable.  Some jazz standard chord progressions are nothing more then a series of II V's.

2)

| Imaj7          VIm7 | IIm7          V7 | IIIm7          VI7 | IIm7          V7
| Cmaj7         Am7 | Dm7          G7 | Em7            A7 | Dm7          G7

This chord progression is the first A of a 'rhythm changes'.  'Rhythm changes' are a kind of chord progression that use the same chord changes as 'I've Got Rhythm', a song written by Gershwin in 1930.  People started using this progression to jam on and so many different melodies came into being that use the same chord changes.

3)

| Imaj7 | % |(IIm7 | V7) | Imaj7 | % |(IIm7 | V7) | Imaj7
| Cmaj7 | % |Cm7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | % | Bbm7 | Eb7 | Abmaj7

This is also a very common jazz chord progression. There are 2 modulations in this progression: the chords start in the key of C major, modulate to Bb major in the 3rd bar and again modulate in the 7th bar, this time to Ab major.

4)

| Imaj7#I°7 | IIm7#II°7 | IIIm7VI7
| Cmaj7C#°7 | Dm7D#°7 | Em7A7

5)

| Imaj7 | % | II7 | % | IIm7 | V7 | Imaj7 | %
| Cmaj7 | % | D7 | % | Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7 | %

6)

| Imaj7 | (IIm7V7) | Vmaj7
| Cmaj7 | Gm7C7 | Fmaj7

7)

| Imaj7 | I7 | IVmaj7 | IVm7 | IIIm7VI7 | IIm7V7 | Imaj7
| Cmaj7 | C7 | Fmaj7 | Fm7 | Em7A7 | Dm7G7 | Cmaj7