13 Jan La Vie en Rose – Gypsy and Jazz Chord Study
Let’s talk about your chord playing and about your chord vocabulary.
But , before we start, what are chords?
A better answer, for our needs, than the basic definition of a chord as a set of (at least) three notes played together, would be to think of chords more as a suggestion, a code, an invitation to explore and create various sounds.
If you play accompaniment for a song using the same few shapes in the same places on your fingerboard every time, then this article is for you. I would like to invite you to expand your chord vocabulary and explore different sounds, making your accompaniment playing more interesting.
What do you have in mind when reading the chord “G”? How many shapes do you think of?
A lot of us play one or two shapes all the time. But you have so many options! Why be satisfied with two?
The aim of this lesson is to help you expand your chord vocabulary, using chord inversions. We’ll learn a few chord shapes that you can use for each one of these three main chord types:
- Major chords: Chords you can play for all the major chords (tonic or subdominant major chords) which don’t function as Dom7.
- Dom7 chords: Chords you can play for major Dom7 chords in no matter what function they play in songs.
3. Minor chords – Chords you can play for all minor chords, whether they function as tonic or subdominant
Feel free to change the fingerings I use to make them comfortable for you
Let’s take a standard chord progression that we can play as an accompaniment to La Vie en Rose. We have nine chords in this song; let’s classify them into our three main chord types:
Major chords: G, C.
Dom7 chords: D7, F#7, G7, E7, A7.
Minor chords: Am, Cm
The following chord diagrams are all in the key of G. They suggest one chord shape for each inversion. Transpose them to all the other chord roots that we have in this song and combine them creatively:
The ability to improvise when you play accompaniment – playing accompaniment to a song a little bit differently – with different chord shapes, bass lines and colors each time, gives you two important skills for jazz playing:
- Mastering the form of the song.
- Having the option to choose your preferred colors at any moment, according to the way your soloist is playing.
Randolph Koder
Posted at 03:15h, 12 MarchSo beatuifully presented. I will learn muck from your demo. Most of what you have shown, I already know and understand. I didn’t see the way you have combined the chords for myself, nor do I have enough fluency to master it in one study, but your help is very much appreciated and I will love to devote some time to it. Thank you.
Randolph Koder
Posted at 03:17h, 12 Marchsorry about the typo
I will learn much from your demo.
Donna Smith
Posted at 05:07h, 19 MarchYou are such a good teacher, you know the true art of pedagogy!
Yaakov Hoter
Posted at 05:11h, 19 MarchThanks Donna!
Happy you love this lesson
Aslam Khudabux
Posted at 09:27h, 19 MarchThanks Yaakov for free book. There are many types of G chords. Lots of them have technical attributes which defines what type of G chord it is eg G dom7 etc. As of now I don’t understand this or why this or how this. In the future I will know. But slowly because there is a mountain of guitar/ music theory on the Internet. Each slightly different and requires different ways of learning it so that it’s more organic to MY brain.
Yaakov Hoter
Posted at 09:32h, 19 MarchHi
I will soon release a new e-Book that packs all the information needed about chord theory in one place.
So stay tuned 🙂
Ron Villegas
Posted at 11:15h, 19 MarchNothing better than finding a new lesson from you in the morning! Beautiful song, my left hand can grab most of the shapes but my mind and right hand are lagging behind, la pompe still eluding me,too many years of learning finger style arrangements from tabs.
Thanks for the great lesson!
Peter Ritchie
Posted at 12:11h, 19 MarchThanks from the mountains of British Columbia., Canada. As these chord shapes presently make more sense to my mind than to my fingers it’s only a matter of spending a few zillion hours to train fingers and then, boom, I’ve got it. Always so helpful to see you play these with such facility.
Manuel Guajardo
Posted at 13:07h, 19 MarchLove your style. I am elated that I ran across your vids/lessons. Wish I could have known this 35yrs. ago. I spent all that time trying to read classical music by sheet music and always had trouble reading and finding notes on the fret board, so I just gave up. About a year ago, a friend mentioned pentatonic scales, which I never knew existed, and it made all the difference in the world, although, it made me mad that I had wasted all those years. Oh, well. cest la vie. Now, I practice every day. I’ve learned more in one year than the last 45. It’s still a long journey, but I’m retired and have the time. Thank you senior Hoter. Keep up the good work. You’re an amazing musician.
Manuel, Corpus Christi Texas.
Adam Royffe
Posted at 03:17h, 20 MarchThanks Yaakov. I always enjoy your lessons, Things that seemed complicated become so straight forward. You’r a real inspiration.
Richard Flores
Posted at 16:40h, 20 MarchBeautiful chords the rhythm is very nice and slow you can hear the chords how about the melody Richard
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Posted at 06:15h, 28 JuneI got what you intend, appreciate it for posting. Woh I am glad to find this website through google.
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Posted at 00:56h, 10 AugustWhat’s up, just wanted to mention, I enjoyed this article. It was practical. Keep on posting!
phil volckhausren
Posted at 12:15h, 13 FebruaryI am just starting to understand the theory of inversions and it is actually making sense to me. I just need about six months of practice to be able to get myself to be able to physically be able to learn and play them and then I can tell you what I think . Thank-you Yaakov
Yaakov Hoter
Posted at 23:27h, 13 FebruarySounds like a good plan Phil!
Be consistent and you’ll have it.
Best wishes
Yaakov