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Richard Barrett gathers some jazz-inf luenced rock ’n’ roll chords to enliven your vocabulary
When rock ’n’ roll was being invented, the guitars used were often the hollowbodies that were originally designed for jazz – just check out early photos of Scotty Moore, Chuck Berry and, of course, Eddie Cochran. In many cases, the harmonic sophistication of jazz found its way into some guitar parts and solos, too, which you’ll hear on the early Elvis recordings, plus Bill Haley’s Rock Around The Clock. Brian Setzer is a great example of a more contemporary player who clearly has a good knowledge of his jazz voicings, as evidenced on Stray Cat Strut or his version of Route 66 with The Brian Setzer Orchestra.
We’re not getting quite that complicated here, but these voicings certainly give you some nice options. While they don’t have to be exclusively ‘ending’ chords, this is a fun way to incorporate them into your vocabulary. As ever, close attention to their content can also give ideas for single-note lines or patterns where you might rake across a chord/triad as part of a solo.
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Example 1
This Em6/9 is so called because is contains the 6th (C#) and the 9th (F#). If only chord extensions could always be this simple! Actually, some may wish to call this Em6(add9). This would technically be correct, as there is no 7th, but you’ll find most chord charts will abbreviate where possible.
Example 2
This Emaj9 is, of course, a major chord, courtesy of the G# that appears on the fourth string. But the ‘maj’ part o
