Coltrane Concepts to Dominate Half Diminished Chords
By
Chords, Jazz Musicians, Premium, Workbook
Half Diminished chords are one of the trickiest chord qualities for developing jazz musicians. Also known as Minor7b5 chords, their structure, sound, and very nature are tough to grasp for just about everyone, so they tend to present more of a challenge than major, minor, or dominant chords.
So what makes half diminished chords more difficult than these other basic chord qualities? Why can’t they be as simple as a major chord to think about? And what is it about them that makes them harder to hear and play?
Well it mostly goes back to how we’re nearly all introduced to a half diminished chord from popular jazz education today, which of course is via a scale.
The very first thing we’re told about these chords is that they take the esoteric Locrian Mode, and that if we simply learn this mode, we’ll be equipped for half diminished chords.
No overview, no context, no sound (!!)…just mix up the notes from this scale over half diminished chords and you’re good to go.
Unfortunately, this won’t get you very far…but it gets worse…
Not only do many improvisers get started with Locrian, ...
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