Hello friends,

Have you ever wondered why most people find the Jazz tunes kinda weird or dissonant? Have you ever been listening to a jazz tune and felt like the player is improvising out of tune or scale? Actually, nop! they’re not dissonant, it’s just how your ears percept them. Since you were born, you’ve been listening to some kind of simple music (classics, rock, oriental…) where the artists focus on a limited set of harmonies (1-3-5). Let’s get to the point directly!

What are the 1-3-5?
Let’s say we’re playing a C major scale (Do) which contains these notes: C D E F G A B C. The 1-3-5 would be C E and G and they form the C Major chord! But why the hell 99% of the chord we hear nowadays are built over the 1-3-5? didn’t we miss the 2nd (aka 9th = 7+2), the 4th (aka 11th = 7+4), the 6th (aka 13th = 7+6) and the 7th note which is the most used harmony in jazz! So my friends, it’s a matter of perception. Your ears are not used, yet, to those harmonies because you have not been hearing them enough on radio stations. Jazz has no limits. Jazz artists focus a lot on these unused harmonies and once you get used to them, you’ll notice how void the other styles of music are! Get your guitar or piano and play: 1-3-5-7 (aka C E G B) and you’ll get the C major 7th! Kinda cool… isn’t it? Same thing for minor and dominant chords! I hope you find this post useful in case you’ve ever wondered “what is jazz?“.

Stay tuned…