lordphobos

Whisper on the Breeze (Bridge - First Part)

Added 2022-05-18 16:02:21 +0000 UTC

It's time to get jazzy! There are lots of smooth sounding chords in here, including 7ths and altered dominants. This creates the level sophistication and maturity that sounding jazzy requires.

This song is Whisper on the Breeze, so if you read this lesson out loud, please don't read it louder than a h'whisper.

Anyways, if I haven't turned you off with the J word, read on...

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Here's the chord progression:

   Dmaj7 - F#7b13 - Bmin7 - Amin7 - D9
   Gmaj7 - Dsus2/F# - Em9 - A7b13
   Dmaj7 - F#7b13 - Bmin7 - Amin7 - D9 Gmaj7
   Dsus2/F# - Em9 - F13

Sounds like jazz to me.

This is all in the key of D major. Most of the chords are diatonic in the key, but I'll explain the ones that aren't:

F#7b13 - it isn't in the key of D major, but is the V chord in the key of the chord it precedes - Bmin7.
Amin7 - D9 - neither are in D major, but act as a ii-V in the key of the chord they precede, Gmaj7.
F13 - When the lesson for part II comes around, you'll see this chord behaves as the V chord into a Bbmaj7, signalling a key change.

Might this all just be a long way of saying jazz?

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Notice that every chord starts before the measure, on the & of 4? This creates a sense of urgency and excitement. The same rhythm repeats on most of the chords. So it's a matter of learning the chord shapes alone, learning the rhythm alone, and then combining these two elements together.

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Thanks for attending my jazz masterclass. TAB is attached. Drop any questions down below. See you next time!

- Lord Jazzbos