A Very Useful Gypsy Jazz Chord

Today I’d like to share with you a very useful chord shape for playing gypsy jazz.

Below is an image of one way of playing a ‘minor six’ chord shape.

Using ‘minor six’ chords in place of minor triads is very common in gypsy jazz playing. Doing this brings an extra and distinctive ‘gypsy’ flavour to the harmony.

But that is not the extent of this chords usefulness.

You can actually use this same shape to voice dominant 7th chords, as well as minor 6 chords. 

For instance, if you play through a G minor blues, you can do the following:

• Play the shape at the 3rd fret to voice the Gm6 chord.
   
• Play the shape at the 8th fret to voice the Cm6 chord.
   
• Play the shape at the 5th fret to voice the D7 chord (in this case, a 9th is also added to the chord).
   

The versatility of a shape like this is just one of the great tricks worth knowing about gypsy jazz playing, and guitar playing general.

Want to dive a little deeper, and master all the chords needed to play gypsy jazz? Check out our online courses, for some in-depth study of this style.
Also, don’t forget to make the most of our backing tracks, chord book, and arpeggio book. Utilising all of these tools will help you fully understand how this style works, and help you to play your best

Wishing you all the best,

Harry Edwards

Harry is a guitarist from Tasmania, Australia, who has extensive experience as both a performer and educator of gypsy jazz. As the founder of www.studygypsyjazz.com, Harry is passionate about sharing his knowledge of gypsy jazz guitar with students around the globe.