Jake Lizzio

New Lesson - Intro to Altered Dominant Chords (Patreon)

Published:

2024-09-13 16:29:48

Imported:

2026-06

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I still have chords on my mind! This is one of those topics that I tried and failed to learn several times before it stuck, but I’m hoping that this introduction to the topic will be more effective than the lessons I consumed. Do note that this is an INTRO to the topic! There’s far more to explore but I think tackling it all at once could make one’s head explode.

Right now, this video is only viewable for you here at Patreon and should go live tomorrow, unless someone calls out any big errors! This week I have to do some family-related travel though so if something goes wrong I wont be able to re-edit the video till next week. I'm actually posting this from the plane right now, a first for me!

https://youtu.be/63-PX9XvrKg

Hope you enjoy this one, and please ask below if you have any questions regarding this topic! Otherwise, save your questions for this month’s Live Q+A in a few weeks, or just email them to me directly at jake@signalsmusicstudio.com if you need them answered quickly. Now go write a jazz progression!

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Intro To ALTERED DOMINANT Chords [SONGWRITING / JAZZ / MUSIC THEORY]

If you like this video you’ll love the Chord Progression Codex!: https://shorturl.at/ezVY9 Check out my Theory and Songwriting Course: https://shorturl.at/evKMX Altered Dominant chords are absolutely essential to writing complex jazz progressions. The topic can be very difficult to navigate though, so I’ve tried to simplify it down to the absolute basics in this video. To summarize this video: -Take a regular dominant chord (1 3 5 b7) and move it’s 5th up or down a half step to alter it. This creates 7(b5) or 7(#5) (aka augmented 7th) -Like ALL altered dominant chords, you can use these as a colorful replacement for V7 in a V7 – I cadence. -Altered dominant chords of any type can be written with the symbol 7alt. -It’s easy to use altered dominant chords right after or before regular dominant chords, like G7 – G7alt – C, or G7alt-G7-C -Altered dominants can be used in secondary dominant movements. Instead of playing V7/vi - vi, try V7alt/vi – vi. Or, V7alt/vi -V7/vi - vi Thanks to my Patreon subscribers for making this lesson possible! If you sign up, you’ll get access to a lot of videos that aren’t available here on youtube, as well as the monthly live Q+A’s and occasional production/composing streams. www.patreon.com/signalsmusicstudio 00:00 Intro 00:25 What is an altered dominant (easy mode) 01:30 Guitar Shapes 1:52 Use altered dominants wherever you see V7 2:56 Use them as part of a ii-V7-I 3:47 Don’t like it? Fix the voice leading! 4:47 Play them next to unaltered dominant chords 6:00 Use them in secondary cadence 7:00 Putting it all together 07:48 What is an altered dominant (hard mode) https://www.facebook.com/signalsmusicstudio https://www.signalsmusicstudio.com Free online guitar lessons for beginners, intermediate, and advanced players. Located in Crystal Lake, Jake Lizzio provides free jam tracks and video lessons for guitar players, as well as music theory videos and other music education content.