Chord types, inversions and substitutions in each genre (blues, blues rock, rock, jazz, funk, fusion, etc.)?

Hi everybody!

How are you doing?

Please, I would like to ask the following questions.

  1. What chord types are played in each genre (blues, blues rock, rock, jazz, funk, fusion, etc.)?

  2. Which of these chord types are commonly played as inversions?

  3. What substitutions could be played to replace each of these chord types?

Cheers, John :slight_smile:

Hi John,

You may want to check out the

or start right at the beginning of the course:

You can also search for these genres over on the website and take a look at the related lessons.

In general, any chord type may pop up in a piece of music as long as it sounds good, whether itā€™s some pedestrian blues rock or more technical jazz fusion.

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Hi John.
It is a bit of a strange question to be honest and is one of those situations where the main purpose of you asking is hard to determine.
All / any chord types and inversions etc can be and are played in all / any types of music.
Can you narrow down your quest so you may get further help?

3 Likes

Hello again!

Still Throwing Random Types Of Chords Into Your Songwriting? A Simply Good Guitar Lesson

Source: StichMethod Guitar - YouTube

Cheers,

John :slight_smile:

Hello again!

Thereā€™s a B.S. Way OR a REAL WAY To Learn CHORD INVERSIONS! TRULY Understanding How Simple They Are.

Source: StichMethod Guitar - YouTube

Cheers,

John :slight_smile:

So how does links to Stichā€™s lesson equate to your question ? I think you need to reply to @Richard_close2u post. Are you suggesting we learn from Stich or am I missing something ?
Its all a bit vague.
:thinking:

I am suggesting nothing.

I think that these two videos can bring some elements to answer my question and that it would be nice, constructive and positive to share them on this forum.

Okay, instead of flooding with videos from Ian Stich, here are soecific answers

Major, minor, major 7, minor 7, dominants 7, 9, 11 and 13, sus2, sus4, add9, minor7flat5, etc. etc. etc.

Any and all of them.

It depends on context.

I know i am being obtuse here but your questions - not being grounded in anything - simply cannot be answered.
It really is not clear what you know and what you want to know.

It would help to know what your kevel of play is and where you are aiming to go.

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That ā€˜s why I shared those links, because I think that their content are a beginning to understand my questions and to give answers.

Did you watch the videos?

I havenā€™t watched them all through, but it seems to me youā€™d like to know if there are like ā€œarchetypalā€ chords for given genres. Well, it depends. Dominant 7th chords are quite common in blues but crop up elsewhere, too. Jazz music frequently has extended chords like 9th, 11th, 13ths, etc. But it all depends on the specific composition and the intentions of the composer.

Hi @John_P

I have now watched both videos - 25 minutes of my life that has given me little - truth be told. I have nothing against Stich, I have watched and enjoyed many of his videos, their quality and worth is variable between good and just okay. But, imho, he does not have an over arching ā€˜methodā€™ so his tag is misleading, he just releases random and unrelated content with little coherent structure. Nevertheless ā€¦

Video 1.

Stich suggests some ā€˜rulesā€™ and he talks about ā€˜minimumā€™ requirements such as blues genre requires at minimum chords with four notes (chords with a seventh in them). But he concludes that his ā€˜ruleā€™ is not a hard and fast rule, it is meant to be broken, just a loose rule of thumb.
I donā€™t know where to start with this other than to call it out for the rubbish I think it to be.
First, blues can be and often is played with 2-note chords. Check this for an obvious example: 12 Bar Shuffle Riff | JustinGuitar.com
Pop-rock music often contains four note + chords - maj7, min7, and more. Jazz uses extended chords for sure but alongside them many plain major and minor chords too.
Stich is asking a question that makes no sense. He is offering an answer that does not stand up to scrutiny. He is looking through the wrong end of the telescope with the lens cap on. The question makes no sense, is not useful and has no answer. Other than to say all genres can and do use all chord types.

Video 2
Again, one of Stichā€™s least valuable lessons imho. The worth it has is when he talks about the use of inversions to create ascending or descending melodic lines in either the upper chord notes or the bass notes. And this is where inversions are useful and get used. But again, as to the question that you are asking, the answer is, all of them, any of them, it depends on context.

Iā€™m not sure what you are asking here to be frank. There is a musical concept around chord substitution but without anything concrete or contextual there is little to go on and address your desire for more knowledge.

I know Iā€™m still not answering, but I am also trying.
Did you watch the Stich videos and then think of your questions or vice versa?

1 Like

Hi everybody!
Thanks a lot for your answers!
I have been on JG community since 2012 (old site and new site).
So, I know there are various experts in this community.
That is why I asked these questions here.
I shared these two videos, because I think that they are related to my questions and interesting.
Your answers gave me new insights.
Cheers,
John :slight_smile:
PS: please, could somebody tell me where this topic has been moved to?

Oo Richard,
You deserve a medal for your patient explanation,or at least a :bouquet: ,and I thank you for taking the time to watch the videos and rate them so that I and more people donā€™t have to watch them :sweat_smile:
Greetings,Rogier

3 Likes

Hi John, as for substitutions Iā€™d recommend to study the circle of fifths, youā€™ll see that for each major key there is a relative minor key (C - Am, G - Emā€¦). Maybe this will give you a starting point?
And jazzers love their tensions, triads are a bit dull :sunglasses: