6.

7. Descending ii V Chords

10 Essential Minor Blues Songs

If you want to add a minor blues tune to your repertoire, here’s are 10 tunes, 8 jazz, 1 blues,
and 1 rock, that you can explore.

• P.C. – John Coltrane

• Birks’ Works – Dizzy Gillespie
• Equinox – John Coltrane
• Israel – Johnny Carisi
• Footprints – Wayne Shorter
• Big P – Jimmy Heath
• Stolen Moments – Oliver Nelson
• Boogie Stop Shuffle – Charles Mingus
• The Thrill is Gone – B.B. King
• Since I’ve Been Loving You – Led Zeppelin

Now that you’ve got a list of tunes, and some background on minor blues, take that
knowledge to the fretboard.

Minor Blues Chords – Basic Changes

The first minor blues progression uses the basic changes in the key of D.
Here, you use only three chords:

• Im7
• ivm7
• V7alt

Notice that these three chords fall in the same place as their major blues counterparts.

• Im7 – Bars 1-4, 7-8, 11-12

• ivm7 – Bars 5-6
• V7alt – Bars 9-10

As you hear in the examples below, the V7alt chord creates tension that’s resolved to the Im7
chord.

In minor keys, such as minor blues, there’s often more tension than in major key progressions.

This is an example of that tension in action.

Here’s a backing track to play with, either jumping right in and jamming or using it to play
the chord studies below.

D Basic Minor Blues Backing Track

 Basic Minor Blues Beginner Chords

In this beginner study, you use drop 3 chords to outline the changes.

You begin with the root on the 6th string for the first Dm7, moving to the closest shapes for
Gm7 and A7alt from there.

As was mentioned in the beginning, the rhythm for this study is very plain.

Start by learning the whole-note rhythm, and then experiment with new rhythms after that
over the backing track.

Click to hear
 Basic Minor Blues Intermediate Chords

In this intermediate study, you learn one of the most common ways to alter jazz guitar chords,
removing the root.

Here, you play mostly the same shapes as the beginner version, but with the roots removed.

This is a running theme for intermediate chords in this lesson, removing the root to create
rootless jazz guitar chords.
While it seems easy to remove the root, it’s difficult to see the chord without a root as a
reference.

Though you’re not playing the root, visualize it on the fretboard to help you quickly find any
rootless shape.

Lastly, learn the whole-note rhythm first, then move on to experimenting with other rhythms
from there.

Click to hear
 Minor Blues Chords – ii V Changes

You now add in a ii V to bars 9, 10, and 12 of the minor blues form.

In a minor key, the ii chord is a m7b5 shape, as compared to iim7 in major keys.

As well, you often see the V chord written as V7alt, which is ambiguous from a voicing
standpoint.

When you see V7alt on a lead sheet, you can play the b9, #9, b5, #5, or any combination of
those notes.

As you progress through this lesson, work out which tension notes you like over V7alt chords.

Here’s the backing track and lead sheet for the ii V minor blues chord progression.

ii V Minor Blues Backing Track

 ii V Minor Blues Beginner Chords

In this minor blues study, you use drop 3 chords, though this time starting with the Dm7 on
the 5th string.

5th-string drop 3 chords are more difficult compared to 6th string shapes.

So, go slow with these changes, work them out of context if needed, and bring them back to
the tune when you’re ready.

Click to hear
 ii V Minor Blues Intermediate Chords

You now remove the roots from the previous chord study to create an intermediate
level comping etude.

Use barre chords whenever possible, such as the first Dm7 chord.

Here, barre the 5th string with your index finger and play the 6th fret on the 2nd string with
your middle finger.

Using barres opens up your other fingers to add extensions if needed.

Click to hear
 Minor Blues – Turnaround Chords

Next, you add a bIIImaj7 chord to bar 11 to create a turnaround in the last two bars.

Though you only add one chord to the previous version, playing four chords in the last 2 bars
is tough.
Take your time, remove those two bars and work them with a metronome if needed, then
bring them to the full form from there.

The bIIImaj7 chord is diatonic to the underlying minor key, and the bass note leads nicely into
the iim7b5 chord.

Here’s a backing track to jam along to and work the chord studies with below.

Minor Blues Turnaround Backing Track

Turnaround Minor Blues Beginner Chords

You now move on to using drop 2 chords over the progression.

Here, you begin with the first chord on the 5th-string and move to the closest shapes for each
chord from there.

Drop 2 chords allow you to play four notes on consecutive strings, there are no skips as with
drop 3 chords.

Because of this, drop 2 chords are useful when playing with a bass player, pianist, or other
guitarist.
They’re also great for arranging chord melody tunes on guitar.

Lastly, notice the Edim7 chord used to outline A7alt, creating a rootless 7b9 sound over that
change.

In jazz, when you have a iim7b5-V7alt progression, you can play iim7b5-iidim7 to create a
iim7b5-V7b9 sound.

Though rootless chords are more advanced, because it shares the same root as the iim7b5, this
is an easy application of that concept.

Click to hear
 Turnaround Minor Blues Intermediate Chords

Here are the rootless chords for the turnaround progression.

Again, barre every chord that you can, such as the second Dm7 shape in bar 2.

Here, use your index finger to barre, which frees up your other three fingers to add extensions.

Lastly, notice that the Fmaj7 and Em7b5 shapes are the same, just two frets apart, and the
Em7b5 and A7alt chords are only one note apart.

This movement is one of the benefits of rootless chords.

Once you have them down, connect Fmaj7 and Em7b5 by adding is a passing chord that uses
the same shape on the 9th fret.

This brings tension to your chords, and gets a Joe Pass sound over a minor blues turnaround.

Click to hear
 Minor Blues Chords – ii V Bar 4

In this example, you use one of the most common alterations, adding a ii-V of ivm7 in bar
four.

By doing so, you creating tension over the fourth bar, then resolve that tension into the fifth
bar.
In jazz, when you want to highlight a chord, you add a ii V before that chord to lead into it.

Here’s an example of how you highlight the ivm7 chord in a minor blues progression.

ii V Bar 4 Minor Blues Backing Track

ii V Bar 4 Minor Blues Beginner Chords

In this chord study, you use drop 2 chords from the 4th-string root on the first chord, moving
to the closest shapes from there.

These shapes might be a bit high for some guitars, if you don’t have a cutaway for example.

So, feel free to move them down an octave if needed.

Click to hear
 ii V Bar 4 Minor Blues Intermediate Chords

In the intermediate version of this progression, you remove the roots to create rootless chords.

Again, this is a bit high up the neck, and you probably won’t start your comping behind a
soloist in this range.

But, there are moments when you want to comp this high on the guitar.
If the soloist is blowing in the low range, or building intensity, you can play higher-range
chords underneath their solo.

Practicing higher chords prepares you for those moments when jamming over jazz standards.

Click to hear
 Minor Blues Chords – bVI to V Changes

When playing minor blues, you can substitute a bVI7 chord for the iim7b5 chord in the ii V.

bVI7 leads nicely to V7alt, and allows you to create interest in those parts of the progression.

Here’s a backing track and lead sheet that uses bVI7 in bars 9 and 12 of the progression.

As well, there’s a common walk down bassline used before that Bb7, Dm7-Dm7/C, which
you find in many minor jazz tunes before a bVI7 chord.

This group of chords, Dm7-Dm7/C-Bb7-A7alt, is called the “Stray Cat Strut” progression, as
it’s similar to the changes in the Stray Cats song.

bVI to V Minor Blues Backing Track

bVI to V Minor Blues Beginner Chords

In this chord study, you use one of the most common minor chord shapes in jazz, 4th chords.

These chords are built by stacking 4th intervals, rather than 3rds, which are traditionally used.

You can see these shapes used over the Dm7 and G7 chords in this study.

When using 4th chords, you bring a modern sound to your comping, reminiscent of McCoy
Tyner’s piano work, who was fond of these shapes.

Click to hear
 bVI to V Minor Blues intermediate Chords

As was the case with the beginner study, you use 4th chords in this intermediate version.

Again, you remove the roots to create smaller, easier to play chords, only now Dm7 and Gm7
will be 4th-chords.

After you get these shapes under your fingers, connect them with chromatic approach chords
to bring tension and release into your comping.

Click to hear
 Minor Blues Chords – Descending ii V Changes

The final progression uses a iiim7 VI ii V7 group to lead from Im7 chord, Dm7, to bVI, Bb7
in bars 7-9.

This adds movement to your comping in those bars of the progression.

As well, it smoothly connects the Im7 chord to bVI7, as compared to jumping from one to the
next.

Because there are four chords in two bars, isolate those changes and work them slowly before
playing them over the tune.

Descending ii V Minor Blues Backing Track

Descending ii V Minor Blues Beginner Chords

Again, you use 4th chords in this beginner minor blues chord study, now beginning on the 4th
string root and moving to the closest chords from there.

As was mentioned earlier, if you have trouble with bars 7-8, isolate those changes and
practice them slowly in your guitar practice routine.

Click to hear
 Descending ii V Minor Blues Intermediate Chords

The final intermediate chord study uses rootless versions of the previous beginner study.

One way to practice these intermediate chord studies is to play the beginner version first,
followed by the intermediate version.
This allows you to compare them, and gives you two versions to play when jamming on
minor blues tunes in your playing.

Click to hear