snowleopardbf
Verified buyer
07/02/25
All of Sheryl Bailey’s courses are excellent. She is a very good teacher.
Creative Chords (JamPlay)
Expand Your Harmonic Vocabulary and Transform the Way You Comp and Improvise
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About this course
Jazz virtuoso Sheryl Bailey brings her signature clarity, depth, and creativity to this comprehensive exploration of chord voicings, inversions, and harmonic movement. Creative Chords is more than a study of shapes—it’s a masterclass in how to truly understand and use harmony as a creative force on the guitar.
Over the course of 77 deeply structured lessons, Sheryl demystifies the essential building blocks of modern jazz guitar, beginning with diatonic seventh chords and moving through drop 2 and drop 3 voicings, shell chords, melodic comping, walking bass lines, and advanced concepts like voice leading and fretboard organization. Through detailed demonstrations and practical applications, you’ll learn how to internalize these concepts across the neck and apply them in real musical contexts.
Sheryl doesn’t just show you what to play—she explains how to hear it, how to build it, and how to move it through progressions with fluidity and intention. You’ll explore ii-V-I variations, blues comping, bossa nova voicings, and chord melodies, all while developing the rhythmic and harmonic awareness that define great jazz guitarists. From Wes Montgomery-inspired minor 7ths to inventive uses of diminished and altered chords, every lesson is focused on building your confidence, control, and musicality.
Whether you’re a jazz student looking to build a strong harmonic foundation or an advanced player seeking new perspectives on comping and arranging, this course will give you the tools to express yourself more clearly, more confidently, and more creatively through chords.
Over the course of 77 deeply structured lessons, Sheryl demystifies the essential building blocks of modern jazz guitar, beginning with diatonic seventh chords and moving through drop 2 and drop 3 voicings, shell chords, melodic comping, walking bass lines, and advanced concepts like voice leading and fretboard organization. Through detailed demonstrations and practical applications, you’ll learn how to internalize these concepts across the neck and apply them in real musical contexts.
Sheryl doesn’t just show you what to play—she explains how to hear it, how to build it, and how to move it through progressions with fluidity and intention. You’ll explore ii-V-I variations, blues comping, bossa nova voicings, and chord melodies, all while developing the rhythmic and harmonic awareness that define great jazz guitarists. From Wes Montgomery-inspired minor 7ths to inventive uses of diminished and altered chords, every lesson is focused on building your confidence, control, and musicality.
Whether you’re a jazz student looking to build a strong harmonic foundation or an advanced player seeking new perspectives on comping and arranging, this course will give you the tools to express yourself more clearly, more confidently, and more creatively through chords.
What you'll learn
- Navigate chord changes with smooth voice leading in a confined fretboard area
- Play bossa blues progression using drop 2 voicings in fifth position/grip
- Incorporate this technique into 2-5-1 progressions
- Develop chord soloing vocabulary
- Develop muscle memory for complex jazz chord voicings
Release date: 11/04/2014 • 5h 20m runtime
Sample lessons
Diatonic 7th Chords - Root Position
Major Scale Chords
Review of Diatonic 7th Chord Voicings
Major and Minor 7ths
Walking Bass Lines
Horizontal Arpeggios and Scales
Four Chord Types of Drop Twos - High Set
3rd Inversion and Root Position
What's included
77 lessons • 37 charts • 12 Jam Tracks
Series Introduction
Jamplay welcomes one of Downbeat Magazine's 2014 "Rising Stars", Sheryl Bailey! Sheryl's series "Creative Chords", takes you down a rich harmonic path of understanding a multitude of chord voicings and inversions that will add many colors to your musical palette!
Diatonic 7th Chords - Root Position
To get started, Sheryl first looks at the basic root position chords used in harmonizing the major scale. Getting your ear familiar with these sounds will be a great benefit for you down the road!
Diatonic 7th Chords - Root Position
To get started, Sheryl first looks at the basic root position chords used in harmonizing the major scale. Getting your ear familiar with these sounds will be a great benefit for you down the road!
Diatonic 7th Chords - Drop 2's Root Position
On to the next set of chord voicings: Drop 2's in root position. It's a fancy name to be sure, but some simply put, these voicings will add some more colors to your chord palette!
Diatonic 7th Chords - Drop 2's Root Position
On to the next set of chord voicings: Drop 2's in root position. It's a fancy name to be sure, but some simply put, these voicings will add some more colors to your chord palette!
Diatonic 7th Chords - Drop 3's Root Position
Continuing on with the diatonic 7th chords, it's now on to Drop 3's in root position.
Diatonic 7th Chords - Drop 3's Root Position
Continuing on with the diatonic 7th chords, it's now on to Drop 3's in root position.
+ 70 more lessons
Reviews
2 results
Osokin
Verified buyer
07/29/23
Chord Bonanza!
This is a great course on chords from Sheryl Bailey (who is both a great jazz guitarist and teacher) and an excellent addition to the TrueFire library. Plenty of valuable material for any guitarist, but obviously of particular interest to guitarists interested in playing jazz.
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