In this guide, we are going to talk about chords, specifically, how to read jazz chord symbols from the perspective of a saxophone player.

Most the chord symbols guides I've seen are from a guitar player, or piano player perpectives. These instruments can play several notes at the same time whereas a saxophone is a one note instrument.

Single note players such as saxophones or trumpets think about chords a little differently.

If you are a saxophone player, you are most likely working on jazz improvization. This is the guide you need to understand chord and chord symbols in jazz.

Let's dive right in.

What is a Chord?

Let's start a beginning by defining what a chord actually is:

A chord is a condensed version of a scale. What we do is take out the most important notes in a scale and use them to create a harmonic structure.

To demonstrate a chord, we are going to use the key of C. We're going to start off with the c major scale. the notes of the C Major scale are C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C.

Here's a comprehensive note-by-note guide of all major scales and their fingering charts on the saxophone for your reference.

And, we're gradually going to change that one note at a time as we go through each of the chords that we are going to cover in this guide.

The Chords

In this section, we are going to talk about the chords that you run into whe you start playing chord charts with lead sheets.

#1 — Major Triad

The first chord that we are going to talk about is a major triad. A triad means three notes. A major triad means the 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th degree of a major scale.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	1
C	D	E	F	G	A	B	C

Degrees is a way of indicating position.

So, in the C Major scale, the triad is C, E and G. If you look at this, you can see that you are skipping every other note.

On the saxophone, you will play the C, E, G and then go for the C one octave above.

C Saxophone Fingering Chart

E Saxophone Fingering Chart

G Saxophone Fingering Chart

C Saxophone Fingering Chart

As single note players, that's how we outline a chord, we play the root, we go up to the root and then back down to the root.

The root, of course, is the scale that the major triad is based on.

And, that's pretty much what a major triad is.

#2 — Major 7^th Chord

But since this is a saxophone player's guide and most likely they are working on jazz improvization, we are going to take this to the next level because that is what you're going to see when looking at jazz charts.

A major 7^th adds the 7^th degree to a major triad.

Instead of just 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th we have the 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th and the 7^th degree of a major scale.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	1
C	D	E	F	G	A	B	C

B Saxophone Fingering Chart

So in the case of the C Major scale, it would be C, E, G, B and C. This is now a C Major 7^th Chord.

The Chord Symbols

Now that we have the chords, we need to know when we are supposed to play them. And the way we know that is through chord symbols.

Chord symbols can be a little diffult to read because there is not necessarily a standard of how to write every chord.

Most chord symbols will have a couple of different ways you can write them that all mean the same thing.

How Chord Symbols Are Written

For the C Major 7^th Chord, for instance, the two most common ways you're going to see it written.

Method #1 — Cmaj⁷

The first way is as Cmaj⁷.

In Cmaj⁷, C indicates the scale that you're going to play. maj⁷ tells you that it has a major 7^th.

C denotes the root.

C means a chord is based on the C scale, G means the chord is based on the G scale, and so on, and so forth. Whatever that large letter is, that's the scale you're working with.

maj⁷ denotes the quality of the chord.

So far, the only quality that we've covered is major 7^th.As we learn different suffixes, we will change the notes that we play based on the quality that the chord symbol is telling us.

I know that might sound confusing, but as we build up these chords, it will make perfect sense.

Method #2 — C^△7

The second, which is my favorite, way is as C^△7.

When we see a triangle, that just means it a major 7^th chord.

Now that we know exactly what our C Major 7^th chord is, and how it's written in chord symbols, we are going to take this specific chord and make small changes to turn it into other chords.

#3 — Dominant 7^th Chord

The first change we are going to make is flatten the 7^th.

1	2	3	4	5	6	♭7	1
C	D	E	F	G	A	B♭	C

Our notes now become C, E, G, and B_♭.

B_♭ Saxophone Fingering Chart

Main fingerings (3):

Alternate fingerings (2):

That is a C dominant 7^th chord.

The Dominant 7^th Chord Symbol

You'll see it written as C⁷ chord. That means flat 7.

What is confusing here is the symbol C⁷ which you think would mean to play the seventh degree of the major scale, but it actually means to play a flat seventh. Just to backtrack that would be C^△7 without the flat.

#4 — Minor 7^th Chord

The next thing we are going to do is turn this major chord into a minor chord. You've probably heard of major and minor before, you may not know the difference between them.

Here is a comprehensive note-by-note guide to all the minor scales on the saxophone with fingering charts for your reference.

A minor just means that the 3^rd, 6^th and 7^th degree of the scale is lower — so you have a flat 3^rd, 6^th and 7^th.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	1
C	D	E♭	F	G	A♭	B♭	C

The minor 7^th chord from this scale is, that is the 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th, and 7^th degrees, are C, E_♭, G, B_♭.

E_♭ Saxophone Fingering Chart

So instead of the E natural in the major scale, we have an E_♭ and instead of a B natural we have a B_♭ we had earlier.

The Minor 7^th Chord Symbol

This is written as C^_7.

The "^_" tells you that we are working with a minor scale, and we already know that seven means that it's a 7^th chord.

What we've covered so far are the most common chords that you're going to run into.

We are going to go over two more but the main chords you'll come across, especially when you first start reading chord charts, are those ones.

#5 — Diminished Chord

The next chord we are going to talk about is the diminished chord. What is confusing about the diminished chord is that there are two different kinds:

Type #1 — Half Diminished Chord

We are going to start with the half diminished chord because it only makes one change from our minor 7^th chord. And then after that we'll do fully diminished.

With the half diminished chord, we have a flat 3^rd, flat 5^th and a flat 7^th. Its's a minor 7^th chord with a flat 5^th.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	1
C	D	E♭	F	G♭	A♭	B♭	C

So the notes for the C half diminished chord become C, E_♭, G_♭, B_♭, and C.

G_♭ Saxophone Fingering chart

Main fingering (1):

Alternate fingering (1):

The Half Diminished Chord Symbols

There are two ways of writing half diminished chord.

Method #1 — C^ø7

The first chord symbol for a C half diminished is C^ø7 — a C with a circle and line through the circle.

Method #2 — C^_7♭5

The second chord symbol for a C half diminished is C^_7♭5. This is the way you'll see it written very often in lead sheets.

Same idea here, the ^♭5 tells you it's a flat 5^th.

Type #2 — Fully Diminished Chord

The last chord that we are going to talk about is the fully diminished chord, which is similar to the half diminished chord, except it has a double flat 7^th, on top of the flat 5^th.

I know, a little crazy.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	1
C	D	E♭	F	G♭	A♭	B♭♭	C

So the notes of a C fully diminished are C, E_♭, G_♭, B_♭♭.

If you lower a B you get a B_♭, and if you again lower B_♭, you get an A. The A is the 6^th degree of the major scale but we still call it a double flat.

B_♭♭ (A) Saxophone Fingering chart

The Fully Diminished Chord Symbol

The chord symbol for C fully diminished is C^o.

Let's put these chords in a chart and include some other variations.

The Complete Jazz Chord Symbols Chart

Chord	Symbol #1 (Long)	Chord Symbol #2	Chord Symbol #3
C Major 7th	Cmaj7	C△7	-
C Dominant 7th	-	C7	-
C Minor 7th	Cmin7	C_7	-
C Half Diminished	-	Cø7	C_7♭5
C Fully Diminished	-	Co	-

Chart Notes

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