Jazz Guitar Chords – 8 chord shapes to know to play jazz!

Discover 8 chord shapes that will let you play and sound Jazz!

Here, these are positions that you can apply for any tone. This will allow you great freedom by retaining only 8 chord forms! You will find here the most common positions used to play jazz in the form of chord diagrams, freely downloadable in PDF format!

Beginner on the guitar? Learn to read this practical note!

The chords are presented as chord diagrams. If you can not read them, do not panic, we explain to you everything!

• A chord diagram shows the neck of the guitar seen from the front as if you held your guitar in front of you. The bass string (the low E string) will beon the left.
• The frets are symbolized by squares.
• The black circles tell you where to place your fingers. They are numbered to specify the position of each finger. From 1 for the index to 4 for the little finger.
• A cross over a rope indicates that it should not be played
• A round indicates that you have to play the “open string”, it means without pressing any square.

You now have the essential information to understand this fact sheet as beginner guitarists. If you want more details on the chord grids, do not hesitate to consult our dedicated article!

Why these 8 guitar chord forms?

Jazz on the guitar, which is a very vast and relatively technical style, be it rhythm, dexterity, velocity … In short, this is not the simplest style to start the guitar. That said, you do not need to be a virtuoso to learn to play jazz! But it’s not always easy to know where to start in this huge world of jazz.

Do not panic, we have grouped for you the 8 forms of chords that must be known in priority to play jazz! Of course, you will find other forms of chords, but if you know these 8 forms, you will already have an excellent base!

These 8 chord forms are certainly the most used in jazz, as much as you will find them in many pieces! These forms of chords will allow you to address a lot of classical jazz and compose your own songs. In addition, the chords that you may meet later will often be “changes” chords presented here, and learning them will be easier if you already know these 8 forms of jazz chords.

You can consult this handy sheet on jazz guitar chords at any time by downloading it for free in printable PDF format!

Need more chords? Enjoy our free online chord dictionary!