What is Jazz Reharmonization?

Reharmonization is when a Jazz musician changes the original chords of a song, and  plays a different chord or chords of their own choosing.

Reharmonization is a subtle form of composition, where the Jazz musician adds their own take to a well known Jazz standard.

Reharmonization is a great way to add an interesting twist to a Jazz Standard, and give an old song a new modern sound.

When can I use Jazz Reharmonization?

As a Jazz piano player, you have the freedom to change any chord, in any song.

You can reharmonize as little as one chord in the entire song, or all of the chords.

How often is Jazz Reharmonization used?

Usually, reharmonization is used sparingly. It's typical for a Jazz musician to change one or two chords in a song, based on their own personal preference and how they want to play the song.

Are there different Reharmonization techniques?

There are many reharmonization techniques you can use. Tritone substitution is probably the most common reharmonization technique of all.

In this lesson I show you 3 more Jazz reharmonization techniques you can use.

Do I have to change the melody notes?

When you use Jazz reharmonization, you sometimes have to change the melody notes as well as the chord.

Since the melody is always related to the chord (because both melody and chord are built from the same scale), that means that when you change the chord, you're also changing the scale that's implied by the chord.

So if the original melody notes no longer fit with the new chord and the scale of the chord, then you will have to shift some of the clashing notes up or down by a half-step, so that they fit with the new chord and its scale.

What will I learn in this lesson?

I'll show you when to use reharmonization in a Jazz Standard.

I'll show you 3 reharmonization techniques for your Jazz piano playing.

And I'll show you how to practice Jazz reharmonization.

Is there anything to help me learn Jazz reharmonization?

To go with this lesson, I've written a free chord voicing ebook for Jazz piano. It shows you 5 types of chord voicing which you can use to play Jazz standards. Download it at:

https://jazztutorial.com/podcast

You can also download my free '29 Jazz Piano Licks' sheet music at:

https://jazztutorial.com/podcast

Where can I learn more Jazz piano techniques?

If you're new to Jazz piano, you can watch my beginner Jazz piano lesson where I teach you Jazz theory from the ground up. Watch it here:

https://jazztutorial.com/start

For more Julian Bradley Jazz piano lessons, go to https://jazztutorial.com