Jazz Piano School Ep 30 : How To Use Diatonic Harmony

So you may be wondering how can you start putting these diatonic chords to use now. Well there are a number of different ways you can do it. The first benefit we now have is we can transpose music easily, and effectively. When I analyze a tune and understand what the progression is, meaning I know if the chords are serving as a II-7 chord of a V7 chord, I can now take that progression and easily move it into another key using those same roman numerals. Learning progressions is the other big benefit we have. If someone calls out a quick progression or you see me type a set of numbers such as ( 2-4-6-2-3-5-1), you can go to the piano and work on that progression. Composition is another biggie that comes from diatonic harmony. You can put numbers together yourself in any order you’d like and see what comes out. This is the foundation for all our future harmony and theory to come!

Jazz Piano School Ep 28 : Why You Need Diatonic Harmony

We have to be able to understand how to put the puzzle pieces together in jazz. How can you expect to do this without understanding where they go? Well, you can’t! This is why Diatonic Harmony is so important. Diatonic Harmony is the road map to explain how chords and progressions fit together. Without learning this you will be completely lost as we continue to progress. Diatonic Harmony is the relationship of chords to a scale and certain key. Pretty easy once you get into it! Leave your questions in the comments section and I’ll be happy to help.

Jazz Piano School