Jazz Glossary
A comprehensive, quick-reference guide for common chords, scales, and terms used in jazz from piano guru Adam Maness.
Quick & Easy Jazz Theory
In jazz, what you hear on the records is far more important than any theory written after the fact. Don’t be left in the dark to the sounds you’ve been hearing.
This simple, quick-reference guide was designed to cut right to the heart of jazz theory and get you caught up to the sounds you love.
Meet Your Instructor
As Open Studio’s Creative Director, Adam Maness develops the curriculum of all of the courses, in addition to teaching his own popular course like Magic Voicing System, Piano Fingering Independence and more.
Adam is a versatile pianist, arranger, composer, and producer whose performances, original compositions, and arrangements have been featured on numerous recordings and on national and international radio and television broadcasts. He is best known as co-founder and composer for the genre-bending chamber ensemble, The 442s.
Course Contents
Start Here
- Glossary Introduction
Scales
- Major Scale
- Dorian Scale
- Dominant Scale
- Lydian Scale
- Phrygian Scale
- Melodic Minor Scale
- Altered Scale
- Lydian Dominant Scale
- Bebop Scale
- Major Bebop Scale
- Minor Bebop Scale
- Pentatonic Scale and Its Relative Minor Pentatonic Scale
- Minor 6 Pentatonic Scale
- Half Whole Diminished Scale
- Whole Half Diminished Scale
- Whole Tone Scale
- Chromatic Scale
Chords and Voicings
- Major Triad
- Major 7th
- Major 9th
- Major 13th
- Major 6/9
- Major 7th (#11)
- Minor Triad
- Minor 7th
- Minor 9th
- Minor 11th
- Minor 13th
- Minor 6th
- Minor (Maj7)
- Dominant 7th
- Dominant 9th
- Dominant 13th
- Dominant 7th (#11)
- Dominant 7th (b9)
- Dominant 7th Alt.
- Augmented Triad
- Diminished Triad
- Diminished 7th
- Half Diminished
