Published:
2005-01-02
Updated:
2021-09-07
Learning Ukulele with Curt
Core Chords - The Big Six - Building a Solid Chord Foundation
The Big Six Core Chords is a series of lessons for building your core, essential 4-part chords. These chords commonly called jazz chords, are really just 4-part chords used in a wide range of musical styles. These chords include: Seventh , Major Seventh, Minor Seventh, Half Diminished Seventh or Minor Seven Flat Five, Diminished Seventh, and Augmented Seventh. These six chords form a core set of chords.
Author(s): Curt Sheller Publisher: Curt Sheller Publications Code: UL42-7
Main Category: Chords Main Instrument: Ukulele
Categories: Chords, Jazz, Intermediate, Core, Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented, Seventh
2026-08-23
RelatedLessonAssets
Number of Pages: 8
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Core Chords is a series of lessons for building your core, essential 4-part chords. These chords commonly called jazz chords, are really just 4-part chords used in a wide range of musical styles.
The Big Six chords include: Seventh 7, Major Seventh maj7, Minor Seventh m7, Half Diminished Seventh or Minor Seven Flat Five diminished 7 m7b5, Diminished Seventh o7, and Augmented Seventh +7. These six chords form a core set of chords.
From four the F7 chord voicings or shapes below, your can build your massive 4-part, a.k.a., “jazz” chord vocabulary.
Click on any one of the individual F7 chords above to start the lesson for that particular voicing or shape.
More Core Chords - The Big Six - Building a Solid Chord Foundation
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More Core Chords - The Big Six - Building a Solid Chord Foundation
Why F7?
Why this F7? Why not a C7, E7, G7 , or other open position seventh chords that these core chords are based on?
This F7 is based on the Open Position E7 and the only one of the E7, C7, A7 and G7 open position chords that the Big Six Core Seventh chords, in their first position, first fret (1) transposable versions are a natural letter chord name. That way you don't have to worry about Enharmonic Equivalents such as C#7/Db7, A#7/Bb7, or G#7/Ab7. An yes I know that there is E# - however that is very rare.
Beyond Basic Open Position , Basic Movable Form Chords and Core Set Of 4-part Contemporary Chords there are just too many chords shapes too memorize. Learning the principles of how chords are constructed and the ukulele fingerboard are the way to go. Then you can create more advanced chords like 9#11, 7#5-9, 13b5, 7+9 on the fly as needed.
Seventh chords are the chords that have the most possible variations. 9th, 11th, 13th, b5, #5, b9, #9. And, combinations of the same.
End of Lesson - Thanks, Hope You Enjoyed It!
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