Chord Substitution

Ok I know more or less how I can substitute chords, and what chords, I can use the relative minor or major, I could use the secondary relative minor ( in some cases ).

Agh Im sure there are other stuff I could substitute for, what are they again ?

I hear this is used in Jazz to spice it up ?

I could explain, but this does a much better job of any dashed off reply I might create - https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/chord-substitution/

And yup, jazz guys do this a lot - you can take any chord progression and alter or substitute the chords in it. They do it to add flavour or change the feel of a piece. But it isn't exclusively used by jazzers - one example that pops off the top of my head is The Beatles who used chord substitutions in a song with a four chord repeated progression. Substituting a few chords in the progression when it was repeated later in the song can create a different mood.

As one that I've been toying with, try this:

| C ' Cmaj7 | E7 | Am | F ' Fsus2 |

play through it a few times, then try changing the bar of C and Cmaj7 for | Am ' Am/C | giving you...

|Am ' Am/C | E7 | Am | F ' Fsus2 |

or change the Cmajor bar for Eminor instead, giving you...

| Emin6 ' Em | E7 | Am | F ' Fsus2 |

Each of these creates a different feel. If you try playing the first progression a couple of times, then go straight into the second and third 'versions' of the prgoression, you'll notice they have a different feel to them. If e.g. the lyrics get darker on the final couple of lines, using the Em version in place of the Cmajor version can help reflect this in the music.

Hope this helps.

Ahhh ok so these change the feel of the song. Another question.

When Jazz players do this is it improvised or is it pre-meditated?.. like they like suddenly think ; oh whateevr; and bam substitute the chord changing the whole feel of the song radically.. o.o ?

It's both. It depends on who you're playing with.

Lots of players have changes worked out with substitutions for "standards". And when musicians are really cooking in a jazz setting, it's a musical conversation - you throw out a substitution, the other player(s) adjusts their lines, you listen and respond. It's a back-and-forth.

+1 on NoteBoat's comments. C, you might be interested to hear that the jazz guitarist Jim Hall (awesome chord guy, truly awesome) recorded an album with Pat Metheny where they both improvised - Pat improv'ing the solos while Hall improv'ed the harmony to match it. I doubt I'll ever get that good. But I'm hoping to have a lot of fun trying!

Whoa, they just did that improvising ? what skill!

Well me on the other hand, Im sure Ill someday get that good or even better :P

You gotta aim high to get high, right ? ( O_O not get high, you know what I mean lol )

I gotta listen to them, to get the sound in my head.