Bye Bye Blackbird – jazz guitar harmony (in E major)

Form

How to read the degrees: they count semitones from the key of the tune (or of the key center marked above the chords, when the tune changes key), so enharmonic chords share one name (B7 in F is bV7). Altered degrees use flats, except diminished and half-diminished chords, which use sharps (#IV°7); a diminished chord moving down a half step uses a flat (bIII°7). V7/X is the dominant of X and subV7/X its tritone substitute; lower case after the slash means a minor target. 6 is an added sixth (II6 = major chord on II with a sixth), not an inversion; ° is diminished, ø half-diminished. vii°7/X is a diminished chord leading by half step to X, “common tone” one that shares the root of the next chord, and → X the chord a diminished one moves to by step.

Key centers

The tune is in E major and stays there through the whole form.

Tonicizations, degrees reached through their own dominant without changing key: ii, II, V.

Chords and diagrams

For each chord, the shapes with the root in the bass on strings 6, 5 and 4, full when the fingers allow it; for dominants on string 5, the x3231x grip and its one-finger variants, altered ones too. ⭐ = the shape that moves your hand the least in this tune. Dominant alterations (b9, #9, #11, b13, alt) are always shown. “Extensions” adds to each chord the colour tone of its function (9, 11, 13, b9 towards a minor chord) in the form, the chords and the play-along; a chord written with extensions shows its 7th shapes while the switch is off. “Simplified shapes and variants” adds the variant and the essential version without the 5th. Tap a diagram to hear it: one string at a time, then all together; “Fretboard” shows the degrees all over the neck. In the form, tap a chord or its degree to see its shapes.