Rhythm Changes Chords

The chord changes for the song I've Got Rhythm are the heart and soul of jazz and swing music. It's a pattern I always keep coming back to and after years of experimenting I've settled on a few basic chord patterns that might be of interest to mandolin players.

Thousands of melodies have been written to these chord changes. They're an essential skill for mandolinists with improvisational desires. Plenty of musicians much better than me have said it before: a solid foundation and understanding of the chords of a song brings improved soling efforts. If you feel like you're fumbling around in your soling, back up and spend some time with the chords. There's an immediate payback.

For some additional inspiration (it's not a mandolin album though) I turn to the terrific playing on Duke Robillard's 'Swing' album (Rounder CD-3103). Robillard is an exceptional guitarist with brilliant but simple ideas. A real inspiration.

Notes about the chords

Strings marked with an "x" are not played. In these charts we've concentrated soley on three-note chords. Some of them don't possess the root note they're named for (as in G7 and A7). This is common for jazz mandolin because the root falls on the high E string. Many swing mandolin players find this undesirable (me included). Don't get overly concerned and too rigid in your definition of the chord or because it doesn't have a root. Remember, it's the sound that's important.

Listen to the low "G" string on these chords. In both patterns there should be a distinctive bass line evolving throughout the melody. Find a nice groove and get comfortable with the chords. These should be easy to play with a little practice. It doesn't have to be difficult to be good! Enjoy.

KEY OF C

In C the root CM6 chord provides a good base. That nice low A note proceeds the next Bb passing tone of the second chord and gives the kickoff a smooth transition. Look for subtle movement. For the second chord a C7 is used. We could have used a C#dim which is technically correct. The reason it isn't used here is that I feel you can muddy the music by always trying to add every note of the chord. Sure, the C7 doesn't have the C# passing tone of the proper chord but there's more way than one to play this song. (we'll do it the opposite way in the Bb version below).

KEY OF Bb

Bb is probably the most common key for this tune and one you should get comfortable with, particularly if you're going to be playing with guitarists, piano or horns. In this example I've called the second chord which is a passing chord here a non-root G7. It would be a B diminished had I added the Ab note on the high E string. It does have the B note of the diminished chord on the G string. This is different than the example discussed above in the key of C and should illustrate one variation on the concept of the pattern.