Alteration: The result of flattening or sharpening an extension.
Bridge: The middle ‘B’ section of a song. Also known as the middle 8.
Comp: The piano accompaniment to another musician’s solo.
Extension: Added note not within the basic harmony of a chord.
Head: The written melody before and after the solos.
Horizontal improvisation: Only one scale is used throughout chord changes.
Interval: The space between two notes.
Key centre: The key connecting a group of related chords.
Lead sheet: Melody plus chords.
Mode: Scale that begin on different pitches of the major or melodic minor scale.
Pick-up: One or more notes, (but less than the full measure) leading into the first complete bar of a tune or new section.
Rhythm changes: Chord sequence based on Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm.
Real book: A collection of jazz tunes containing just top line (melody) and chords.
Rootless voicing: A left-hand chord that removes the root note from the bottom of the chord. It is often replaced with a 3 or 7.
Secondary dominant: A dominant 7 chord pointing to a tonic that is not in the primary key centre.
Standard: A well-known song or tune favored by jazz musicians.
Tonic: The first pitch of a diatonic scale.
Tritone substitution: The replacement of one dominant 7 with another at a distance of three whole steps.
Turnaround: A chord sequence that leads back to the start or on to the next section. A common turnaround is I – VI – II – V.
Vertical improvisation: Each new chord has an influence over the improvised notes.
Voicing: The combination and placement of notes within a chord.
Walking 3s: Linking the 3rd note of each chord.
Walking 7s: Linking the 7th note of each chord.