A ii-V-I on guitar is the 2, 5 and 1 chords of a key played in a row. In C that’s D minor 7, G7 and C major 7. To stop playing the same line over it every time, keep the chords the same underneath and imagine different changes on top, like a tritone substitution or an added ii chord.
I remember this feeling in a very clear way. You’re diving into jazz, you see all these 2-5s, you think you just need to know 2-5-1 and you’re good, and then you start playing the same thing and it’s not great. In this video a guest and I comp a 2-5-1 in C, take turns playing lines, and talk through ten levels to spice it up. They’re built on simple principles, a kind of reharmonization using tritone substitution and things like that. Nothing crazy.
How do you play a ii-V-I on guitar?
Comp D minor 7, G7 and C major 7, and play lines that articulate each chord. That’s level 1, and every other level keeps the same comping underneath.
On level 1 I’m thinking about D minor and G7. I articulate D minor, then I articulate G7 using the diminished scale. Again, it’s just articulating the chords, nothing crazy. If the chord shapes themselves are still new, start with shell chords, and if you want lines that land on chord tones, guitar arpeggios is the place to build them.
From level 2 on, here’s how it works: we still play and comp the 2-5, D minor 7 to G7, but the lines we play on top use a different set of changes.
Level 2: what is a tritone substitution?
A tritone substitution swaps a dominant chord for the dominant a tritone away, because both share the same 3rd and 7th. Over our 2-5-1 the lines go D minor, D flat 7, C major 7.
Here’s the quick rundown. In a C7 chord, the most important notes are the 3 and the 7, which in this case are E and B flat. In F sharp 7 those same notes appear too, only flipped: E is the 7 of F sharp, and the 3 of F sharp is B flat, or A sharp, which is the same note. So these two chords have a lot in common, and that’s why the tritone substitution works. The same goes for G7 and D flat 7.
What I played on this level was literally a little line around D minor, then the same kind of idea around D flat 7, a very simple line, and then I resolved it. Over the C major 7 I played an E minor idea.
Levels 3 to 5: add a ii chord and swap the V
These levels grab more chords. Any dominant can get its own ii chord, and the G7 can be swapped for a chord built on B.
- Level 3: D minor, A flat minor 7, D flat 7, C major 7. When we have a dominant, we can always add the 2 of that dominant. If you see a G7, you can add D minor. If you see a D flat 7, you can add A flat minor. Over the A flat I played an A flat minor 7 9 sound, and if you think about it, playing A flat minor over the G basically gives you the altered scale. That’s one of the reasons it sounds cool.
- Level 4: D minor 7, B half diminished, C major 7. In the C major scale the dominant is the five chord, but the seventh degree is also dominant. There’s a lot of tension there. In jazz we use that half diminished as a substitution a lot, because if you play B half diminished while the bass player plays G, you’re getting this beautiful 9. I played an F major 7 arpeggio over the D minor to get the 9 there too, then did the same trick over the G7 with the B half diminished arpeggio.
- Level 5: D minor 7, B diminished, C major 7. Playing the fully diminished chord gets you the flat 9 over the G7. It’s a cool color. I played the D minor arpeggio and then literally the arpeggio of the diminished, nothing crazy.
What’s interesting is that when we have another chord or concept to think about, we tend to change our line. That’s just another way to switch it up. And you don’t have to play every note of the new chord either.
You don’t have to spell a diminished. You can have it as a template for your ears and mind.
Rotem Sivan
When we played level 5 again, I was feeling that diminished sound rather than just playing the actual arpeggio. A lot of times, even when the chord you imagine isn’t exactly the change, the magic is in our imagination.
Levels 6 to 8: secondary dominants and tritone subs everywhere
Now the chord colors start to change. The G7 is the tension, the source, so we keep it and start turning the chords around it into dominants.
- Level 6: D7, G7, C major 7. Instead of D minor, play D7, a secondary dominant, the five of five. The F sharp is really intense, especially if someone’s comping D minor. In the real world, I feel like if I played this D7 idea, whoever’s comping would go there with me to support me and not leave me in the dark.
- Level 7: D7, A flat 7, G7, D flat 7, C major 7. Take D7 and G7 and add their tritone substitutions. You can mess around with them interchangeably and even change the sequence of the dominants to create lines. This is really strong if you have a bass player who can follow you and no piano player chunking the original chords.
- Level 8: add the 2 to every 5. A minor, D7, E flat minor, A flat 7, D minor, G7, A flat minor, D flat 7, C major 7. That’s a lot of chords to spell. We’re looking for different routes to go from point A to point B, and there are quite a lot of options in between.
We play a lot of eighth notes on these levels because we’re trying to show all the changes. You don’t have to. You can play fewer notes, be more melodic, and still describe these chords. It just depends on the situation.
Levels 9 and 10: backdoor 2-5 and minor-third dominants
The last two levels bring in new routes into C: a backdoor 2-5, and dominant chords a minor third apart.
- Level 9: the backdoor 2-5. Play F minor to B flat 7, then C. The B flat is kind of like the flat 7 leading us there. It’s a different kind of tension and resolution.
- Level 10: G7, B flat 7, D flat 7, E7. These dominants are a minor third away from each other. If you take a G7 and add the diminished, basically a flat 9, that chord can be quite a few chords. Play that chord in another inversion and it’s the same chord, which could also be a B flat 7, or a D flat 7.
Here’s a practice idea for today. Loop D minor 7, G7, C major 7 in C, or record yourself comping it. Then play level 2 over it: a little line around D minor, the same idea moved to D flat 7, and resolve to C major 7. Keep it simple. Once that feels natural, try level 3 and add the A flat minor before the D flat 7. If you want to rebuild the chords underneath all this, Jazz Chord Essentials covers how a 7th chord is built, the four main colors (major 7, dominant 7, minor 7 and half diminished) and every inversion on the 4th, 5th and 6th string sets.
Frequently asked questions
What chords are in a ii-V-I in C?
D minor 7, G7 and C major 7. They’re the chords built on the 2nd, 5th and 1st degrees of the C major scale. D minor 7 is D, F, A, C. G7 is G, B, D, F. C major 7 is C, E, G, B.
What’s the tritone substitution for G7?
D flat 7. The most important notes in a dominant chord are the 3rd and 7th. G7’s are B and F, and D flat 7 has the same two notes, only flipped: F is its 3rd and C flat, the same note as B, is its 7th.
Does the band have to play the substitute chords?
Not in this lesson. The comping stays on D minor 7, G7 and C major 7 while the lines on top use the substitute changes. In the real world, though, I feel like whoever’s comping would go there with you to support you, and levels like the stacked dominants are really strong when a bass player can follow you and no piano player is chunking the chords.
What is a backdoor ii-V?
It’s F minor to B flat 7 resolving to C, in place of D minor 7 to G7. The B flat works as the flat 7 leading back to C, which gives you a different kind of tension and resolution than the usual G7 to C.
Pick one level tonight and stay on it until a line comes out you didn’t plan. When you want a full framework for building lines like these into real solos, Solo Mastery covers soloing concepts, shell chords, harmony, ear training and rhythm work.
