Ever feel lost when people start throwing around jazz lingo on the bandstand? Want to feel like you’re “in the know” when someone says “let’s take it from the top and blow over the changes”?
This page is your A–Z jazz terms glossary. It’s living dictionary of jazz lingo, slang, and vocabulary you’ll hear on records, at jams, and on gigs.
Jazz, like any tight-knit community, comes with its own language. Learning that language doesn’t just help you talk the talk — it helps you understand the music more deeply, follow directions faster, and feel more at home in rehearsals and on the bandstand.
Bookmark this page. Come back to it. And let it fill in the gaps between what you hear, what you play, and what people are actually saying.
Jazz Lingo, Slang, and Terms: A–Z Glossary
Now’s the time to learn the lingo to hang on the bandstand. New jazz lingo will get added whenever I come across them in the field and interact among jazz players.
Want clearer explanations of the concepts behind the music? Explore more guides inside Bass Fundamentals →
Before we dive in, knowing the vocabulary of jazz is one thing. Building a vocabulary of musical phrases is another.
- How One Bass Phrase Can Turn Into Many Pieces of Vocabulary
- Why Scales Don’t Teach You How To Improvise (But Phrases Do)
- How to Internalize Musical Phrases Instead of Memorizing Fingerings
Jump links
Click on the jump links below to find what you’re looking for.
# | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Jazz Glossary – #
12 Tone Technique
A strict way of organizing the order of notes where each note has equal weight. In other words, there is no root, 3rd, or 5th. This approach to music was introduced in the 20th Century by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg.
2 Feel
Also known as a two-feel, is when a bass line is mainly emphasizing half-notes. While other rhythms can be played, beats 1 and 3 of a measure are often emphasized by the bass player.
251
Also known as ii-V-I progression. This is one of the most common chord progression fragments that you’ll come across in many styles of music, including jazz.
6th Diminished Scale
Also known as Barry Harris’ Sixth Diminished Scale. The 6th Diminished Scale is a system for harmonizing major and minor scales, by adding a chromatic note between the 5th and 6th scale degrees. In other words, harmonizing these scales produces alternate sounding 6 chords and diminished chords (rootless 7♭9 sound).
Jazz Glossary – A
A Section
The A Section of a song is first section of a song. It’s also commonly referred to as the “Verse” of a song. In jazz, the A section is often 8 bars or 16 bars in length.
AABA
In the first half of the 20th century, the AABA song form was a popular song form in American music. AABA is typically a 32-bar form and is still common in jazz music.
Absolute Pitch
One’s ability to identify or re-create a musical note without the benefit of a reference tone is called absolute pitch (AP), also known as perfect pitch. Meaning, if you’re an AP possessor, you can accurately reproduce a sound you’ve just heard on your instrument with perfect pitch.
Afro-Cuban Jazz
Afro-Cuban Jazz fuses Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms and jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. This is the earliest form of Latin jazz and emerged in the early 1940s.
Altered Chord
When you replace chord notes with neighboring pitches from the chromatic scale you end up with an altered chord. In jazz, the V chord is typically altered, containing multiple non-diatonic chord tones.
Altered Scale
You’ll hear the Altered Scale sometimes referred to as a Diminished Whole-Tone scale, Super Locrian scale, or The Altered Dominant scale. The Altered Scale is the 7th mode of a Melodic Minor scale and produces a scale in which all of the notes are altered. A lot of jazz musicians will use this scale when improvising over V chords.
Approach Note
Approach notes are notes leading up to a target note or landing note. Meaning, these notes are typically close in pitch to the target note and sometimes enclose or surround (aka enclosures) the target note.
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is created when you play notes from a chord in order of lowest to highest (ascending arpeggio) or highest to lowest (descending arpeggio). Meaning, if the chord tones are not played in ascending or descending order, then it is often called a Broken Arpeggio.
Arrangement
An adaptation of a song, whether it’s as simple as a bass line or as complex as a full orchestral score is an arrangement. The arranger can take free liberty from the original piece in order to create a new one.
Articulation
A stylistic aspect of your sound. Meaning, it’s how you play your notes. Notes can be articulated with a mixture of long and short notes, quick attack and slow attack, or staccato and legato. In other words, articulation directly impacts your time feel and groove.
Augmented
Typically refers to a raised 5th (a 5th that is raised by a half-step). The structure of an augmented triad is root, third, and raised fifth. This shape is symmetrical.
Augmented 7 Chord
To create an augmented 7 chord, simply add a 7th to an augmented triad. A major augmented 7 chord is structured root, third, raised fifth, major 7. A dominant augmented 7 chord is structured root, third, raised fifth, dominant 7.
Axe
Another word meaning your instrument. Guitarists and bass players often will use this lingo when talking about their instruments.
Jazz Glossary – B
B Section
The B section refers to a part of a song form and typically comes after the A section of a song, often the chorus of a tune. This is common form in pop music too.
Backbeat
In 4/4 time, the backbeat is a beat that’s typically played on beats 2 and 4 and strongly accented. A basic drum groove will play the snare drum on the backbeat.
Backdoor
Also known as the Backdoor Progression. This is a common ii V I chord substitution. The Backdoor is a vi chord moving to a ♭VII chord and resolving to the I (tonic chord).
Bad
Meaning something that’s really good. It’s an odd form of speech to say the opposite of what you really mean. But, I’ve heard this slang used a lot.
Ballad
Often referred to as a jazz ballad. The term is typically used to describe a slow and sentimental, song.
Bars
A measure containing a certain number of beats.
Beast
Word which can be used to describe an extremely talented and exceptional performer.
Bebop
Bebop is a fast paced music style that originated in the United States in the mid 1940s. The style has a fast-paced tempo, complex progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and occasional references to the melody. Jazz developed by young players in the early 40s, like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Bud Powell were pioneers of this style of music.
Bill
One-hundred bucks.
Bird Blues
A blues form that was said to have originated by Charlie Parker (nicknamed “Bird”), that consists of a series of ii V progressions.
Block Chords
Block chords are a way to harmonize a melody where all four or five voices are in rhythmic unison. When a pianist or guitarist plays block chords, they’ll appear to have “locked hands.”
Blow
Meaning to play an instrument. I’ve often heard this term used when referring to a soloist, like a trumpet and sax player.
Blowing over changes
Meaning playing or improvising over the chord progression.
Blues
The fundamental harmony of the blues form is made up of the I, IV, and V chords. A jazz blues will often take these chord changes further, by inserting chords moving in the cycle of fourths to lead to each fundamental chord. See “Bird Blues,” a blues form that was popularized by Charlie Parker.
Bridge
A bridge is a contrasting section in music. It prepares for the return of the original material, and it usually lasts for a short period of time.
Broken Intervals
A broken interval is a musical term used to describe when one of the note is sounded before the other. For example broken thirds can be played when the low note is sounded before the higher note.
Jazz Glossary – C
Cadence
A cadence is the end of a phrase that resolves the tension created by another section or line of music. A harmonic cadence is the ending of a phrase, section, or piece of music. It always contains two or more chords. Rhythmic cadence is the way to signal the end of a phrase by using rhythmic phrases.
Cat
Short for Jazzcat. Meaning a hip person or a cool jazz musician. Also used to refer to someone that can play jazz.
Cell
A small rhythmic or melodic fragment is what it is. It is possible to use a cell as a developmental theme.
Changes
A jazz term abbreviation for “chord changes,” also known as the chord progression.
Charleston Rhythm
The Charleston rhythm consists of a dotted quarter note followed by an eighth note, and is a fundamental rhythm found in swing jazz.
Chops
The word “chops” refers to a musician’s level of skill and technical mastery in terms of their ability to perform music.
Chord
A chord is sounded when three or more notes are played at the same time.
Chord Chart
In a chord chart, the basic harmonic and rhythmic information for a song or tune are written down. It’s an easy way to communicate the chord progression and form of a song. There are two kinds of notational systems in use today. One system uses Roman numerals (from I to XI) while the other uses Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…).
Chord Melody
Chord melody is a technique that involves adding chords to a melody. When you take a melody and add chords to it, that’s a chord melody. You can take a song and turn it into a harmony and melody arrangement that will make it sound beautiful while still keeping the original melody line.
Chord Scale
A chord scale is a system of harmonizing each note of a scale. This results in a set of chords based off the scale that was harmonized.
Chord Tones
The notes that are being played in the chord.
Chorus
A chorus is the section of a song that contains the song’s major melodic and lyrical motifs. You’ll hear this more term used more in pop settings. However, you will come across players that will refer to the chorus. Normally, song structures are repeated at least twice in an extended composition such as a musical piece. The chorus is also often used to describe a particularly emotional turning point of a tune.
Chromatic
The word “chromatic” is often used to describe a half-step movement. You can ascend or descend in a chromatic fashion. Chromaticism is widely used in jazz to create movement and interesting melodies.
Circle of Fifths
The circle of fifths is