Progressions
I'm sure yall already know what a progression is by now. So, this post is to show you how people come up with those progressions that have all the 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, and altered type chords in them. First, let's review using the 1-4-5 progression and basic chords:
1-4-5 progression
C / C-E-G
F / F-A-C
G / G-B-D
(repeat)
C / C-E-G (1) C / E-G-C (1) C / G-C-E (1)
F / C-F-A (4) F / F-A-C (4) F / A-C-F (4)
G / B-D-G (5) G / D-G-B (5) G / G-B-D (5)
(repeat) (repeat) (repeat)
That's about as basic as it gets. These chords are fine with me, but others would say that's kinda boring sounding. If you are one of those people, I bet you ask yourself, "How can I make this sound better?" Well, what you can do to make this better is take the list of chords built off the scale degrees, and match them up with the different bass notes. For review purposes:
1 = major
2 = minor
3 = minor
4 = major
5 = major
6 = minor
7 = diminished
Chords in C: C-E-G, D-F-A, E-G-B, F-A-C, G-B-D, A-C-E, B-D-F
So, utilizing those chords in C plus the 1-4-5 bass notes for our progressions, let's form a list of chords:
C in bass
C / C-E-G = C major chord
C / D-F-A = D minor 7th chord
C / E-G-B = C major 7th chord
C / F-A-C = F major chord w/5th in bass
C / G-B-D = C major 9th chord w/out the 3rd, or G major chord with C in bass
C / A-C-E = A minor chord with 3rd in the bass
C / B-D-F = B diminished chord with C in bass, CM11 chord w/out 3rd or 5th,
F in bass
F / C-E-G = C major chord with F in bass, FM9 chord w/out 3rd
F / D-F-A = D minor chord with 3rd in bass
F / E-G-B = E minor 9th chord w/out 7th
F / F-A-C = F major chord
F / G-B-D = G dominant 7th (G7) chord with m7th in bass
F / A-C-E = F major 7th chord
F / B-D-F = B diminished chord with 5th in bass
G in bass
G / C-E-G = C major chord with 5th in bass
G / D-F-A = G dominant 9th (G9) chord w/out 3rd
G / E-G-B = E minor chord with 3rd in bass
G / F-A-C = F major 9th chord w/out 7th, F major chord with G in bass
G / G-B-D = G major chord
G / A-C-E = A minor 7th chord with 7th in bass
G / B-D-F = G dominant 7th (G7) chord
Same thing goes with all the other keys and progressions. So, when you have a particular bass note, think to yourself what other chords can I play that will "mesh" with that bass note. Let's try the 1-4-5 progression again with different RH chords:
C / G-B-D C / B-D-G C / G-B-D
F / A-C-E F / A-C-E F / E-A-C
G / F-A-C G / F-A-C G / A-C-F
You see how that works? Just changing the chord or the bass note can make a whole world of difference in sound and quality of your music. This is just the starting off point. You can experiment with more complex chords, but this is the basic idea of how it's done.