Blues/Jazz Piano Lesson - Jazz Chord Voicings

[tiktak87]

the way chords are notated sometimes is a clue to how they should be voiced too though. a rough guide could be:

"sus" means you are SUSPENDING the third of the chord, either to the 4th or the second, hence sus2/sus4. If the chord says add9, it means include the third, the ninth (second) is added, it is not a suspended third. any chord that also says m7 or M7 or 7, include the relevant 7th as well. for instance Am7 (sus4) mean play an a minor including the seventh, but change any C notes to D

[tiktak87]

@tiktak87 the C being the third, and as it is a "sus" chord we must suspend the third. also, in terms of higher extensions, in general if 9 or 11 or 13 is used instead of 2, 4 or 6, it generally means you are to include the 7th and/or any other extensions beneath it. Eg. c major 6 is usually an instruction to play JUST the root, 3rd, 5th and 6th or any combination of, whereas C major 13 implies that it is acceptable to play any the extensions of lesser value than 13 ie. the 7th, 9th or 11th.

[tiktak87]

importantly though, in jazz, if you see written Gm11, you are completely free to play Gm13, Gm7, Gm9 or whatever you feel sounds best in that context, even G7 or GM7 if you prefer. thus is the beauty of jazz, the freedom to add personality

[pringle1186]

im starting to learn keyboard do you have any tips for me cause i dont even know the first thing about keyboard cant seem to get anyone to teach me around my area help

[eedski]

Cm7sus, that's a So What chord, right?

[greytarist]

K. same thing w/ a dominant 13th then? U can choose to play or leave out the 9 and/or 11?

[MusicGuru12]

Usually with a thirteenth chord you would play:

7th - 3rd - 13th

The root can be played in the left hand. You can add a ninth in as well, so it would be:

7th - 9th - 3rd - 13th

So in the key of G the chord would be:

F (7th) - A (9th) - B (3rd) - E (13th)

Hope this helps

[kinigit]

I know what you are talking about, and I know you know what you are talking about, but I'm not so sure that some students would be able to keep up. Consider breaking things down further, move a bit slower, and maybe move that camera so that it's overhead. Just some thoughts from a young band director.  Sounds good, though!

[tomichaubg]

I completely agree, and you really should use "ehm" less and at some point you were like "ehm, you could use this (chord) or this (chord), really, a lot of variants..." and I didn't get anything you played :) Try explaining note by note... But from what I got, good stuff, thanks a lot, it really helped. Five stars!

[Grubenpony12]

Very good lesson!

[greytarist]

(sorry, I'm trying to learn the right rules for some of this confusing music theory stuff) what would I call LH- C, Bb RH- C, D, G? .. would it be a "sus9" since It doesn't have a third? and if it did have a third would it be a "9"? And if it had a third but no 7 would it be an "add9"?

[kinigit]

That is not much of a chord without a 3rd. The 3rd defines the quality of the chord. You have to have the third, except for a sus chord.

Your chord doubles the root, which is unnecessary; substitute an E for the C in the right hand.

If it had a 3rd and 9th, it would be a dominant 9 chord (C9)

If it didn't have the 7th, it would be C add9. I would try to keep the highest number voiced on the top.

Good questions! If anyone disagrees, let me know.

[greytarist]

Thanx! I do have another question .. in order to play a dominant 11th chord you need the 1, 3, 5, b7, 9, and 11, right? or can u omit the 9th?

[kinigit]

You can play as many notes as your fingers will allow (so 10 I guess would be your limit). In jazz, once you start adding those tones on to the chord, the 5th becomes less important. The root, 3rd, and 7th define the chord quality (usually), then you can add pitches on top. If you had to choose between the 9th and 11th for an 11th chord, then you would need to choose the 11th. It kind of comes down to personal preference of the sound you want!

[greytarist]

and the second chord he played was an Eb major9 not Major7 .. because it had an F in it. Right?

[greytarist]

he said "any note above the octave" is where 9ths, 11th, and 13ths, ect ... come from. But isn't it the "7th" that makes a normal add2 chord into a 9 chord? It shouldn't matter "where" the note is in the chord. Am I right?

[MusicGuru12]

You are kind of right. An add2/sus2 chord does become a 9th chord when the 7th is added. It depends on whether you have the third or not.

It does matter where the note is placed. If the sixth of a C chord was placed under the leading note of the scale (B natural), it would be called a 6th. If it was above the octave, or above the 7th, it would be a 13th. Same with 4ths and 11ths.

[joeseaocean]

Good Video, but this song is typically played in A minor. For people trying to build a jazz repertoire: If you are at a jam session and someone calls "Autumn Leaves" they will be expecting the key of A minor.

[Talkingkeys]

Hi Guru. I am a keyboard player from Sri Lanka. Your lessons really inspired me. You are a GURU indeed.

Cheers!!!!

[StefanFlagit]

nice mate... great work, but can you tell me where to find autumn leaves jazz notes for piano, i cannt find them anywhere...

[bixntram]

Great video! I'm an intermediate trumpet player and am presently working on "Autumn Leaves," so thanks. But the flatted 13th sounded a bit jarring. I thought that was a 'no, no,' but maybe I just don't have the ears for it yet. It would certainly work as a passing tone, but standing alone? Hey, I'm still a beginner. This was very helpful.

Have you made a vid on pentatonics? That would be very helpful! Thanks for your efforts.

[BENTLEY1310]

cool can you have some other ones like has anybody seen my girl pleas i love that thanks

[jimmymccombs]

nice video man jimmy in kansas home of the blues.

[loversheretic]

yeeahhh GO ROOT POSITION CHORDS!

[philfromtdb]

can u post a video show how to do jazz runs?

[jambae]

cheers mate

[Chiz87]

Awesome - I had no idea the dominant 13th chord (or 7 13 as you call it) was so elusive. Maybe you could feature a video on the use of 15th chords that contain 3rds AND suspended 4ths?

Also, you played D major twice and it had different notes - can you let me know which notes are the right notes if i wan't to play D major?

[MusicGuru12]

A regular D major triad consists of: D--F#--A

There are many variations of the chord for example, #9'ths, 7ths, sus4's, Minor7th, Major 7th, augmented, diminisged, 11th, 6ths, etc etc.

Hope This helps. :)

[Chiz87]

Actually it was the D major scale I meant, you played up 2 ocvtaves and they were different from each other.

Are all those variations of a major chord? I thought they were just 'chords'? For example, a Dsus4 doesn't have an F# in it, so isn't it a different chord?

[MusicGuru12]

Dsus4 is neither Major nor minor as the 3rd note has been completley changed to the 4th of the scale; G.

[MusicGuru12]

Yes, looking back I noticed for the first octave of D major I played a C natural rather than a C#.

A D major scale is:

D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D

[sacredgeometry]

i have allways prefered to play this with a Bbmin instead of Bbmaj7 even with the seven it just sounds more melencholic to me

[britheath]

thanks a lot for this really detailed lesson....its very useful and gets us into the nuts and bolts of jazz...

[calebleejl]

i liked the C#7(#9) moving down a semitone.. great ending.. any ii-V-I exercises..? two hand voicings..

[boricious]

hi there can u show us how diminished and augmented chords work?....maybe teach us the patterns....thanks..=p