Originally Posted By bruno123
Voicing chords for an arranger keyboard? Voicing chords for piano? They are different.
One is a matter of speed and work-arounds – the other is a matter of spreading the chord over one or two octaves, giving more depth to the sound.

Piano voicing:
C major chord – C E G
C -- is important because it is the root.
E -- is very important because it decides if it is a major or minor chord.
G -- is the least important.

If the melody note is C my left hand plays 1st and 5th C—G. My right hand plays the C and the lower E.
If the melody note is B, left hand plays 1st and 5th –C—G, and my right hand plays B and the lower E. I do not have to repeat the C note.

This as basic as it gets. The problem comes when we want to add (Expand the sound) to 9th, 13th, a minor9th , or a dimished 9th – ect.

The most important notes are the 3rd and the 7th. (not the root) The 3rd decides major or minor, the 7th decides major or dominate. C major 7th is in the C major scale, C dominate 7th (C7th) does not belong to the key of C – it belongs to the key of F.

Color tones – they add color to the original chord. 6th, 9th, 11th 13th. 9th, #9th, sus7th, b5th – ect.

I like following this method because it helps me understand the why’s and how’s, and I can build on what I have learned.
Hope this helps, John C.


I might disagree with you that the perfect 5th is least important, overall the root and the perfect 5th together define the chord... the middle tone is there for the nuance of the sound, ie, major, minor sus2 sus4.. but in this case C and G are allways there..

For example in the bass notes on a piano you either play full octave C’s or C and G..

So i kind of miss the fact that the perfect 5th is least important?
_________________________
Yamaha Genos, Roland Jupiter 80, Ipad pro.

http://keyszone.boards.net