The responses to my thread, subject: "Chord Instruction/Discussions", April 11th, indicated a genuine interest in learning more about the music we play. This is my introduction to chord voicings. It is my hope that others will contribute to the material presented here as well as correcting errors I make. Please bear in mind I am not a music major or playing professional, just a home hobbyist like most of you. This initial offering is a little lengthy out of necessity because we need to get some preliminaries out of the way.
I will endeavor to ensure the material I present is practical knowledge you can apply to your playing immediately as opposed to some abstract theoretical stuff that bores you to tears. Play with this stuff. Experiment. Hear the sounds. Enjoy them.
Special Note: Bandwidth limitations must be taken into consideration. Since this is a little lengthy, I am initiating a companion topic (thread) , subject: "Chord Voicing Comments". PLEASE USE THAT THREAD FOR YOUR COMMENTS RATHER THAN ADDING THEM TO THIS PRESENTATION. Thank you.
Before we work with chords we need to define some terms that will be used throughout this discussion. You don't need to memorize them. They are provided so you can refer to them as needed. The terms are:
HARMONY Sounds in combination
CHORD Two or more notes sounded together.
ROOT The note from which a chord is derived, and from which it takes its name.
DIATONIC Consisting of notes according to the key signature.
CHROMATIC Consisting of notes foreign to the key signature.
DEGREE NAMES 1st degree, Tonic (I); 2nd, Supertonic (II); 3rd, Mediant (III); 4th, Subdominant (IV); 5th, Dominant (V); 6th, Submediant (VI); 7th, Leading-note (VII); 8th, Tonic (VIII) an octave higher than the root.
INTERVAL The distance between two notes. Examples: an interval of a second is C to D; an interval of a third is C to E; an interval of a fourth is c to F, and so on up the scale. An interval of a thirteenth is C to A (an octave above the sixth) is normally the largest interval employed in music.
ENHARMONIC Intervals smaller than a semi-tone (half tone). Examples: C# and Db; G# and Ab. The sound is the same but the note name differs.
AUGMENT Raise a note by a semi-tone
DIMINISH Lower a note by a semi-tone
All chord voicings will be given in their root form and in C major. You will need to set your keyboard to PIANIST MODE (with preferably a piano voice in Right 1) to play and explore these chords. Ensure Techni-chord is turned OFF. Our keyboards have 61 keys (notes) ranging from C1 at the extreme left to C6 at the extreme right. The first octave is C1, D1, E1. The second octave is C2, D2, E2 etc. These note designations will be used in this presentation when I cite the notes to play to form a particular chord.
We will be using both hands to play the chord examples. There are many ways to play chords. This discussion will be limited to 3rd, 5th, and 7th intervals in the left hand and a maximum of an 8th interval in the right hand. At the end of the discussion I will harmonize four bars of the tune "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" using the chord formation principles presented here to give you some idea of what YOU can do on your own, if you wish.
Lets get started. It is important to LISTEN to these sounds as you play them to acquire an appreciation of how note changes affect the overall sound of the FUNDAMENTAL chord. Lets begin with a plain vanilla C major chord played in several forms. No frills or fancy sounds here.
Left Hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: E3, G3, C4
(1)(3) (3) (5) (1)
Left Hand: C2,G2 Right Hand: E3, G3, C4
(1)(5)
Left Hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: G3, C4, E4
Left Hand: C2,G2 Right hand: G3, C4, E4
Note how the sound of the chord is affected when we double a note as in the first example (C2 and C4), the third example (E2 and E4), and the fourth example (G2 and G3).
Now, lets make that C major chord a Cmajor7 chord by adding the 7th note (B) of the scale.
Left Hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: E3, B3, E4
(3) (7) (3)
This is know as a 3-7-3 voicing. We could have used a 7-3-7 voicing. Try it. Hear the difference?
Left Hand: C2,G2 Right Hand: E3, B3, E4
Hear the difference in tonality when the left hand notes are changed from C-E (1-3) to C-G (1-5).
Left Hand: C2,B2 Right Hand: E3, B3, E4
Hear the difference in tonality when the left hand notes are changed from C-E (1-3) to C-B (1-7).
Now, lets make that Cmajor7 chord a Cminor7 chord.
Left Hand: C2,G2 Right Hand: Eb3, Bb3, Eb4
Here, we simply lowered each right hand note of the Cmajor7 chord a semi-tone and Presto!, a Cminor7 chord. Now, continue playing C-G (1-5) in the left hand, then lower and raise the three notes in the right hand alternately to hear the chord change from major to minor. Sound nice?
Lets add a ninth to the Cmajor7 chord to form Cmajor9.
Left Hand: C2,G2 Right Hand: E3, B3, D4
(3) (7) (9)
Now make it a Cminor9.
Left Hand: C2,G2 Right Hand: Eb3, Bb3, D4
We simply lowered the E and B notes a semi-tone as we did with the Cminor7 chord while retaining the 9th (D).
Important! Pay no attention to the chord recognition symbols appearing on your keyboard screen because the notes we will be playing may be (and often are) misinterpreted by the keyboard.
Dominant 7th chords are next on our agenda. You have seen the chord symbols G7, C7 etc. They have a unique sound. Dominant chords are frequenty "altered" to give our music that "jazzy" sound we all like to hear. Chord symbols C7b5, C7#5, C7b5b9, C9#11 appear frequently on the lead sheets we use. Lets do a little exploring to see how these chords are formed. The Cdominant7 or C7 chord consists of the root (C), the third (e), the fifth (G) and the seventh (B) lowered a semi-tone to Bb.
First, the plain vanilla Cdominant7 or C7 chord.
Left Hand: C2,G2 Right Hand: Bb2, E3
(1)(5) (b7) (3)
Note that the fifth (G) is in the left hand and the third (E) is the top note in the right hand in this voicing.
Same chord, but change the voicing.
Left Hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: Bb2, G3
(1)(3) (b7) (5)
Reversing the 3rd and 5th changes the tonality of the chord.
Lets add the ninth note (D) to form the C7add9 or C9 chord.
Left hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: G2, Bb2, D3
Same chord but change the voicing.
Left Hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: Bb2, D3, G3
Nice sound, isn't it? Just moving the G note to the top of the chord makes a lot of difference to the sound.
Want to voice a C7#9 chord. No problem! Just raise the D note a semi-tone.
Left Hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: Bb2, D#3, G3
Want to voice a C7#11 chord. Easy. Raise (augment) the eleventh note of the scale (F) a semi-tone.
Left Hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: Bb2, D3, F#3
Want to voice a C7b9#11 chord? Retain the augmented 11th (F#) and lower (diminish) the 9th note (D) a semi-tone to Db3.
Left Hand: C2,E2 Right Hand: Bb2, Db3, F#3
Want to voice a C13 chord? Good! But lets change one of the left hand notes. Instead of playing the 3rd (E), lets play the b7th (Bb). and lets play four notes with the right hand. This is a "closed" or "block" voicing because of the closeness of the notes D,E,G, and A in the right hand.
Left Hand: C2,Bb2 Right Hand: D3, E3, G3, A3
(1)(b7) (9) (13)
Now, lets "open" the voicing a little by giving some separation to the right hand notes and playing three notes instead of four.
Left Hand: C2,Bb2 Right Hand: E3, A3, D4
Pretty, isn't it? How many times have you heard that sound in your music?
Want to voice a C13b9 chord. Just lower the 9th (D) a semi-tone to Db4.
Left Hand: C2,Bb2 Right Hand: E3, A3, Db4
It is unusual to find a C13 chord with an augmented 9th or 11th so we won't discuss them. You should be able to play those chords now that you are armed with some fundamental chord voicing knowledge.
Finally, I promised I would include a few bars of the tune "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" using the "altered" chords we have been discussing. I think you will find the chord voicings fall easy on the ears because they are a little "jazzy". I will have to improvise a way to do this because I am using a word processing process to try to illustrate music. Bear with me, please. I will show you the notes to play in each hand for each syllable of the words of the tune. OK? Each syllable will count as one beat and the words "star" and "are" two beats each. You all know the tune so it shouldn't be hard to put this together. Analyze and enjoy the jazzy sound of this toddlers song.
Syllable LH RH
Twin- C2,G2 E3,G3,A3,C4
kle C2,G2 E3,G3,A3,C4
Twin- C2,E2 Bb3,D4,G4
kle C2,E2 Bb3,D4,G4
Lit- F2,C3 A3,E4,A4
tle F2,C3 A3,E4,A4
Star E2,B2 D3,G3,D4
How E2,D3 G#3,C#4,F4
I E2,D3 G#3,C#4,F4
Won- A2,C#3 G3,B3,E4
der A2,C#3 G3,B3,E4
Where D2,C3 F#3,B3,D4
You G2,B2 F3,A3,D4
Are C2,G2 E3,G3,A3,C4
Here are the names of the chords in the tune above:
Twinkle Cmajor6 or C6
Twinkle C7add9 or C9
Little Fmajor7 or Fmaj7
Star Eminor7 or Emin7
How I E13b9
Wonder A7add9 or A9
Where D13
You G13
Are Cmajor6 or C6
I hope I haven't confused anyone. Hopefully you will be able to follow the material presented here and benefit from it. Use this information to do some experimenting on your own. Its fun and you learn something in the process. You will be surprised at the sounds you can create.
My introduction to chord progressions will follow later.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO USE THE COMPANION THREAD FOR ANY COMMENTS. Thanks a lot.
Best Regards to All,
Chuck
P.S. I posted this and discovered that the way I formatted the presentation was not captured by the site's software, so some of the presentation is jumbled together. Its a shame because it may cause confusion and I regret that. Sorry. I noted that the numbers in parenthesis denoting scale positions are jammed together instead of being under their respective notes. If you are confused because the material is jammed together in some cases, just pose your question in the comment thread and I'll give you an answer. What a pity.
[This message has been edited by Chuck Piper (edited 05-10-2003).]
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