Lesson Goal: To add a variety of tasty Minor Chord Voicings to your bag… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle…
Table of Contents
- “Basic” Minor 7th
- “Left Hand” Block
- “Left Hand 1-b7”
- “Triad over Root”
- “Root plus Definitive Tones”
- “Add 9”
- “Definitive Tones over Perfect 5th”
- “Minor 6/9”
- “Minor-Major 7th, add 9”
- “Add 9, Add 13”
- “Dorian Scale-Chord”
“Basic” C Minor 7th Chord Voicing
Lesson Goal: To play the “root in your left hand, 1-b3-5-b7 in your right hand” minor 7th chord voicing in all keys…
Root (1) in the left hand and stacked thirds (1-b3-5-b7) in the right…
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“left Hand Block” C Minor 7th Chord Voicing
An essential skills is to play the basic voicing for a C Minor 7th chord in your left hand in block form…
Playing the chord in your left hand frees your right hand to play a melody or improvise…
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“Left Hand 1-b7” C Minor 7th Chord Voicing
A sparse, light, open texture is achieved by simply playing the root and b7 of the Minor 7th chord in your left hand…
Playing the root and b7 of the Minor 7th chord in your left hand provides lots of space and freedom for your right hand to add “the b3” and color tones and to solo without being hamstrung by any particular voicing…
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“Triad over Root” C Minor 7th Chord Voicing
A standard voicing for the Minor 7th Chord is to play the root in your left hand and the triad formed by the b3, 5, and b7 in your right…
One might think of this Cm7 voicing as Eb/C, where Eb is the major triad (Eb-G-Bb) built on “the b3” of the C minor chord…
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“Root plus Definitive Tones” C Minor 7th Chord Voicing
A standard way to voice a Dominant 7th chord is to play the root plus the two definitive tones (b3 & b7) as follows…
This open voicing can be played as an arpeggio in your left hand when soloing or played two-handed (Root in your left hand and b3 and b7 in your right hand) for when comping.
An alternate way to voice the Cm7 chord is with the root in the bass and the definitive tones (b7 & b3) as follows…
This open voicing can be played as an arpeggio in your left hand when soloing or played two-handed (Root left, 3 & b7 right) when comping.
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“add 9” C Minor 7th Chord Voicing
A standard way to “jazzify” your Minor 7th chords is to add “the 9″.
In the interest of physical ease and musicality, play the root “1” in your left hand, drop “the 1” from your right hand and play “the 9” instead as follows…
Another useful “add 9” voicing puts “the b7” at the bottom in your right hand as follows…
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“Definitive Tones over Perfect 5th” Cm7 Chord Voicing
For a full, simple, and open sound, voice the Minor 7th Chord as a 1 and 5 in the left hand and the definitive tones b3 and b7 in the right…
Notice that both hands are playing perfect 5ths!
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“Minor 6/9” Chord Voicing
The Minor 6/9 Chord sounds and feels just right as the minor tonic (i) chord in some jazz ballads and slow Latin tunes…
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“Minor Major 7th, add 9” Chord Voicing
The Minor Major 7th Chord is an edgy, evocative alternative to a basic Minor Triad that works great when used judiciously in minor jazz ballads…
Another useful “CMm7,9” voicing puts “the 7” at the bottom in your right hand as follows…
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“Dorian Scale-Chord” C Minor Chord Voicing
coming soon!
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learn more… Jazz Piano Lessons
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