Frank J Peter Chords, Jazz School

Jazz School: Chord Voicings: Major 7 Basic

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Let’s begin our exploration of commonly-used chord voicings for a C Major Seventh chord with the most basic arrangement of notes…

Root (1) in the left hand and stacked thirds (1-3-5-7) in the right…

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(If you need a refresher on chord structure: Chord Structure: The Number System)

Homework

Using your ears and knowledge of scales and chord structure, “transpose” this voicing to all spellings in three musically-useful patterns:

  1. Chromatically Ascending: C > Db > D > Eb > E > F > Gb > G > Ab > A > Bb > B > C.
  2. Chromatically Descending: C > B > Bb > A > Ab > G > Gb > F > E > Eb > D > Db > C.
  3. Cycle of Dominants: C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G > C.

Doing so will develop an enormous chord vocabulary that you will know by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle… laying a rock solid foundation for fluent improvisation.

learn more… Jazz Chords: Major 7 Left Hand Block