This tasty two-fisted voicing for a Major 7 Chord contains all seven notes in the Lydian Scale stacked in thirds up from the root…
Major 7 Chord Lydian Scale-Chord Voicing
Think of it as a basic C Major 7 in your left hand with a D Major Triad (all color tones) in your right.
This voicing is a pretty way to end a tune, playing ad lib with the color tones in a high register…
Homework
Using your ears and knowledge of scales and chord structure, “transpose” this voicing to all spellings in three musically-useful patterns:
- Chromatically Ascending: C > Db > D > Eb > E > F > Gb > G > Ab > A > Bb > B > C.
- Chromatically Descending: C > B > Bb > A > Ab > G > Gb > F > E > Eb > D > Db > C.
- 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.