Four-note closed voicings in the right hand

The stock chord shapes under most of jazz piano before 1950, and a good deal of it after.

What they are

A closed voicing is four chord tones stacked inside one octave. Played in the right hand, the shape imitates a section of a big band: four saxophones or four trombones playing one chord together. The pianist's right hand becomes the section.

You hear these voicings in the oom-pah comping of the twenties dance bands, where the left hand plays the bass note on the beat and the right hand answers with the chord. You hear them again in bebop, where Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, Al Haig, and Thelonious Monk stab the same shapes between phrases.

Where on the keyboard

The shape straddles middle C. Put it in the octave where middle C falls inside it, or as close to that as the shape allows. If a shape climbs above that, drop it an octave. If it sinks below, raise it.

The left hand plays the root of the chord, at least one octave below the shape. Two octaves below is common when you want more weight.

The chord types

There are seven shapes to learn. Each one is the root, third, fifth, and either the sixth or the seventh.

Major 7: root, major third, fifth, major seventh. Major 6: root, major third, fifth, sixth. Minor 6: root, minor third, fifth, sixth. Dominant 7: root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Diminished 7: root, minor third, flat fifth, sixth. Minor 7: root, minor third, fifth, minor seventh. Minor 7 flat 5: root, minor third, flat fifth, minor seventh.

Pick a key and a chord type below. Step through the four inversions with the buttons or with the arrow keys. Press play to hear the shape over its bass note.

Inversions

Every shape has four inversions: root on the bottom, third on the bottom, fifth on the bottom, sixth or seventh on the bottom. Practice all four in all twelve keys before you go on. The goal is to see any chord symbol and land on any of its four shapes without thinking.

Voice leading

Once the shapes are under your hands, the next skill is moving between them without jumping. Choose the inversion of the next chord that sits closest to the one you are holding. Most notes move by a step or stay put.

One more rule of thumb: let the top note move. The ear follows the top voice, so a moving top note makes the chord change audible. When two inversions are almost equally close, pick the one whose top note changes.

Common progressions

The widget below applies those rules to the standard progressions. Pick a key and a progression. Click a chord to hear it. The inversion menu on each card lets you override the choice and compare.

Extensions: the 9 for the 1

The left hand already plays the root. So the right hand can give up its own root and play the ninth instead. The shape keeps its four notes, but the lowest chord tone moves up a whole step. C6 becomes C6/9: D E G A over a C in the bass. The same trade works on major 7, major 6, minor 6, dominant 7, and minor 7 chords. It does not work on diminished or half-diminished shapes.

In the widgets above, the Variant control switches a chord to its 9 for 1 form. Play the plain shape and the extended shape back to back and listen to the extra color.

Altered dominants

When a dominant chord resolves down a fifth, you can alter it. Two stock ways use shapes you already know.

The alt chord: play the minor 6 shape a half step above the root. For G7 going to C, play Abm6 in the right hand, Ab B Eb F, over a G in the bass. Those notes are the flat ninth, the third, the flat thirteenth, and the seventh of G7.

The flat nine: play the diminished 7 shape on the flat ninth. For G7, play Abdim7, Ab B D F, over a G in the bass.

Try both on the V chord of each progression above. The voice leading into the next chord gets even tighter, because the altered notes sit a half step from where they resolve.

How to practice

Play each progression in all twelve keys, around the circle of fourths. Start each progression from a different inversion of the first chord so that you learn all four paths. Keep the left hand on the root. Once that is easy, play the left hand two octaves down and listen to how the weight changes.