Shapes

When you’re learning how to play chord changes, the idea of memorizing all of the different voicings and inversions in each key can be daunting. Of course, it’s important to know your keys and scales, but when it comes to actual playing, I have found that it helps to think in terms of shapes and lines. The reason is that while there are approximately 14 different types of chord for each of the 12 notes in the scale (not even talking about inversions!), one 'shape' can give you 4 or 5 different kinds of chords, depending on what you play in the bass. That gives you a lot more 'bang for your buck' when it comes to different voicings - if you learn a few basic shapes, you'll find you can apply them many different ways.

I think of chords by their shape and/or pattern - some are triangles pointing up, some are triangles pointing down, some have more notes on the left, some have more on the right, etc. I think of scales by visualizing them as lines or pathways that go up or down. When I play, I’m not so much thinking of how many sharps or flats are in the key, or what kind of scale I should be using, but I think about shapes and lines.

For instance, we talked last week about taking a major triad, second-inversion, and adding a bass note to change it into a minor 7 chord. If you can identify this chord by shape - that is, two notes close together on the right, and one note on the left:
you can see that it is a C major triad. If you play a C in the bass, that's what you'll get - a simple C major chord. But when you see this shape, you should know that you can change the quality of that chord simply by playing a different bass note. (This will work with any inversion of the major triad, BTW)

If you play a note in the bass one whole step up from the 5th of this triad (in this case, G is the 5th, and A is a whole step up from G), you will have an A min 7th chord. So, here's your formula:

Major triad to minor seventh - in the bass, play the note one whole step up from the fifth.

Try this with other 2nd-inversion triads and see what you come up with.

Now, let's try that same triad with a different bass note. If you play a bass note one whole step down from the 5th, (G is the 5th and F is a whole step down from G) you will get an entirely different chord - F Maj 9. This is a very nice-sounding voicing, with the 9 on the bottom of the chord and the major 7 on the top.

Next, play a bass note one whole step up from the tonic (in this case, the tonic is C and a whole step up would be D.) This gives you a D 11, which many people call C/D (C over D) and is a very popluar voicing. especially in contemporary R&B.

E and G are already part of the C chord, but when you use them as bass notes, you can get a different flavor, especially as part of an ascending voice-leading set of changes. B in the bass is a passing tone that will walk you down from the major to its relative minor (the 6th). But you can see that there are a lot of different colors and voicings that you can get from just one chord shape.

What about a minor triad?



Here's our C minor triad, second inversion. If you play a bass note one half-step up from the 5th, you will get Ab Maj 7. Generally, when I see a minor triad shape in any inversion, I know that I can also use that as a major 7th. If you play a bass note one whole step down from the 5th, you will get a dominant 9 chord - in this case, F9.

Or, a diminished chord can be used as a dominant 7 (b9). The point is that you look at chords as shapes that can be used many different ways instead of separate chords that have only one function.

Try different types of triads or chords with diferent bass notes and see what you can come up with.

The 'Three Note Secret'

When you are first learning music theory and how chords are put together, many people have the idea that you have to play all the notes in a chord. So, for instance, you might play a C7 like so:

in root position, playing all four notes. Then, you might ask yourself, how can I play a 9 or #11 or 13? I can’t play all of those notes at once!

That may be one reason why people can be intimidated by keyboards - they make it more difficult that it is!

The fact of the matter is, that it is just as easy to play good-sounding voicings as it is to play childish, basic voicings. Much easier, even; because when you use good voicings, they are designed to connect smoothly together and your hand does not jump all over the place as it would if you were playing basic root-position voicings.

The secret to good voicings? I call it the ‘Three Note Secret’ - you can play any basic (non-extension - 9, 11, 13) voicing using only three notes - one in the left hand and two in the right.
And they sound way better that using all of the notes in the chord.

In my curriculum we talk about 3-7 shells - that is, playing only the third and the seventh of a chord. This gives you all the information you need to know about a chord - whether it’s major or minor, and what the seventh quality is. The root and fifth you can leave out - the root because either the bass player will be playing it or you will be playing it in your left hand, and the fifth because it is ‘perfect’ - that is, it is stable and does not change when the quality of the chord changes.
or you can flip it and play
with the 7th on the bottom.

So, if you wanted to play that C7 that we talked about at the top of the article, instead of playing 1-3-5-7 (C, E, G, Bb) you would play the E and Bb only. Then you would play the root in the left hand, and that would give you 3 notes in total. With these 3 notes you can play an astonishing array of chord changes - and it’s so much easier than trying to play them the old way - all four notes with the root at the bottom! Plus, it sounds a million times better.

Here is an exercise that will help you get familiar with the ‘Three Note Secret’. It is a cycle of 2-5-1 changes which will take you around all of the keys.
(double-click on image for large printable)