| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: LH versus RH | |
| SolArt -- 10/23/2006, 10:51:33 -- #30642 | |
| OK you ol' LJP pros, is there a difference between a LH voicing & a RH voicing in common practice? | |
| Mike -- 10/23/2006, 22:50:16 -- #30642 | |
| I am not sure I understand the question. But if I do... What comes to mind first is ... we use Tenth voicings in the Left hand sometimes but we never use these in the right hand. | |
| Brotherdavies -- 10/24/2006, 08:28:03 -- #30642 | |
| I do sometimes play a 10th in the right hand (but then I am not a pro!) Bro' | |
| marksdg -- 10/24/2006, 09:27:25 -- #30642 | |
| In general, right hand voicings are denser (have more notes) than left hand voicings because too many notes low on the keyboard sounds muddy. The lower you go, the sparser your voicings need to be. | |
| DoubleZ -- 10/24/2006, 14:25:20 -- #30642 | |
| That's one of the worst things I hate about piano; the left hand is very limited in the voicings it can play without getting muddy. I loveeeee the sound of a 10th in the left hand; sounds very full, and usually I add the 5th to complete the chord. Aside from that, usually 1-7 or octaves is the safest bet. Right hand can use a lot of notes; I like using a lot of notes for a really powerful, full sound. | |
| Scot -- 10/24/2006, 15:07:48 -- #30642 | |
| I simply look at it like this: the lower I go on the, the more spread out the voicings need to be to make sense. No difference if the right and left are playing them (remember, they make one big hand anyway :) | |
| pringe -- 10/25/2006, 04:49:04 -- #30642 | |
| Yep...the theory behind it is heavily related to the overtone (harmonic) series. | |
| jmkarns -- 10/25/2006, 10:25:19 -- #30642 | |
| Yeah, that's it Scot, the "big hand" approach strikes again. | |
| charlp88 -- 10/25/2006, 13:25:56 -- #30642 | |
| when playing the head of a tune I usually use the root and 7th in the left hand and an open voicing in the right. IE;Cminor = c Bb-in left and Eb G Bb D in the right then for improv I use an inversion in the left IE;Bb D Eb G .and then color in with what sounds good to you I was taught to always include 1 3 7 or 1 7 10 somewhere and then 9 11 13 and so on I hope this helps. good luck charlie | |
| SolArt -- 10/26/2006, 05:26:03 -- #30642 | |
| Great response, thanks, but I should have clarified, I believe a jazz pianist really needs three hands: The top that usually has the melody when it's included, runs etc. The "middle" that has "comping chords" let's say. The bottom that has bass. So the left hand usually divides the last two tasks. Let me rephrase my question; When you solo are the voicings the same in your LH, as when someone else solos and your voicings are more probably in the RH. Do you use the same voicings? | |
| charlp88 -- 10/29/2006, 07:12:34 -- #30642 | |
| Although I am Not a pro. I have attempted, [when trying to improvise] as follows;using the John Mehagen/Bill Evans voicings as if comping for a horn and leaving most of the Bass to the Bassist | |
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