LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Inverted chords

Scot -- 04/16/2007, 13:38:56 -- #34571

George Cables said once, "Don't be root bound!" If you're going to play C7, don't build it up in your mind based on a C root.  That is putting yourself in a box that will get bigger as the years go on. A sound that jazz pianists are forgetting about is the inverted chords.  The most used inverted chord is using the 5th as the bass, such as, C/G.  A pedal tone is what it's commonly called. So what about inverted chords? Do you all know the tune God Bless The Child? The first four chords are: Eb7 - Ab7 - Eb7 - Ab7 And you can play them that way and they sound good, especially if you  add the 11th to the Ab7 sometimes. However, one could do this too: Eb7/Bb - Ab7 - Eb7/G - Ab7 Changes the sound quite a bit. Try this exercise:  Take your favorite tune and play it through solo piano style, but use inverted bass notes.  For a C7 chord, use E, G, or Bb as the bass note.   The motion you can get with your left hand, how the melody and the bass notes can play with each other, you have a lot of potential for new sounds in the tunes you play by practicing this.

dalty52 -- 04/16/2007, 17:08:53 -- #34571

Yes, this is precisely the reason why pianists should transcribe James P. Johnson.

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