LearnJazzPiano.com archives: A "bigger" sound

andy -- 09/10/2004, 10:50:22 -- #7077

I'm not good at this. I don't post things because I just like to observe. I guess I'll go for it... I'm working on playing melodies with a "bigger" sound (like Mccoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock, with the root on the bottom and spread out chords), but I just can't make it sound right: I mean, it ends up sounding too open. Any thoughts? Thank you, Andy

andy -- 09/10/2004, 10:51:26 -- #7078

Oops...I posted twice.

Barry -- 09/11/2004, 09:18:27 -- #7101

Hi andy I am in a bit of hurry at the moment so I don't have time to go into this properly but it might be worth looking into such techniques as 'four way close' and 'drop 2' voicings.  These are techniques that have been used by many pianists and arrangers to voice melodies in block chords.  Mark Levine covers both of these techniques in detail in 'The Jazz Piano Book' Also check out Scot's treatment of 'Softly As In A Morning Sunrise' in the solo piano section of the lessons on this site.  Also Albetan has posted some good info on block chords in Albetan's Area - check out the files section of that room. Hope this helps - let me know if you need any more help and I'll try to reply when I'm not pressed for time...

jbl81 -- 09/12/2004, 13:19:50 -- #7125

Here's a fun link for this sort of thing: http://archive.keyboardonline.com/master/cfischer/index.shtml

andy -- 09/12/2004, 15:18:11 -- #7130

Good link This is helpful. Example 9 on this page is really cool! I like the "big" sound that still has some denseness to it. Number 19 kinda tickles my interest too. Good link. Once again I apologize for the double post, which seems to be getting doubled responses too...lol

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