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Open Voicings

holla' my homeys!
oh yeah, this is jazz, not rap. recently, i've started fiddling around with using open voicings on my right hand when soloing to create some really jazzy tones. however, to be completely honest, although it sounds great, what i'm doing is pretty random! the patterns of 1 - 4 - 8 (ex: c, f, c) and 1 - 4 - dom7 (ex: c, f, bb) sound really cool and jazzy over seemingly anything. i've been playing around with open voicings like this, but what's the theory behind it? are there any other good voicings that produce these tones?

thanks a lot, dawgs! peace out!

by DoubleZ on 05/30/2006, 17:28

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by putting a 4th in the middle of your voicing, you are making the tonality indeterminate (minor vs. major), giving it kind of suspended feel. if you are not resolving the sound as in typical functional harmony (2-5-1), this is a pretty good thing to do. it is of course the basis of many quartal voicings such as the "so what voicings". you should look at the two handed so what voicing and other quartal style voicings in the levine book.

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by rc on 05/30/2006, 17:36

at albetan's area.

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by albetan on 05/30/2006, 19:33

yes, actually, the piano comps in "so what" were what made me want to be able to play that type of tonality, and that's exactly the type of sound i want to learn to emulate.

usually, i only hold on a suspension w/o resolving it (such as the 4th voicing i mentioned) in latin pieces; it works well. otherwise, if i play a suspension without resolving it drives me crazy! i think i would commit suicide if i walked up to a piano, played a csus4, and then just walked away.

i'll check out that melodic voicing page too. thanks a lot, all.

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by DoubleZ on 05/30/2006, 21:52

"it drives me crazy! i think i would commit suicide if i walked up to a piano, played a csus4, and then just walked away"

that would be a great way to get rid of a rogue spy. just train them that a sus chord absolutuley must reslolve or they want to kill themselves and if you ever want to get rid of them just call em up and play a sus over the phone and hang up. they will get rid of themselves.

i'm smellin a movie plot here...
-j

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by pnowanabe on 05/30/2006, 22:34

you've got the tonality wrong for getting rid of the rogue spy. it's the dominant 7 that can drive one crazy. it has to go somewhere. give it some alterations to make it even stronger.

a quartal sound is like, indifferent. i could go here, i could go there, i could just stay put, i don't care because i still sound cool.

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by rc on 05/31/2006, 00:37

hahaha, that movie plot sounds a lot better than some of the other bullshit out there today! "the killer pianist". no wait, that could be mispronounced a little bit ;-)

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by DoubleZ on 05/31/2006, 15:14

play some tunes monk style (with dissonance)...that'll really draw them out!...they'll be screaming and saying..."stop! stop! please resolve that sound! give me a i chord please!" then you tie the spy to a chair. put a light to his face and play the dominants on an out of tune piano, again playing hard like monk. "do you want more!? what is the secret code to..." (as you trill on a blue note).

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by rc on 05/31/2006, 17:29

hahaha. only a bunch of jazz pianists could turn a topic about chord voicings into music-related movie pitches!

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by DoubleZ on 05/31/2006, 21:08

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Open Voicings

There are 8 comments, leave a comment.

by rc on 05/30/2006, 17:36

by albetan on 05/30/2006, 19:33

by DoubleZ on 05/30/2006, 21:52

by pnowanabe on 05/30/2006, 22:34

by rc on 05/31/2006, 00:37

by DoubleZ on 05/31/2006, 15:14

by rc on 05/31/2006, 17:29

by DoubleZ on 05/31/2006, 21:08

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Open Voicings

There are 8 comments, leave a comment.

by rc on 05/30/2006, 17:36

by albetan on 05/30/2006, 19:33

by DoubleZ on 05/30/2006, 21:52

by pnowanabe on 05/30/2006, 22:34

by rc on 05/31/2006, 00:37

by DoubleZ on 05/31/2006, 15:14

by rc on 05/31/2006, 17:29

by DoubleZ on 05/31/2006, 21:08

Reply to Thread

Jazz Piano Notebook Series

"Latinesque"

LJP Jazz Piano Blogs

Most Recent Discussions

Articles

Top Sheetmusic Picks

Jazz piano education is cool.

Rock on. Follow your passion.

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