Sharp 11 Chord Alteration Drills
Welcome to practice slot 2 in this practice series on altered harmony. In this practice slot we will explore a number of drills and exercises to familiarise ourselves with the sound, colour, and texture of the #11 chord alteration.
The Distinctive Sound Of The #11
The #11 is a very distinctive sound. It has a dreamy, uplifting quality that can be a beautiful addition to dominant chords, and also major chords. For the purpose of this lesson we will be exploring its role over dominant chord voicings.
The first drill is just a 25, so we don’t resolve to the 1 chord.It can be nice just to let that #11 hang and linger on the top of the voicing.
We will demonstrate how to apply this to our playing so that we can see the fruits of our labour by completing these drills.
Lesson Downloads
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Upper Structure Triad Cheat Sheet File Type: pdf -
Altered Harmony Practice Planner File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
In part 2 of this tutorial on “Embraceable You”, we focus on the second half of the form. We create bigger voicings to add a sense of climax and finale.
Widely quoted as one of Gershwin’s finest compositions, the harmony and melody is challenging with unusual changes and large leaps in the melody.
We create a beautiful ballad arrangement and then we apply upper structure triads and some interesting applications of drop 2 harmony.
Practice Tips
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Experiment with the #11 alteration on 25 and 251 progressions in the jazz standards you are playing.
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First voice the #11 on top of your voicings so that you can hear the sound ringing out above all of the other notes.
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Spend some time to familiarise yourself with the distinctive 'colour' and 'texture' of the #11.
- Next apply the #11 in the middle of the voicing as per the examples in this tutorial.
