How To Learn & Memorise Voicings
Learning and memorising chord voicings is an important skill for the jazz pianist. This will allow you to read and interpret lead sheets and create full-sounding jazz piano arrangements.
In this lesson, we use the 3 voicing from this course as examples:
- The "So What Voicing"
- The "Herbie Hancock Voicing"
- The "Kenny Barron Voicing"
Using these common voicing shapes, we explore the key drills and exercises that you should do for any voicing that you like the sound of.
Exploring Inversions & Re-Arranging The Notes
We all have different sized hands which means that some of us might find it tricky or easy to voice chord in certain positions, and certain keys.
In this lesson, we will explore and demonstrate simple variations that you can apply to any chord voicing to make it easier to play. Some simple advice is to re-arrange the notes within the space on an octave.
Remember that the extensions can be placed anywhere in the chord, so you have the creative freedom to choose the order and arrangement of the notes you play.
Memorise The Top Note Of The Voicing
The key with learning voicings is to memorize the top note or melody note. For example, the "So What Voicing" has the 5th on top, the "Herbie Hancock Voicing" has the 9th on top, and the "Kenny Barron Voicing" has the 11th on top.
That means that whenever you see a minor chord on a lead sheet with that scale degree in the melody, you will immediately have a chord that you know will work well.
Before long, you will see the chord symbol and the melody note, and your hands will instantly gravitate towards certain voicings, and that’s a nice point to get to.
By attempting to arrange your own jazz standards, you will retain the information much better. By all means, watch and enjoy the PianoGroove jazz standard tutorials, but remember to explore other songs that interest you.
This is a gradual process and it may take months to create a nice arrangement so just chip away at it a little each day and remember to listen to lots of recordings of the tune you are trying to arrange.
Lesson Downloads
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Chord Extensions Practice Plan File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
We explore the voicing options for major chords under each note of the Lydian Mode which is a common scale to play over major chords.
We explore how you can use So What voicings not only for minor chords, but also major chords by creating a quartal maj13 voicing.
We explore voicings for each note of the dorian mode. Watch this and never again get stuck on what to play for minor chords!
Practice Tips
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Memorise the construction of your voicings in terms of scale degrees. This gives you the ‘formula’ or ‘blueprint’ to construct in all keys.
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Transpose your voicings through all 12 keys which you can do chromatically, around the circle of fifths, and just at random to test yourself.
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Apply your new voicing in the context of the 251 progression so that you are ready to use it in the tunes you are playing.
- Flick through your fake book and look for opportunities to apply your new voicing. Look for the chord quality with the same scale degree in the melody as the top of the voicing.
9:40 that was a bit depressing lol.Jokes aside exellent content as always.
Awesome
Great teacher, great pedagogy ! I have a hard to make my fingers able to remember eveything, but I am so happy with the results 🙂
Thanks Alain, glad you are finding the course useful.
It takes time to memorise the voicing shapes so do be patient with it. Consistent daily practice is the key and you will see guaranteed improvement with these exercises.
Here to help if you have any further questions.
Cheers, Hayden
Best way to learn jazz at home during the pandemic. Awesome!
Question. You showed the 251’s for each, but examples are not listed in the practice plan. It made perfect sense as I watched you do it, but, for example, going back through taking the “so what” chord through the 251’s will probably be difficult to remember what to do by tomorrow. 🙂 Same thing with the “Herbie Hancock” and the “Kenny Barron” voicings. I have practiced the voicings and know how to find them easily, but remembering where to go with the 251’s will be a challenge. Is there any chance we could get a quick pdf with an example of each? Thank you thank you!
?? Please??
Hi Branson,
Apologies for the late reply and yes I can certainly create that PDF for you. I think it’s an awesome idea and will help to make the lesson points more understandable and actionable.
I will get it done this weekend and send you a message once it’s uploaded.
Cheers, Hayden
Thank you! I’m really excited to have this. You’re awesome.
My pleasure Branson.
I am in the process of creating a new late-beginner course which will be finished this month and it covers exactly what you are asking for here, so it’s great timing.
I’ve been crazy busy with admin and website changes the last few weeks but my schedule is getting back to normal now.
I will send over the PDFs for your perusal before publishing them to make sure it’s exactly what’s needed.
Cheers, Hayden
Hi Branson,
Just to let you know I have not forgotten about this. I recorded a couple of lessons over the weekend and I am editing them now. The 1st lesson shows voicings for all chords in C Major, and the 2nd lesson shows the different ways to voice 251s using different ii-7 chord starting points.
The lessons and PDF downloads will be ready this week.
Cheers, Hayden