Chord Extensions Piano Course

Extended chords create a richer and more complex sound than triads and 7th chords and are used to create more interesting progressions.

Introduced by the pianist Bill Evans, the 'So What' chord is a minor 11th voicing that sounds great over minor chords with the 5th in the melody.

The Herbie Hancock voicing is a rich-sounding, two-handed minor 11th chord. A perfect choice when the 9th is in the melody over minor chords.

The Kenny Barron voicing is an minor 11th chord voicing built from 5th intervals. The voicing is names after acclaimed jazz pianist Kenny Barron.

For the first lesson in this practice series, we will explore some useful drills and exercises for practicing major and minor 9th chords.

We’re going to stack the chord tones sequentially in thirds, playing the 7th chord in our left hand, and the 9, #11, and 13 in our right hand.

We have explored major, minor, and dominant chords, now it’s time to put them all together in the most common progression in jazz; the 251 progression.

Learning chord voicings is an important skill for the jazz pianist. In this lesson we cover a 5 step process for learning any chord voicing.

Misty is one of the most popular jazz ballads and the distinctive melody is immediately recognisable amongst jazz musicians.

Written in the key of Eb Major, Tenderly follows a 32 measure A – B1 – A – B2 form and has an impressionistic character similar to early Debussy.

'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' has also been played by many great jazz musicians over the years. In this lesson we create a solo ballad arrangement.

This lesson applies upper structure triads to the tune Tenderly and also discuss ways to add fills and runs in between the chords of this great tune.

One of Americas greatest ballads... the most famous version of My Foolish Heart is undoubtedly the Bill Evans trio version.