Developing Chord Fluency

KEYBOARD SCHOOL

Woodshed

Developing Chord Fluency for Advancing Piano Students WHEN I WAS ABOUT 12 YEARS OLD, MY PAR-

ents took me to a restaurant that featured a live jazz trio. I was amazed to see the pianist playing without written music. I approached the bandstand and asked him how he did it. Without missing a beat, he simply said, “Learn your chords, kid.” He was right, of course. All improvising musicians benefit by understanding harmony, but it is fundamental for pianists. That’s why I spend a good portion of every lesson helping my students develop what I call “chord fluency”: the ability to instantly play any chord in a logical position that easily connects to the chords around it (voice leading). PART 1: DIATONIC SEVENTH CHORDS

PRO SESSION

BY BRADLEY SOWASH

Example 1

Chord symbols: _____

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Roman numerals: _____

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Example 2

Example 3

When students ask, “How many chords are there?” I tell them there are hundreds, maybe thousands if you include extended, altered, clusters and quartal chords. But all of those hip harmonies are only useful after one has first mastered stacked-third seventh chords. Use these steps and drills to increase your own fluency with seventh chord basics. I. CONSTRUCT AND LABEL

You can read how chords are constructed in any music theory resource book, but the information will stick better if you build and play them yourself. 1) First, notate all of the diatonic seventh chords in a key by stacking thirds on each note of a major scale. 2) Next, write the associated chord symbols above the staff (referencing the Pop/Jazz Chord Symbol Review below as needed). 3) More generic than specific chord symbols, Roman numerals underscore harmonic relationships, making it easier to transpose and analyze what’s

Pop/Jazz Chord Symbol Review Chord Name

Explanation

C

Major by default.

C–, Cm, Cmi, Cmin

“Minor” modifies the triad (never the 7th).

CM7, CMa7, CMaj7, C C7

!

C–7, Cm7, Cmi7, Cmin7

"

“Major” modifies the 7th (never the triad). Triad is major by default, 7th is dominant. Triad is minor, 7th is dominant (not Maj7).

Cm7( 5), Cø7

Triad is minor, 7th is dominant, 5th is lowered.

Cdim7, C°7

Triad is diminished and so is 7th.

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“Farmer’s Market,” from That’s Jazz, Book 1, Digging Deeper by Bradley Sowash. Copyright © 2007, Neil A. Kjos Music Co., JP25, www.kjos.com. Used with permission, 2013.

“under the hood” in a tune. Write them below the staff, using capitals for major and lower case for the rest. For example, in C major, you would construct and label the chords in Example 1. Now, let it sink in that what is true for one key remains true for all keys.

Example 4

II. SCALING THE CHORDS

I’ve found this to be an ideal progression for practicing diatonic seventh chords because it accustoms the ear (and fingers) to the sound so often found in

jazz standards of chords moving by fourths. 1) Practice the progression in Example 2

middle C to E above middle C.  Example 4 shows where closed block chords sound best on the piano. Note that some keys may require resetting the hand along the way to stay in this range. PART 2: SEVENTH CHORD DRILLS Bradley Sowash

Another way to develop unerring chord fluency is to practice sequential progressions that move logically from key to key. I. CHORD CRAWLS

Pick a single chord quality and run it up or down chromatically. See Example 5. using your left hand. Use only root position and second inversions as shown. 2) When the left hand feels secure, add an improvised right-hand part reordering notes from the C major scale—a process I call “scaling the chords.” III. TRANSPOSING POWER

The next step is to transpose this progression to all major keys. Example 3 is an excerpt from a tune from my That’s Jazz piano method that makes use of this progression in the key of F major. If you were my student, I’d ask you to play it first as written and then loosen up the left hand while improvising a new right-hand part. From here, transpose this progression to the remaining keys, adding a sharp or flat to the key signature as your move around the circle of fifths. As you do so, keep in mind that:  For pianists, root-position and second-inversion seventh chords are all that are necessary to navigate most chord progressions. (Notice that these are the only positions in “Farmer’s Market.”) Focusing solely on these in your practice cuts the number of muscle-memory hand positions you will be learning in half.  It’s best to keep the left hand chord range in the area I call “chord land”: from about C below

II. STEP DOWN PROGRESSIONS

In Example 6, the four most common seventh chord qualities move through all keys by half steps. III. CYCLE PROGRESSIONS

Example 7 moves by fourths, alternating root position and second inversions.

IV. MINI PROGRESSIONS

The ii–V–I sequence of chords is the most oftenfound mini-progression or “chord cell” found in standards. The exercise in Example 8 isolates the progression and moves through six keys. To practice the other six keys, start on E !m7–A!7–D !Maj7. CONCLUSION

Chord fluency enables you to understand how progressions work, sight-read lead sheets, transpose, integrate arpeggios into your solos and more easily memorize tunes. If you want to play more creatively in a greater number of styles, get your butt on the piano bench and learn your chords, kid. DB Bradley Sowash is a pianist, composer, author and educator specializing in improvisation for beginners and “recovering classical musicians.” His publications include That’s Jazz (Neil A. Kjos Music Co.) and jazz hymn arrangements from Augsburg Fortress Press. Visit him online at bradleysowash.com.

Example 5

Example 6

Example 7

Example 8

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