by Charley Wyser
When you listen to professional musicians play, you may notice that their chords sound different from the way you are first taught to play chords.
Why is this?
Why is this?
Many professionals have learned to use voicings. What is a voicing?
This is when you rearrange the notes of the chords you play, usually between hands.
Let's take a simple C chord. The notes in a C chord are C, E, and G - 1, 3, and 5, of the C Major scale.
To make things easier, we are going to use the intervals (tones on the Major scale) to refer to voicing the chord.
Let's open up the sound of this chord by playing two of the three notes in the left hand, and the other note in the right hand.
Let's refer to this as the 1 - 5 - 3 voicing.
In other words, the left hand will play the 1 and 5 (C and G), and the right hand will play the 3 in the next register higher.
When you get a minute, try playing a regular C chord in root position (C, E, G), and then try playing this 1 - 5 - 3 voicing of the C chord on the piano.
You will notice the 1 - 5 - 3 has a more "open" sound. It does not sound as crowded. Personally, I prefer this sound.
Now, try this with the C minor, C Augmented, and C diminished chords.
C minor: 1 - 5 - b3 voicing
C Augmented: 1 - #5 - 3 voicing
C diminished: 1 - b5 - b3
You can see that these chords are now sounding more interesting.
This is how professionals play their chords.
We used 3 note chords for our examples in this lesson. But, you will usually apply this voicing concept to chords consisting of 4 or more notes.
The secret is remembering which numbers on the scale (intervals) the chord you are trying to voice is based on.
Experiment with this a little bit so you can understand the concept.
To learn how to play the 1-5-3 voicing in all twelve keys and apply to songs, take a look at my program called "Chord Voicings - Phase I".
Until next time, continue to have fun on your piano adventures.
Charley Wyser
easypiano.com
To view Free Online Lessons, click here
This is when you rearrange the notes of the chords you play, usually between hands.
Let's take a simple C chord. The notes in a C chord are C, E, and G - 1, 3, and 5, of the C Major scale.
To make things easier, we are going to use the intervals (tones on the Major scale) to refer to voicing the chord.
Let's open up the sound of this chord by playing two of the three notes in the left hand, and the other note in the right hand.
Let's refer to this as the 1 - 5 - 3 voicing.
In other words, the left hand will play the 1 and 5 (C and G), and the right hand will play the 3 in the next register higher.
When you get a minute, try playing a regular C chord in root position (C, E, G), and then try playing this 1 - 5 - 3 voicing of the C chord on the piano.
You will notice the 1 - 5 - 3 has a more "open" sound. It does not sound as crowded. Personally, I prefer this sound.
Now, try this with the C minor, C Augmented, and C diminished chords.
C minor: 1 - 5 - b3 voicing
C Augmented: 1 - #5 - 3 voicing
C diminished: 1 - b5 - b3
You can see that these chords are now sounding more interesting.
This is how professionals play their chords.
We used 3 note chords for our examples in this lesson. But, you will usually apply this voicing concept to chords consisting of 4 or more notes.
The secret is remembering which numbers on the scale (intervals) the chord you are trying to voice is based on.
Experiment with this a little bit so you can understand the concept.
To learn how to play the 1-5-3 voicing in all twelve keys and apply to songs, take a look at my program called "Chord Voicings - Phase I".
Until next time, continue to have fun on your piano adventures.
Charley Wyser
easypiano.com
To view Free Online Lessons, click here
Posts
great article..
ReplyDeletei love the pictures.
I really do not appreciate my ability, but the piano really impact on me when I heard the piano chords!
ReplyDeletepiano course
I really like the article Free Online Piano Lessons and Tips. Free Online Piano Lessons and Tips Free Online Piano Instruction Teaches You Lessons On Piano Chords, Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Scales, Theory, Practice, Performance, Playing Tips, and Much More. This article has some great information on how professionals chords on piano sound compared to just the average player. I have been teaching for over 20 years and have found that as one becomes more used to playing the piano, there are ways to make a chord sound different.
ReplyDeletePatience is a key factor in your piano practicing and it will pay off if you apply it properly and regularly. Learning music is a discipline and you need to treat it as such. Try to practice the same days and at the same time as much as possible, this will help you to develop a good practice routine and see positive results faster.
ReplyDeleteI'm thankful that I was able to find this blog! Easy-to-understand lessons! I've added this site to my references as I go through with my piano lesson. I'm still not much of a expert yet but I can already play a few compositions. I also hope to finally get one of those piano for sale. Houston has a lot of them.
ReplyDeleteI'll ask my teacher about voicing, then. I'm using a used piano. Houston piano teachers are really one of the best.