Scribd
Upload
298 views3 pages

Chord Voicings & When To Use Them - The Jazz Piano Site

This document discusses different chord voicings and their common uses in jazz genres and styles. It defines a chord voicing as the order and intervals of the notes played simultaneously in a chord. Common voicings include shell voicings used in bebop and ballads, block chords in early jazz, rootless chords in bossa nova and ballads, and spread chords, quartal voicings, and secundal voicings in various genres. While any voicing can be used in any style, the document outlines how certain voicings tend to be more common in particular genres.

Uploaded by

Mbolafab Rbj
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
298 views3 pages

Chord Voicings & When To Use Them - The Jazz Piano Site

This document discusses different chord voicings and their common uses in jazz genres and styles. It defines a chord voicing as the order and intervals of the notes played simultaneously in a chord. Common voicings include shell voicings used in bebop and ballads, block chords in early jazz, rootless chords in bossa nova and ballads, and spread chords, quartal voicings, and secundal voicings in various genres. While any voicing can be used in any style, the document outlines how certain voicings tend to be more common in particular genres.

Uploaded by

Mbolafab Rbj
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

(http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/)

Chord Voicings & When To Use Them


Chords & Voicings

A chord is just a group of notes played simultaneously. And a chord voicing refers to the order in
which you play those notes – and thus the intervals between the notes. This series of lessons has
covered how to play a variety of commonly used chord voicings. So in this lesson we will brie y
discuss when to use the various chord voicings.

Of course, you can use any chord voicing at any time. There’s no rule that prevents you from using
any particular voicing whenever you want. Ultimately, do what you think sounds good. If you like a
particular chord voicing in a particular style, then use it.

Common Uses of Common Voicings

Nevertheless, certain chord voicings do tend to get used under particular circumstances and in
particular styles or genres. These are shown below. For an example of each of these voicings have a
listen to the video at the end of this lesson.

Voicing Genre/Style

Shell/ - Bebop
Powell (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord- - Ballad
voicings/powell-voicings/)

Block Chord (Close Tertian) - Early Jazz: Stride &


Strumming

Rootless (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord- - Bossa Nova


voicings/rootless-voicings/) - Ballad

Spread (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord- - Ballad


voicings/open-voicings/)
Voicing Genre/Style 
Quartal (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord- - Blues
voicings/quartal-voicings/) - Modal

Secundal (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord- - Ballad


voicings/tone-clusters-secundal-harmony/) - Boogie
- Free Jazz

And as I said at the beginning, all voicings can be used in all genres, but for whatever reason these
particular voicings tend to get used more in the genres I listed. But by all means don’t limit yourself
to these options only. Note also that we will discuss many of the listed genres in the future lessons
(http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-genres/).

Chord Voicings and When to Use Them

>> NEXT MODULE >> (/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-progressions)

Music Player Free Music


INSTALL
Search The Jazz Piano Site

Search …

Donate

While all my lessons are free, if you nd them useful please consider donating to help keep them
coming.

(https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?
cmd=_donations&business=DUZ6VARAK7VAE&lc=AU&item_name=Walk%20That%20Bass&currency_c
ode=AUD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donate_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted)
 

Home (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com) Donate (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/donate/)


Resources (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/resources/)
Privacy Policy (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/privacy-policy/)
Sitemap (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/sitemap/)

Theme by Tesseract (https://tesseracttheme.com)   (https://tesseracttheme.com)

You might also like