Three Note Voicings

I want to talk today about three note chord voicings. In an earlier section I told you all about the 2-5-1 chord progression used in jazz music. When I play the chords there is a smooth movement. The sound doesn't jump around. How do we accomplish that?

Well, in each of the chords the sound is defined by two notes, the third and the seventh. The root tells us the main part of the chord. We are going to play the root note with our left hand, and the third and seventh in our right hand. Let's take a look at this in the key of C. First the two chord, D minor. Play the D with the left hand, and the F and C with the right hand. D is the root, F is the third, and C is the seventh.

In the key of C, the five chord is G. The root is G, the third is B, and the fifth is F. Well, we already have a finger of our right hand on the F. That is convenient because all we have to do is move one finger of the right hand from C to B and move the left hand to G. This minimal amount of movement makes the transition smoother.

Let's continue on the one chord, C. The root is C, the third is E, and the seventh is B. Once again, conveniently we already have a finger of the right hand on the B. We just have to move one finger of the right hand from the F to the E, and move the left hand to the C.

As you can see these three note voicings are an excellent match to the 2-5-1 chord progression and will provide a much smoother sound to your playing.

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