7 Chord Voicings Used By A Professional Jazz Pianist
Today let’s get sophisticated and run through 8 types of chord voicing that professional jazz pianists use.
Closed Voicings
Closed voicings are the first type of voicing that jazz pianists learn.
They mean to play the 4 notes of the chord symbol - root, 3rd, 5th and 7th.
Closed voicings are usually played in root position (1 3 5 7) or 2nd inversion (5 7 1 3).
Here’s how you would voice the 3 main chord types of jazz using closed voicings:
IMAGE: sheet music - C maj 7. C min 7. C7 - all in root pos. + 2nd inversion.
You might think that closed voicings sound too simple, but every professional jazz pianist uses them somewhere in their playing - and using both closed and complex voicings allow you to create CONTRAST in your playing.
Open Voicings
Open voicings play the same 4 chord tones (1 3 5 7) but this time we spread the notes out at larger intervals. This creates a cleaner sound, and adds a wider range of frequencies to each chord (spanning the bass to the mids, and sometimes the highs with a single voicing).
Here are three open voicings you could use for C major 7:
IMAGE: - 3 C maj 7 open voicings. C G B E. C G E B. C B E G.
Of course, you can apply these open voicings to any type of 7th chord type (C min 7, C7, C half-dim) - just tweak the notes to fit each chord’s root, 3rd, 5th and 7th.
Rootless Voicings
Rootless voicings sound sophisticated and make up a large part of my playing.
Rootless voicings can be played with one hand (left or right), and by leaving out the chord’s root note - either for the bass player to play, or for your left hand to play - it allows you to play up to the 9th.
Here’s how you would voice C major 7 and C minor 7 using rootless voicings:
IMAGE: - pos A. C maj 7 and C min 7 rootless voicings.
It’s also common to play rootless voicings in 2nd inversion, which is useful when the melody note is the 9th of the chord:
IMAGE: - pos B. C maj 7 and C min 7 rootless voicings.
If you’re playing with a bass player - you can play rootless chord voicings in your left hand, while you play the melody or write a solo in your right hand.
If you’re playing solo piano, you can play rootless chord voicings in your right hand, while you play the bass line in your left hand.
4th Voicings
4th voicings create a modern sound, and when used sparingly will add sophistication to your playing.
Here’s how you can voice C major 7 using 4ths:
IMAGE: - C maj 7 4ths. B E A D G C
C maj 7: (C) B E A / D G C
Notice how I start my stack of 4ths from the chord’s 7th, and then keep going until I hit the root.
4th voicings sound great when you’re playing with a group of musicians, because the bass player can play the root below your 4th voicing.
However, if you’re playing solo piano (i.e. you don’t have a bass player), 4th voicings can sound bare without the root. So here’s how I would modify a 4th voicing when playing solo piano:
IMAGE: - C maj 7 4ths. C B / E A D
This way I play the root and 7th in my left hand (C and B), and then in my right hand I play the 3rd, 6th and 9th - that’s as far as I can stretch. This voicing would be ideal when the melody note is the 9th - it allows me to play both the chord and melody note together.
Shell Voicings
Shell voicings are beautifully simple, and they allow you to create contrast in your arrangements - by playing some simple voicings next to the complex ones, it makes your complex voicings sound even more sophisticated.
Shell voicings are made up of just 3 notes - root, 3rd and 7th (this is the minimum amount of notes you need to convey the chord type).
There are only two shell voicings - 1 3 7 and 1 7 3.
IMAGE: - C maj 7 shells voicings - A and B.
These voicings can be applied to any chord type - just adjust the 3rd and 7th to fit the chord.
Here’s two neat ways you can voice a 2-5-1 using shells:
IMAGE: - 2-5-1 played in shells.
Upper Structures
Upper structures are a rich sounding set of voicings used for V7 chords (dominant 7 chords). They break the chord into two parts:
Left hand - plays the root, 3rd and 7th of the chord (so for C7 you’d play C E Bb).
Right hand - plays a major or minor triad, built from a specific scale degree above the root.
There are many triads you can choose to play in your right hand, depending on which chord extensions you want to add.
Over C7, the most common upper structure triad I use is D major (a major triad built from the 2nd scale degree):
IMAGE: - upper structure on piano. C E Bb D F# A.
The second most common upper structure I’ll use over C7 is A major (a major triad built from the 6th scale degree):
IMAGE: - upper structure on piano. C E Bb A C# E.
You can always invert the right hand’s triad (e.g. play D F# A, or F# A D, or A D F#) - this is especially useful if you want to make a specific melody note the top note of your voicing.
You can also double your right hand’s lowest note up an octave - to create an even bigger sound:
IMAGE: - upper structure on piano. C E Bb D F# A D
Tip: Upper structure voicings sound great when rippled.
Click here to download my free Jazz Piano Chord Voicing guide - which you can print and learn at the piano.
Kenny Barron Structures
If you can stretch a 9th, the Kenny Barron 11th voicing is a beautiful sounding voicing. Here it is for C minor 11:
IMAGE: - KB C G D / Eb Bb F
It’s a stack of 5ths in your left hand built from the chord’s root (C G D), and a stack of 5ths in your right hand built from the chord’s 3rd (Eb Bb F).
You can also apply this voicing to a C major 7 #4 (#11) chord too - just by shifting your right hand up a half-step:
IMAGE: - KB C G D / E B F#
If this is too much to stretch, you can try rippling it while holding down the pedal.
Or you can ‘saw off’ the top note and voice it like this:
IMAGE: - KB C G / D Eb Bb
Free Jazz Piano Chord Voicing Guide
Click here to download my free Jazz Piano Chord Voicing guide - which gives you 15 sweet jazz piano chord voicings used by professionals.
Free Jazz Piano Resources
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29 Jazz Piano Licks (sheet music)
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Jazz Chords Ultimate Guide
About the Author
Julian Bradley is a jazz pianist and music educator from the U.K. He has a masters degree in music from Bristol University, and has played with and composed for a variety of big bands.
Julian runs the popular Jazz Tutorial YouTube channel and writes educational jazz lessons at JazzTutorial.com
