borrowing a concept from jazz to make your left hand work like a saxophone line

[diverse379]

i was playing guitar in a jazz band last year and the band leader had me play a harmonic device that saxoophnes use sometimes

yesterday i was working out the orchestration and voicings for a hymn and i thougth about using it

it created a very smooth and very usable left hand part that worked very smoothly

and it alwo paved the way for thicker chords in the left hand to support the right hand chords

below is an explanation of the technique

let me warn you although the concept is simple it is not always easy to coordinate the limbs to execute this technique because some times your hands and feet and right hand are all moving in opposite directions

but the time it takes to get used to this is worth it becuase you get another device which is very usable



your left hand plays the third or the seventh of every chord that you play

the idea is to go to the nearest third or seventh from the previous third or seventh

regardless of what you are doing in your feet or your right hand your left hand plays a line either ascending or descending playing either the third or seventh of each chord

for major seventh chords
sometimes it souund good to play the 6th instead of the 7th


trust me it seems really simple but it is not always easy to coordinate but after a while you will find other notes to pair up with the third and the sevehth and you then have a smooth voicelead left hand setting to go with your right hand arrangement

[sjonathan02]

Sounds like good stuff.

Think you might be able to give us a visual example (i.e. show the notes for a particular progression).

Just a thought.

[docjohn]

hey d! how about over an Fmaj7,Gmin7,C7  ? when do you sleep bro-you just a monster,when ya gonna come down to atl and shed  ?be blessed

[diverse379]

hey d! how about over an Fmaj7,Gmin7,C7  ? when do you sleep bro-you just a monster,when ya gonna come down to atl and shed  ?be blessed

not a monster bro but thanks for the compliment

when do i sleep?

i havent posted in a while i thought i would leave you guys alone for a while didnt want to wear out my welcome


as far as coming to ATl I was planning a trip this fall to ATL   


now on to your other question

if your progression was Fmaj7  Gmin7 to C7

you could do it several ways

the left hand could play
A for the Fmaj7
Bb for the Gmin7 and the C7

or E for the Fmaj7 and F for the Gmin7 and E for the C7


the idea is to create a singing line with the left hand so it almost becomes like a counter point melody

try this progression

lets say you were doing a 1 3 6 2 5

in the key of F

F/A/CDFA
A/G/C#EGA
D/F#/CEF#A
G/FG/BbDFA
C/E/BbDEG
F/E/ACF

you see it is simple the left hand starts out on a third or a 7th and just goes to the next third or seventh

if the chords move in fourths the next note will always be a half step or a third away
if there is some other type of movement the nearest note will be no further then a third because remember you are looking for the nearest 7th or 3rd


the beauty of it is that if you want more notes to add to the left hand you can easily build other notes around the third or seventh
you can add the root near the 7th which works nicely for minor 7th chords and dominant 7th chords

or you can add the 4th to the minor third which works nicely with minor 7th chords

you can add the fith and ninth or the third and ninth and fifth the

point is that the possibilities are many

but the simple act of using one note as a counter point line to your bass provides a very professional sound

today i used it in my service
and the director commented that my playing seemed very relaxed and smooth

and that is exactly what this style yields a smooth balanced sound

definitely something to add to your bag of tricks