Triad Drop-2 Voicings

Recently I’ve been trying to transcribe more pop songs as well as incorporate triads into my jazz playing. I’ve been struggling to find spread voicings that I like for triads, until I happened upon this system. Since then, I have been using this system as a basis for spread voicings for triads. I really enjoy the sound that I get from these voic... Read more 08 Feb 2021 - 1 minute read

Creating Melodic Solos By Soloing Around One Scale

When I first started learning jazz, I was taught that for every chord, there are corresponding scales that you can use so that your playing sounds consonant. So then I got busy, trying to learn every possible scale over each chord type. I would practice soloing for songs by turning on the metrenome, going through the song and playing the scales ... Read more 25 Nov 2020 - 2 minute read

Exercise for Solo Piano: Thinking More Horizontally

This exercise is an introduction to paying attention to voicing melodies in the left hand in addition to the right hand while playing solo jazz piano. Intro Vertical vs Horizontal Thinking The Exercise Final Note Intro Over the past couple of months I’ve been working on the tune “Stella By Starlight.” Today when I played through the... Read more 13 Sep 2020 - 2 minute read

4 Note Comping System

This is a comping system that allows you to create a large variety of very flexible and simple to construct 4 note voicings. The System Extensions and Alterations 5 Note Comping System Final Note The System The comping system divides the 4 notes into two groups: shell, root and fifth. Shell is the 3rd and 7th degrees and this is wh... Read more 18 Aug 2020 - 2 minute read

Upper Structures By Scales

Upper structures is a way of expressing altered seventh chords by using a triad over the root and shell. I briefly covered upper structures in a previous post. In my previous post I suggest memorizing which alterations each triad over each chord degree produces. However, there is a better way of going about it that requires less memorization as ... Read more 05 Aug 2020 - 2 minute read