Left Hand 3-Note Voicings

2 minute read

Left hand 3-note voicings are one of the essential building blocks for solo jazz piano. They can be used to comp for yourself while you’re playing a standard or soloing. They can also be used as the base upon which you build thicker, two-handed voicings. They are colorful voicings that are easier to think about than 4-note voicings. Familiarity with 3-note voicings can also help you create different 4-note voicings, as 4-note voicings are just 3-note voicings with an extra note.

• Rooted
• Rootless
• Rootless in V-I Context
• Final Note

Rooted

Rooted 3-note voicings consist of the root and shell. Above are the three different possible rooted 3-note voicings. These are basic voicings that all jazz pianists know.

Rootless

In rootless chord, as the name suggests, we leave out the root. We still play the shell, so that leaves us with one note left to complete the 3-note voicing—our choice of a pretty note.

When I break down 3-note voicings, I break them down in terms of the order of the shell notes and the pretty note. Above we can see some examples of 3-note voicings. Each measure is a different pretty note with the shell in two different positions (3 then 7 or 7 then 3). You can also change the location of the pretty note in relation to the shell (for example, above rather than below the shell voicing).

Rootless in V-I Context

V-I is a very common chord progression in jazz, so it’s good to practice these 3-note voicings in a V-I context. When going from V to I, I keep the pretty note the same and only move the 7th degree down a half-step. This way, you also get a sense of what scale degree your pretty note is going to turn into when you move from V to I. This is useful for thinking quickly/thinking ahead when deciding which pretty notes to use when playing V-I progressions.

For example, take the first measure in the examples above. Our 3-note C7 voicing contains the shell and the 5th degree. When we only move the 7th degree, B♭, down a half-step, we find that the 5th degree of C7 becomes the 9th degree of Fmaj9. Sometimes you may have to move the pretty note so that it becomes an acceptable note for the I chord. In the third measure above, I had to move the F♯ down a half-step, because the ♭9 is not generally played with Major 7 chords.

Final Note

Not all of the voicings I showed above may sound good to you, and not all of the good sounding voicings are shown. These just outline the system that I use for coming up with and discovering 3-note voicings. As always, the final judge is your own ear. Don’t be afraid of playing bad sounding voicings when fiddling around with 3-note voicings to find the good ones.

Written on May 26th, 2020 by Chris Cheung