How to Make a Chord More "Jazzy"
Ever feel tired of hearing and playing chords the same ol’ way? Do you feel bored playing regular triads in different inversions and that’s about it? Don’t worry, it’s common to get stuck with basic chord positions and not know where to go from here. We’ve got you covered! In this blog, Andrew Kunz, Jazz Teacher Extraordinaire at McAllister Music Studio, shares how to make a simple 3 note chord transform into an intriguing sound that gets your fingers dancing and your ears celebrating!
ADD COLOR TO YOUR CHORD RAINBOW
One way you can think about turning a 3 note triad into a 4 or 5 note chord is to consider the analogy of taking a primary color and then adding some other colors in. For example, if you take a plain stop-sign-red and add a touch of blue to it, the color can turn into a beautiful shade of magenta, just like adding a B to a C chord (turning the C chord into CMajor7) or a G to an A minor chord, (turning an A minor chord to an A minor 7). Sometimes your art calls for the color red or blue, but sometimes it may also call for a magenta or turquoise, just like sometimes a song calls for just triad chords, and sometimes it calls for chords to be extended to include a 7th or 9th on top. Whichever you choose to use, it's great to have more than just triad chords in your toolbox so you can pick the perfect chord for what your song needs.
TRIADS
In order to add color to our chords, we must first understand what a Triad is! The first chords that we all learn as pianists are usually your basic 3-note “triad” chords, which form the building blocks of so much of the music we know and love - everything from rock, pop, folk, and even a lot of classical music. Most of these chords are either the bright and happy major chord, or the darker and sad minor chord. These triad chords are built by stacking 3 notes on top of each other, with one note from the scale between each note - for example, C-E-G, or D-F-A if we're thinking in the C scale.
7 CHORDS
To create a 7th chord, stack another note on top of the triad, again keeping the same pattern of play-a-note, skip-a-note, play-a-note, skip-a-note from the scale. Continuing this pattern of alternating notes stacked on top of each other gives us 7th chords (4 note chords rather than 3 - where the top note is a “7th” above the root note. For example, C-E-G-B. The B you add to the top of the C chord is 7 notes away from the starting note, counting the starting note-C). There are 3 types of 7th chords:
Major 7s
7 is part of the scale and is a ½ step below the root.
Ex: C E G B
Major 7s sound “jazzy” and are very pretty
Dominant 7s
7 is NOT part of the scale and is a whole step below the root
Ex: C E G Bb
Dominant 7s sounds bluesy, rock, or even classical
Minor 7s
This is on top of a minor chord and the 7 is part of the natural minor scale, a whole step below the root
Ex: C Eb G Bb
Minor 7s sound less dark or “minory” than a regular minor triad
9 CHORDS
You can continue the pattern of playing every other note from the scale to give us 9th chords (5 note chords where the top note is a 9th above the root note. For example, C-E-G-B-D, or G-B-D-F-A). 7th chords can sound great being built on top of any of the 7 notes of a scale, depending on if the music you're playing calls for this unique sound. However, with 9th chords you have to be a bit more selective - these work nicely when built on top of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th or 6th note of a scale.
HOW TO PLAY THESE CHORDS
There are many great ways to play 7th or 9th chords, and the arrangement of which hand plays which note of the chord and at which octave (or the “voicing” you choose) depends on how spread out or how dense you want the chord to sound and where your hands were on the keyboard previously.
Some common voicings to play a 7th chord include having the root, or the first note, in your left hand and the rest of the chord tones in your right hand. For example, for a C Major 7 chord you could play the C in the left hand and play the 3rd, 5th and 7th ( E-G-B) an octave higher in your right hand. To make the chord a C Major 9, just add the D at the top or bottom of the set of notes in your right hand.
Alternatively, you could alternate which hand plays which chord tone. For example, play C and G (the root and 5th) in your left hand and E and B (the 3rd and 7th) in your right hand. Again, if you want to add the 9th of the chord, just add the D to the bottom or top of the set of notes that your right hand is playing. Try repeating this formula to build 7th chords at any other note, and listen to how the sound changes depending on where you place your starting note. Just be aware of which note of the scale you’re starting on.
Have fun experimenting with these tricks and enjoy playing more jazzy sounding chords!