today let's take a look at afternoon in paris chord by chord and learn how to
play the chord progression using drop 2+4 voicings these voicings are very effective
and consistent and ideal for beginners to start grasping what each chord in a jazz
standard is made of we actually talk about this in our advanced piano tricks course
so check that out if you want to take a look at this idea from a slightly different
perspective by the end of this video you'll be able to play the chords in the song like this
for this video i'll be using the notebook from the "Jazz Standards Progressions Book" with the grand staff
this is a very useful resource since it has all the jazz standards all laid out for you with
the complete form and chords on an empty grand staff which will save you tons of time so here's
"Afternoon In Paris" I'll write a treble and a bass clef and I don't need to add any accidentals to
the score since the song is in the key of c by the way if you're wondering why there are no clefs
in the book this is because these notebooks were made to allow for different types of arrangements
so maybe you want to write for two guitars which would require two treble clefs or four
viola and cello or oboe and clarinet which will use different key signatures. Okay, so the first
chord is a Cmaj7 so i'm going to write a C note on the bass and then write the thirds on top
remember all these chords are seventh chords so we need the root, third, fifth and seventh so most
of the chords are going to look like four notes on spaces or four notes on lines . Now, let's make sure
we have the correct accidentals for this Cmaj7 chord A maj7 chord is built with
all natural intervals 1 3 5 and 7 so... Is to e a major third? well yes it is, and i don't
need any accidentals on the E. C to g is a perfect fifth and C to B is a major seventh no accidentals
needed for this chord now this is what we call a Cmaj7 in root position because the C is
on the bass. And this is a closed voicing because the notes are written in the order they appear
starting from the C note at the bottom. So if I take the top note and the second note from the top
and I move them up an octave i get an open voicing. This voicing is called a drop 2&4 voicing
Look. If i write this same C chord up here and then number the voices from the top as one, two, three
four. So B is the first voice, G is the second voice E is the third voice, and C is the fourth voice
and then I drop the G and the G, voices 2&4 and octave below, we get the same voicing.
That's why we call this voicing a drop 2&4 voicing it just happens to be easier to
move the first and third voices up in our case. Okay, so now we have the Cmaj7 in a
drop 2&4 voicing. These types of voicings are called Open Voicings because the notes are placed
with gaps in between them. The interesting thing is that open voicings offer a more consistent
sound across the keyboard they don't get muddy or harsh as easily as closed voicings do.
I'll keep this voicing for the Cmaj7 Next, is a Cm7. Again, i'll write a C on the bass
and then the other three notes on top. A m7 chord is a 1 b3 5 b7
So i'm going to have to flatten the E to an Eb and the B to a Bb
then we can move these two notes up to build our drop two and four voicing
F7. Let's write the four notes. Now, a dominant chord is a 1 3 5 b7. So, is F to a a major 3rd?
Yes! F to C is a perfect fifth. That's good. And F to E is a major seventh but we need
a b7 (or a minor seven) so we need to flatten the E to Eb and we have our F7 in
root position closed voicing. We move an octave up and we have our drop 2&4 voicing
Bbmaj7. Bb... and here's all four notes. I don't need to add any accidentals
Bb to D is a major third. Bb to F is a fifth and Bb to A is our major seventh. Perfect!
Then we turn it into a drop two and four voicing by moving these two notes up. Bbm7...
Same thing. Bb... here. Here's all four notes Now, I need a b3 between Bb and D
So the dDhas to be flat. Bb to F is a fifth. That's good. Bb to A is a major
seventh but we need a b7, because this is a minor seven chord, so A has to be flat and then
move the notes up.... Eb7 is a dominant chord so it has to be 1 3 5 b7.
Eb to G is a major third. That's good. We have to change the B to Bb to make it a
perfect fifth from Eb and then Eb to D is a major seventh so we need to change the D
to a Db to make it the b7 and now the drop two and four voicing. These are very simple
but very effective voicings. If you work like this on every jazz standard you'll gain a pretty good
understanding of jazz harmony and basic piano voicings. Not to mention you'll train your ears
to learn so much about intervals. As always I hope this was helpful i'll go ahead and add
a link to the notebook that we're using and the advanced piano tricks that I referenced
earlier in the video. Thanks again for watching. If you haven't done so already please consider
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