Hey YouTube! Mdecks Music here and today with this video what we're gonna do is talk about
the twelve levels of how to play piano chords. So come along let's get started...
All right so let's start with Level 1, root position and closed voicings.
In Level 1 when we look at a chord symbol we simply play the notes by
stacking thirds starting on the root. So for a C7 chord we'll play C, E, G, Bb.
So now let's go to Level 2... So in Level 2 what we're going to talk about are inversions. With
the Level 2 chords you're allowed to use inversions of the Level 1 chords. So this
is root position closed voicing from Level 1 now you can take the root and put it above
creating what's called first inversion with, the third on the bottom. Take the bottom note again
and move it up an octave and you get a second inversion, the fifth is now the bottom note. Do
it again and you get the third inversion with this 7th at the bottom. We're now going to Level
3, open voicings and drop voicings. At this level we'll take any of the Level 2 voicings
and drop some of the notes to a lower octave. If we drop the second note from the top we call it
a drop two voicing. So for a C7 in root position the second note from the top is the G. We drop it
an octave and we get this drop to open voicing chord. If we use the drop two technique on
the first inversion, we must drop the Bb and we get this voicing. Notice how this technique
creates larger gaps between the notes. You can choose to drop any note or notes to create nice
spread voicings. A famous combination is drop two and four giving you these amazing spread voicings.
Let's see what's going on on Level 4 octave displacement and duplicates.
In Level 4 we can take any note from the chord and place it in any octave or duplicated
on several octaves if we want. Now we can get gaps between the notes as big as we
want. Using octave duplicates with an inner note in the upper register is very effective!
Let's go to Level 5: extensions.
A jazz player will always consider extending the
chord by stacking more thirds on top of the chord. So a C7 becomes a C7 9 or a C7 9 13. And
of course we can use any of the previous levels voicings techniques to get a jazzy sounding at C7.
I wonder what's going on on Level 6?
Rootless? hmm.... at this level you can get rid of the root of the chord. Why? Because it sounds
cool and if you're playing in a band, you want to leave it to the bass player to play the root
of the chord anyways. So now we're about to get into the more interesting levels...
To understand the voicings on this level, we have to consider the function the chord is
playing. If the C7 is, for example, the V7 / I , then we compare it with the
mixolydian scale. And that gives us tensions 9 and 13. But if the C7 is the
V7 / VI, it will be better to pair it with the Mixo b9b13 scale. And
we'd have to use b9 and b13 as the tensions when building the voicing.
Next we have Level 8 upper structure triads! When pairing chords with chord scales, we can
find triads that are contained in the scale and then use them on top of the chords. For example:
if we a C7 with the Lydian b7 scale, we can then play a D major triad
on top of C7. This is an awesome technique since the powerful sound of the triad is played apart
from the basic sound of the chord, giving us two independent layers of sound. Just make
sure the Triad contains at least one tension, otherwise it's just a lower structure triad...
what the?.....
A quartal is a three note chord built using fourths instead of thirds. There are three
types of quartals: the 4/7 which is built by using two perfect fourths, the major 7/4
which is a perfect fourth plus an Augmented fourth, and the major 7#4 which is an
Augmented fourth plus a perfect fourth. Now we can use the same technique as in Level
8 where we played upper structure triads but now using quartals. So when a C7 with a
mixolydian scale, we can use D47, or an E47, or a Bbmajor 7#4.
Level-10: Hexitonics.... at this level we can start combining upper structures to create weird
structures with six notes -- hexitonic -- Let's say we pair the C7 with the mixolydian scale.
In Level 8, we could have used an Am or a Gm as an upper structure. Now we can use both!
But we still want to keep them as a unit at this level. This opens the sound of the C7 beautifully!
Level 11: Stacked Structures...
Forget functions, we're now in a new realm. In Level 11, we're going to explore new
sounds by stacking structures on top of one another. Let's pair the C7 with
Messiaen "Octatonic Scale" -- this is a symmetric scale -- Some jazz players call it the symmetric
diminished, others the half whole. The C7 is completely contained inside this scale. So
we can pair the chord and the scale together to create an incredible new dominant sound!
Let's extract triads from this scale, there are quite a few of them! And now stack them any way
you like on top of the C7 or just the C bass. This is a C7 chord sound no other....
Level 12...
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!