Hello YouTube! mDecks Music here and welcome back to another episode of Upper Structure Friday's!
A series where we explore the use of upper structures for piano voicings and improvisation.
Definitely check out the introduction to the series if you haven't done so already I'll put
a link in the description down below or you can click on this iCard right here. Also check out end
XCOM or you can find this course in its entirety available in PDF format or paperback! Today we're
gonna look at a major triad on the bVI of a minor 7 b5 chord. So if I have a B minor 7 b5
on my left hand, the natural VI -- its G# -- we're gonna flatten that giving us a G and build
a G major triad on top of that. This is going to give us one extension tone -- a b13 --
So what we're gonna have over here again is a G chord on the right hand I'm gonna play in a
first inversion and a B minor 7 b5 on the left and when we put them together the color you'll get
is this... To construct this upper structure we simply play a major triad over a minor 7
b5 chord starting on the bVI degree of that chord. For example: in B minor 7 b5 the bVI
is G, so we simply have to play G major triad on top of a B minor 7 b6. We now have a B minor
7 b5 with a b13. So as I mentioned just a second ago with the upper structure I played
I put it in first inversion and I did that for a couple reasons this is a good voicing to use
with this upper structure because it puts the tension on top not only that as you're gonna
see later we're gonna create a line using that tension. Here the ways you can think about this triad:
play a major triad starting on the bVI of the chord or more independent
perspective just think a minor 6th above the root and play the major triad on that note in any inversion...
There are two main uses for this upper structure: the first is to use it on any ii7b5 - V7 progression
that targets a minor chord. When we play the bVI in first inversion
over a ii7b5 inside of a ii - V - i progression we create a chromatic
line that resolves on the one. Not only that but we're also suggesting a deceptive resolution to
the VI. For example in "I Remember Clifford" this C minor is the VI minor in the key of
Bb. By playing the Bb over the D minor 7 b5 we're actually playing a Bb7
in first inversion -- which is the V7 of Eb -- but then goes to the G7 which resolves
to C minor implying a deceptive resolution. Another interesting application of our upper
structure is by using it as the second degree in our Aeolian minor tune such as "Afro Blue" the
second mode of Aeolian is Locrian which is the chord scale implied by our upper structure.
"Afro Blue" is in F minor Aeolian and the second mode is G Locrian. If we play our upper structure on
top of G minor 7 b5 -- which is an Eb major triad -- we get a really nice Locrian sound as
the second mode of F minor Aeolian, very effective! So if I'm hanging out in the landscape of Aeolian
like I would be an "Afro Blue" in this case F Aeolian so that scale would sound like this...
the second mode of F Aeolian would be G Locrian so... this is the two chord of that key and here's G
Locrian on top of that... the reason our upper structure works so well is it's sort of a
condensed version of that chord scale. So in G Locrian our bVI is Eb so if I play
my Eb chord in first inversion I get G, Bb and Eb a lot of the notes I
just played... in G Locrian or at least a nice like I said condensed form of that chord scale
is all right there and our upper structure so now when I have my two one I have this... remember
the whole point is that you look at upper structures from different perspectives! Each
perspective will open different doors in any of these ways of thinking is useful. So here's your
upper structure challenge of the day! See if you can picture the major triad on the
bVI degree of the given minor 7 b5 chord. As usual will give you four beats to answer...
Alright well that's it for today hope that was helpful!
Don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification bell! We're gonna leave you today with our
demonstration using the major triad on a bVI degree of a minor 7 b5 chord. Enjoy...