I know it's a lot to declare something your absolute "favorite" but I must say if someone asked me right now what my favorite chord voicing on the piano is, I wouldn't hesitate.  It's the minor 11 voicing I'm about to teach you.  Sure, ask me in a couple of years, I'll probably have moved on.  But ever since I heard this voicing I can't get enough!

For those who can't wait to hear and see the specific chord I'm talking about and learn how to play it, check out the video below.   For those who don't want a fish but want to be taught how to fish, let's talk some theory.  

At it's basics a minor 11 chord contains the notes of a minor 7 chord with some tensions added on.  So if we are thinking in terms of a major scale, the 4 notes of a plain old minor 7 chord are the root (1), b3, 5, b7.  For a Cminor7 chord that would be C, Eb, G, Bb.  That covers the plain parts of the chord, but things start to get spicy when we add what are called chord tensions, typically the 9, 11, and 13.  This chord uses the 9th and 11th and leaves out the 13th.  If we are still talking Cminor7 that would be a D and an F.   (Note:  Remember 9th, 11th and 13th are just a fancy way of saying the 2nd, 4th, 6th, but that's for another article)

So here are the notes that make up our minor 11 chord:  Root b3, 5, b7, 9, & 11, OR in C -- C, Eb, G, Bb, D, and F.

Notes are one thing, those are just the building blocks of the chord.  Where it really starts to get interesting is the voicings, that is, the arrangement or order in which we play those notes.  

In our left hand we play the Root, 5th, and 9th.  This makes two stacked perfect fifths, a nice open sound.  In the right hand, we play the b3, b7, and the 11.  Guess what?  Two more stacked perfect fifths.  But here's where it gets juicy, when we put our hands together we get an interval between the top note of the left hand and the bottom note of the right hand -- a super crunchy minor 2nd.  So we have a bunch of open sounding fifths and to contrast it we have the bite of the dissonant minor second.  Now that's my kinda voicing.  Check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed.  

Happy Shedding!  

Stevie Wonder is without question one of my favorite artists of all-time.  From his killer piano/keyboard playing, to his soulful singing, to his unrivaled songwriting, he is a serious triple-threat.  I love learning to play Stevie songs as much as I love listening to them.  Although you'll probably never hear me doing this in public, I also love to play the chords to his songs and sing along.  In fact, teaching my students how to play piano while they sing along is one of my favorite things to do because I know how much joy that can bring. 

I am working with an online student where we almost exclusively learn how to play the chords of songs so she can sing along with them.  She recently asked to learn Stevie Wonder's song "As."  Needless to say, it didn't take much convincing for us to work on this one.  

Check out the video below of me playing the voicings.  I start by playing the voicings with some rhythmic embellishment then simplify things by playing as written on the sheet music (below).  Tell me what you think of this new split screen MIDI technology I'm experimenting with, so you can get a better idea of what notes I am playing.

When learning "As," here's two things to think about:  

Chord voicings

Once again, as I talked about my previous blog entry about "Let's Groove," many of these chord voicings are Root in the left hand and 7-3-5 in the right hand.  It's a classic voicing that you'll see again and again.  Also take note on how on some dominant 7 chords (i.e. C#7, F#7) I use a 3-7-9 voicing.  That's another good one to have under your fingers.

Chord function

Ok, time to put your theory hats on.  With any song you learn, whether it be R&B, jazz, pop, rock, whatever -- I can't stress how important it is to know the FUNCTION (roman numerals) of each chord.  Take the key of C major.  You have C major (the I chord), D minor (the ii chord), E minor (the iii chord), F (the IV chord) and so on. Think of every chord in terms of its function.  This will help you in so many ways -- with memorization, with transposing, with learning the way certain chord progressions sound by ear.  I started doing this way later in the game than I wish I had and I won't let you make the same mistake.  Trust me on this one!  

So let's talk chord function for Stevie Wonder's "As."  This one isn't so straight-forward, that's why I thought it might be a good one to talk down.  Don't worry so much if this is too complex, see what you can understand. Hit me up with private questions or we can talk about this sort of thing in a one-on-one lesson.  

First step -- what key are we in?  Well, we are sort of shifting between B major and then the relative minor (a 6th up), G# minor.  I've attached below my harmonic analysis of it.  Remember capital roman numerals are major chords and lower-case roman numerals are minor chords.  A triangle means "major."  

Verse
The first measure starts off with the Imaj7 chord which changes to a I7 chord.  That I7 acts as a dominant that leads to the IVmaj7 chord.  Then the 3rd measure has the same Imaj7 to I7 but instead Stevie goes to a bVIImaj7 chord.  Pretty tricky move there.  It's a FLAT VIImaj7 because an A natural is out of the key of B major, something us theory nerds call "modal interchange."  Measures 5 and 6 are the same as 1 and 2.  

Now we get to a vi7 chord in measure 7.  That can act as the plain old vi7 chord or also a i7 chord in a new key, G#minor.  This makes the G#m7 chord something we call a "pivot chord," a chord that works in two different keys that helps you switch from one key to another.  I think of the next two chords as in G#minor -- the iidim7 and the V7b9.  (Normally the ii chord in minor keys is half-diminished, but just to make things a bit more complex, Stevie uses a ii fully dim 7).  Now thinking of measure 8 in B major again, we have a pretty classic turn-around, vi7, II7, ii7, V7.  

Chorus
The chorus is only 4 chords and I consider that to be exclusively in G#minor.  It goes i7, iidim7, i6/5 (an inversion of i7 with the 3rd in the bass), and finally a IV7.  Note that the iv chord in minor is usually a minor chord, but here Stevie uses a dom7 chord.  This is very common in R&B/funk etc.  

Bridge
The chord that leads into the bridge is a cool one, F7#5.  I labeled that one as a something from B major, a bII7(#5)/IV.  What??! you might ask.  The "/IV" can be read as "of four" meaning that the function of this chord is to lead to the IV chord in B major, which is Emaj7.  Now think, what's the flat 2 of E major scale?  The 2nd degree of the E major scale is F#, so the flat 2 is F.  The "flat 2" 7(#5) is an F 7(#5).  

That bII7(#5)/IV leads us to the first chord of the bridge, Emaj7, or the IV of B major.  Then the bridge is pretty straightforward after that:  Imaj7, IVmaj7, bIIImaj7 (another "modal interchange"), IVmaj7, Imaj7, ii7, and another common turn-around iii7, VI7, ii7, V7.

Phew.  There ya have it.  Is your brain still functioning after all that?  Ok, now forget all that theory stuff and have fun playing and singing the tune.

Happy shedding!

I recently had to learn the Earth, Wind, & Fire tune "Let's Groove" for a gig and thought I would share it with you all.  

I had a great time just learning the simple bass riff and chord changes and playing along with the recording -- sometimes it just feels so good to get in a rhythm and play along with a killer band.  It's sort of a like a meditation for me.   

Here's the sheet music and recording for you to check out and follow along to.  

As my students know, one of my favorite things to do is to extract a lesson from a song we are learning -- this I think is how the information really sticks!  One great thing to take away from "Let's Groove" is how to voice minor 7 chords.  Voice, for those that don't know, is just a fancy way of saying what order you play the chord tones in -- you can play a E minor7 chord a lot of different ways -- in different inversions, leaving out or adding certain notes, etc -- each is a different "voicing."  

When you are voicing a minor 7 chord on piano, the simplest thing to do is to play all the chord tones from the root up -- Root, 3rd, 5th, 7th.  If we take the first chord of "Let's Groove," Em7, that would be E, G, B, D.   Go ahead and play that in your right hand, with a bass note (E) in your left. Sure, that sounds ok, but the secret to really sounding pro is just a few steps away.  First off, take out the root from your voicing.  Now try to left hand playing the bass note, E, and your right hand playing just G, B, D.  Much better, right?  If you (or the bass player) is already playing the root, no need to be redundant.  Now change that G, B, D into an inversion -- try D, G, B (still with an E in your left hand).  Now this is a fantastic voicing for an Em7 chord that you hear pianists use all the time.  

Another way to think of this is to play the major triad a minor third up from the root note.  For example, in an Em7 a minor third up from E is a G.  So Em7 becomes G/E.   In an Am7, a minor third up from A is C, so an Am7 becomes a C/A.  

Notice in my arrangement of "Let's Groove" all the different ways of voicing minor 7 chords.  If you like the sound of a certain voicing, try it in all 12 keys!   

Happy Shedding!