Four Way Close, Locked Hands and Drop Two Voicings [PDF]

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Four Way Close, Locked Hands And Drop Two Voicings Close Position In a previous lesson (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/openvoicings/) we determined that to play in ‘close harmony’ (AKA close position) means to play all the notes of the chord within the range of a single octave. While to play in ‘open harmony’ (AKA open position) means to play all the same notes but over a span larger than an octave. And I stated that playing in open position creates a richer, more balanced and more ‘open’ sound. There is, nevertheless, a place for close position voicings in Jazz – and these are called Four Way Close, Locked Hands and Drop Two Voicings.

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OPEN

Four Way Close Runs Harmonically, the strongest possible sounding chord progression is a V7-I Perfect Cadence (e.g. G7 to C). And a common Chord Substitution (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazzchords/chord-substitution/) for the V7 chord is a diminished chord one semitone above the root (A♭o7 = Rootless G7♭9).   If you superimpose A♭o7 over a C6 and play all the notes in the form of a scale you get the C Bebop Scale: C D E F G A♭A B = C Major Scale + A♭o7 = C Bebop Scale

We can do something interesting with this. If we alternate between the two chords, changing inversions, we can create a little run of chords where the top note moves up in steps. This creates a repeating V7-I sequence which sounds really smooth and really strong. You can do the same with

Cm6, C7 and Cm7 chords (though not CMaj7).

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A♭o7 = A♭ B D F C6 = C E G A Cm6 = C E♭ G A C7 = C E G B♭ Cm7 = C E♭ G B♭

  This is called Four Way Close – playing a 4 note chord in close harmony.   This is a great technique to employ when playing a song where the melody moves in steps, such as: Blue Bossa There will never be another you

Fly me to the Moon

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OPEN

Locked Hands and Drop 2 Voicings This technique can be modi ed in a couple of ways to get two other widely used techniques. If you use your Left Hand to double the top melody note an octave lower this gives you a technique called Locked Hands. If you omit the second highest note in your Right Hand and play it with your Left Hand an octave lower this gives you a technique called Drop 2. It’s worth mentioning a few of points about Drop 2 Voicings: Always drop the second highest note – regardless of what degree it is. This will change with the inversion of the chord Root position – second highest note = 5th 2nd inversion – second highest note = root Drop 2 – literally means you ‘drop the second highest note’. There are also ‘Drop 3’ or ‘Drop 4’ or ‘Drop 2 & 3’ voicings – which follow the same logic, but Drop 2 is the most widely used.

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As an example, take the song Fly me to the Moon   Original

Melody

FWC Chord

FWC Notes

Lckd Hands

Drop 2

Am7

C

Am7

EGAC

C-EGAC

A-EGC

B

Fo7 (E7)

DFA♭B

B-DFA♭B

A♭-DFB

A

Am7

CEGA

A-CEGA

G-CEA

G

B♭o7 (A7)

B♭D♭EG

G-B♭D♭EG

E-B♭D♭G

F

Dm7

ACDF

F-ACDF

D-ACF

G

B♭o7

B♭D♭EG

G-B♭D♭EG

E-B♭D♭G

A

Dm7

CDFA

A-CDFA

F-CDA

C

Dm7

DFAC

C-DFAC

A-DFC

B

G7

DFGB

B-DFGB

G-DFB

Dm7

G7

Original

CMaj7

Melody

FWC Chord

FWC Notes

Lckd Hands

Drop 2

A

E♭o7 (D7)

CE♭G♭A

A-CE♭G♭A

G♭-CE♭A

G

G7

BDFG

G-BDFG

F-BDG

F

A♭o7 (G7)

A♭BDF

F-A♭BDF

D-A♭BF

E

C6

GACE

E-GACE

C-GAE

And note that the Drop 2 voicing can be applied to any song that has a run of chords to make it sound richer and more balanced.

Have a Listen to Any and Every George Shearing solo

Jazz Piano Chord Voicings - Four Way Close, Locked Hands & Drop 2

  >> NEXT LESSON >> (/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/advanced-locked-hands)

 

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