Piano Voicings Part 1: Left Hand Voicings

Graham English — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 02:28:13 +0000

Left hand piano voicings enable you to play the basic progression of jazz harmony, II-V-I, with good voice leading while freeing your right hand for soloing. The most important notes in these chords are the third and seventh because they determine the chord quality. The root and fifth of the chord don’t require much attention because they are implied by the rest of the chord. Here are the basic left hand voicings in first position:

Here are the left hand voicings in second position:

Try substituting the tritone (augmented 4th/diminished 5th) for the V chord. This substitution is sometimes called a Valt (#5,#9) chord (depending on the root in the bass):

Try altering other scale degrees:

Graham English Official Site » tritone substitution

Piano Voicings Part 1: Left Hand Voicings