# AI Wiki - Music - Piano Voicings ## What a Voicing Is A chord symbol tells you *which* notes to play; a **voicing** is the decision about *where*: which octave each note goes in, which note is on top, which note is in the bass, which notes are doubled and which are left out. "C" can be three keys under one hand or six keys spread over four octaves. Both are correct; they sound completely different. Voicing builds on two earlier skills: knowing chord spellings ([[AI Wiki - Music - Triads]], [[AI Wiki - Music - Seventh Chords]]) and moving between [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Chord Inversions]]. Inversions only reorder the notes inside one octave; voicings also spread, drop, double and omit them. The guitar equivalent is choosing between an [[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Open Chords|open chord]], a [[AI Wiki - Music - Barre Chords|barre chord]] and a three-string triad shape ([[AI Wiki - Music - Triads on the Fretboard]]). Four questions decide every voicing: 1. **Bass**: which note is lowest (root, or an inversion such as C/E)? 2. **Top**: which note is highest? The ear follows the top voice as a melody. 3. **Spacing**: close together or spread out? 4. **Content**: which chord tones are kept, doubled or dropped, and are colour tones (9, 11, 13) added? ## Close and Open Position **Close position** packs the chord tones as tightly as possible, inside one octave: C4-E4-G4. **Open position** uses the same notes over a span larger than an octave, leaving a gap where a chord tone could fit. In four-part classical harmony the test is the distance between the top voice and the third voice down (soprano to tenor): less than an octave is close, more is open. ```chord instrument: piano columns: 3 --- symbol: C pitches: C4 E4 G4 title: C close (one hand) --- symbol: C pitches: C3 G3 E4 title: C open: root-fifth-tenth --- symbol: C pitches: C2 G2 C4 E4 G4 title: C spread over two hands ``` Close voicings sound compact and punchy; they suit rhythmic comping and right-hand pulses. Open voicings sound warmer and bigger because each note has room. The root-fifth-tenth (C3-G3-E4) is the single most useful open sound on the piano, but the tenth needs a large hand; if you can't reach it, roll it from the bottom or give the E to the right hand. ## The Register Rule: Keep Low Notes Wide Small [[AI Wiki - Music - Intervals|intervals]] turn to mud low on the keyboard, because the low strings' overtones clash. Arrangers use **low interval limits**: the lowest pitch at which an interval still sounds clear. The commonly cited guideline values (scientific pitch, middle C = C4) are roughly: | Interval | Lowest clear placement | | --- | --- | | Minor third | about C3-E♭3 | | Major third | about B♭2-D3 | | Perfect fifth | about B♭1-F2 | | Octave | lower still | They are guidelines, not laws: soft dynamics are more forgiving, and some charts use a different octave numbering. The practical rule is simple: **below about C3, play only roots, fifths and octaves; put thirds and sevenths above C3**. It's why the left hand plays octaves or root-fifth in ballads and why the right hand carries the thirds ([[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]], [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Keyboard Layout]]). ## Shell Voicings (Root, 3rd, 7th) A **shell** keeps only the notes that define a seventh chord: the root, the 3rd (major or minor) and the 7th. The fifth goes, because it adds almost nothing ([[AI Wiki - Music - Seventh Chords]]). Bud Powell and other bebop pianists of the late 1940s made shells the standard left hand: root and 7th (R-7) or root and 3rd (R-3), with the right hand free for the melody or a solo. Alternate the shapes from chord to chord so the top of the shell moves by step. A ii-V-I in C: ```keyboard range: C2-B4 columns: 3 --- notes: D3 F3 C4 title: Dm7 shell: R-3-7 --- notes: G2 F3 B3 title: G7 shell: R-7-3 --- notes: C3 E3 B3 title: Cmaj7 shell: R-3-7 ``` Watch the inner voices: F3 stays on F3 then falls to E3; C4 falls to B3 and stays. These two moving lines are the **guide tones** (3rds and 7ths), the voice leading that makes jazz harmony sound like it's going somewhere ([[AI Wiki - Music - Chord Tones and Improvisation]]). The same pattern in G, the guitar-friendly key, for Am7-D7-Gmaj7: A2-G3-C4, D3-F♯3-C4, G2-F♯3-B3. Shells are also the best way into seventh chords for a returning beginner: two or three notes, one hand shape per chord quality, and the right hand gets the melody ([[AI Wiki - Music - Playing from Lead Sheets]]). ## Rootless Voicings (A and B Forms) When a bass player covers the root, the pianist can leave it out and spend those fingers on colour. **Rootless voicings**, closely associated with Bill Evans and documented in Mark Levine's *The Jazz Piano Book*, are four-note left-hand chords built from the 3rd, 7th and one or two extensions (9, 13), in two forms: - **A form**: 3rd on the bottom (3-5-7-9). - **B form**: 7th on the bottom (7-9-3-5, or 7-9-3-13 on a dominant). Alternating A and B through a ii-V-I keeps the hand in one place while the voices move by step: ```keyboard range: C3-B4 columns: 3 --- notes: F3 A3 C4 E4 title: Dm9 (A form): b3 5 b7 9 --- notes: F3 A3 B3 E4 title: G13 (B form): 7 9 3 13 --- notes: E3 G3 B3 D4 title: Cmaj9 (A form): 3 5 7 9 ``` From Dm9 to G13 only one note moves (C4 down to B3); from G13 to Cmaj9 three notes slide down a step and B3 holds. Keep the top note between middle C and the C above (C4-C5): lower gets muddy, higher gets thin. **Without a bass player, rootless voicings float**: play the root first with the left hand, then the voicing, or give the voicing to the right hand over a left-hand root. They are a jazz tool; for pop accompaniment, shells and triads over a bass note are usually enough ([[AI Wiki - Music - Jazz Music]]). ## Drop-2 Voicings A **drop-2** voicing takes a four-note close voicing and lowers the second-highest note by an octave. The result spans more than an octave, sounds open but stays playable, and splits naturally between the hands: the dropped note goes to the left hand (often with a root below it), the other three to the right. ```keyboard range: C3-B4 columns: 2 --- notes: G3 B3 C4 E4 title: Cmaj7 close (2nd inversion): G B C E --- notes: C3 G3 B3 E4 title: Drop 2: C dropped an octave ``` Dropping the second note from the top of G-B-C-E moves C4 to C3 and gives C3-G3-B3-E4: root in the bass, a seventh and a tenth above, a rich and very common ballad sound. Start from a different inversion and you get a different drop-2. Drop-2 voicings are even more central on guitar, where close four-note chords are often unplayable and drop-2 shapes fit the strings. Relatives: **[[AI Wiki - Music - Guitar Seventh Chord Voicings|drop 3]]** (lower the third voice from the top) and **drop 2+4**. A related idea, **quartal voicing**, stacks fourths instead of thirds; the "So What" voicing (E3-A3-D4-G4-B4: three fourths topped by a major third) is the famous example. ## Voicings for Pop Ballads Pop piano rarely needs extensions. Its standard texture is **left-hand octave (or root-fifth) + right-hand triad**, with the triad's inversion chosen so the right hand barely moves ([[AI Wiki - Music - Pop Music]]). Two tricks give it colour cheaply: 1. **Same right hand, new bass.** A C triad over an A bass is Am7 (A-C-E-G); an A minor triad over F is Fmaj7 (F-A-C-E). Moving only the left hand changes the chord quality. 2. **Add the 9th or the 2nd.** C-D-E-G under the right hand (Cadd9) shimmers more than a plain triad; sus2 and sus4 add tension before the resolution ([[AI Wiki - Music - Suspended and Added-Tone Chords]]). I-V-vi-IV in C ([[AI Wiki - Music - Common Chord Progressions]]), left-hand octaves, right hand voice-led: ```keyboard range: C1-B5 columns: 2 --- notes: C2 C3 E4 G4 C5 title: C: LH C2-C3, RH E4 G4 C5 --- notes: G1 G2 D4 G4 B4 title: G: LH G1-G2, RH D4 G4 B4 --- notes: A1 A2 E4 G4 C5 title: Am7: LH A1-A2, RH E4 G4 C5 (same RH as C) --- notes: F1 F2 E4 A4 C5 title: Fmaj7: LH F1-F2, RH E4 A4 C5 ``` The right hand's top note runs C5-B4-C5-C5 and its G4 holds through three chords; that's what makes it sound smooth. Hold each chord with the [[AI Wiki - Music - Sustain Pedal]], changing on each new bass note. For a softer, "singer-songwriter" sound, replace the octave with root-fifth (C2-G2) or a broken root-fifth-octave pattern. ## Left-Hand / Right-Hand Splits | Situation | Left hand | Right hand | | --- | --- | --- | | Solo pop/ballad | Octave or root-fifth | Triad in inversion, top note = melody or held tone | | Accompanying a singer | Root or root-fifth pattern | Close triads or add9 chords around C4-C5 | | Lead sheet, melody on top | Root, or shell (R-3-7) | Melody plus one or two chord tones below it | | Jazz trio (with bass) | Rootless A/B voicing (C3-C5) | Melody or improvised line | | Jazz solo (no bass) | Root, then shell or 10th | Rootless voicing or melody harmonised | | Big ballad ending | Octave low, then fifth | Drop-2 or spread chord, rolled | ## How to Practise 1. **One progression, many voicings.** Take I-V-vi-IV and ii-V-I in C and play them close, open, as shells, as rootless (ii-V-I) and as pop ballad voicings. Then [[AI Wiki - Music - Capo and Transposition|transpose]] to G and D. 2. **Name the top note.** Before each chord, decide its top note and make those top notes form a line. 3. **Guide-tone drill.** Play only the 3rd and 7th of each chord of a ii-V-I with one hand, hearing the half-step moves. 4. **Check the register.** Play the same shell an octave lower and listen for mud; that's the low interval limit. 5. **Apply it to a tune.** Voice the chords of a song you already know from a lead sheet ([[AI Wiki - Music - Playing from Lead Sheets]]); reharmonised versions come later ([[AI Wiki - Music - Reharmonization]]). ## Common Mistakes - Close thirds in the low register: muddy left hand. - Doubling the 3rd in a major chord loudly; it sticks out. Double the root or fifth instead. - Rootless voicings with no bass player and no left-hand root. - Jumping every chord in root position instead of voice-leading to the nearest notes. - Top notes chosen by accident, so the "melody" of the chords jumps around. - Stretching for tenths and big spreads with a small hand; roll them or split them between the hands ([[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Technique and Posture]]). ## Key Points - A voicing decides bass, top note, spacing and which notes are kept, doubled or dropped. - Close position fits in an octave; open position spreads the same notes wider. - Below about C3, use roots, fifths and octaves; keep thirds and sevenths higher. - Shells: root + 3rd + 7th, alternated so the guide tones move by step. - Rootless A form = 3-5-7-9, B form = 7-9-3-5 (or 7-9-3-13); they need a bass somewhere. - Drop 2: lower the second-highest note of a close voicing by an octave. - Pop ballads: left-hand octaves or root-fifth, right-hand triads voice-led, plus add9/sus colour. ## Open Questions - Which ballads in my repertoire suit drop-2 voicings, and which sound better with plain triads? - How far can rootless voicings be used solo before the missing root becomes a problem? - What's the best path from shells to rootless voicings for a returning beginner? ## References - Wikipedia, "Voicing (music)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicing_(music) (definition, close/open position, drop voicings, doubling) - The Jazz Piano Site, "Close Position" and drop-2: https://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/four-way-close/ - Earl MacDonald, "Rootless Left Hand Piano Voicings": https://www.earlmacdonald.com/jazz-piano-lessons/rootless-left-hand-piano-voicings/ (A/B positions, C4-C5 register, Bill Evans) - Earl MacDonald, "Left Hand Shells": https://www.earlmacdonald.com/jazz-piano-lessons/left-hand-shells/ - Piano With Jonny, "Jazz Piano Chord Voicings: The Complete Guide": https://pianowithjonny.com/piano-lessons/jazz-piano-chord-voicings-the-complete-guide/ (shells, Bud Powell) - Robin Hoffmann, "Low Interval Limits": https://www.robin-hoffmann.com/dfsb/low-interval-limits - Mark Levine, *The Jazz Piano Book* (Sher Music, 1989): left-hand voicings, rootless A/B forms, drop-2, So What voicings ## Related - [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Chord Inversions]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Triads]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Seventh Chords]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Suspended and Added-Tone Chords]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Playing from Lead Sheets]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Common Chord Progressions]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Chord Tones and Improvisation]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Jazz Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Pop Music]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Sustain Pedal]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reharmonization]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Keyboard Layout]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Triads on the Fretboard]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Technique and Posture]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Arranging Songs]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reggae Keyboards]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Extended Chords]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Minor Blues and Jazz Blues]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Improvisation]]