Jazz Comping for Vibes
Lesson 2

The most important thing to remember from lesson 1 is that chord symbols often represent keys, or tonal areas of a tune. Let's review this by figuring out the key areas for the beginning of Moments Notice by John Coltrane.

In bar 1 we have 2 chords that make up a common cadence (the familiar II - V progression) in the key of D major. Those 2 chords outline, or fit inside a D major scale. See example 1. The chords in the second and third bars do the same thing, but in the key of Eb major. See example 2. Measure 4 is in the key of Gb major. Each chord pattern implies a scale. Some people refer to these as chord-scales.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Why do I need to do chord-scale analysis?

The first question you might ask is "Why do I need this analysis? I already know all the notes in an E-7 chord. They are E, G, B, and D." Answer: to accomplish two important goals for comping:

1. Outline the tonal area and the quality of the chord - maj7 sound, a dom7 sound, etc.
2. Create musical shapes and colors that generate interest and support what the soloist is doing.

Including some chord tones (root, 3rd, 5th, or 7th) will help us with the first task. To accomplish the second task we need more notes to work with! If we determined that the E-7 chord in Moments Notice belongs to a D major scale, then we can expand our E-7 chord to include not only E, G, B, and D, but also F#, A, and C#. Those three additional notes give you a fuller palette of colors you can use to construct voicings with variety and creativity.

Increase your Voicing Opportunities

Having 7 to 8 notes to work with gives you many choices for building chords. Here are some questions to ask to help you choose good notes.

• Are there any notes MUST I have in my chord?
• Are some notes more important than others?
• What notes won't work in the voicing?

Think of this selection process just like picking a team of players for a sporting event. Players have certain strengths and weaknesses, and your job is to pick a balanced team that can win the game. In our case we are picking a team of notes that accomplishes the two goals stated above. Make sense?

Now we'll take a good look at several common chord types. Each topic below opens and closes when you click on the topic link. They open and close independently, so you can control how much you want to see at any given time.

Common Chords - Table of Contents

• Major 7 Chords

  Major7 chords generally can be expanded into a couple different scales. Plain old major scales are the first choice, and a Lydian scale is often another choice. The 4th degree of the scale is naturaled in a major scale and sharped in a Lydian scale. That is the only difference. See example.
  
  You can use the Lydian scale if the chord symbol indicates a sharp 11, as in "GMaj7 #11". If you have a fake book open it up and look for some maj7#11 chord symbols. It's pretty safe to use a Lydian scale even if the chord symbol does not specify a #11.

  So now what? How do we decide what notes to pick to make a 3 or 4 part chord? We've got 7 notes to choose from: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13. The answer, in this case, is wide open. Major7 chords can be interpreted with just about any combination of available notes you want to use. The only restriction is to probably avoid using natural 11ths. Sharp 11ths can be used with confidence. You can throw out the notion that you must have a 3rd or a 7th or a root or a 5th in your chord. You could have one or more of these, but it is not essential or necessary. Why is that? Perhaps because our modern culture hears the settled, stable sound of maj7 chords very well. As long as you stick to the notes in the scale, you are free to shape your voicings as you want. Cool eh? Below are several voicing choices for a Dmaj7 chord. The 3 things to notice here are the variety of intervals used to create voicings, the way a simple melodic phrase is used in the top mallet part, and the use of 3 and 4 part chords. See example:
  
  See how the shape and size of these chords develop. There are close voicings (chords that fit inside an octave) and open voicings (chords that are larger than an octave). You don't need to always have four notes in your chord. Three note voicings are excellent to use. Can you identify what notes were chosen for each chord? Hint: the first chord is built using the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th notes.

  One of the most important things to notice here is the top voice in the chords. It makes a simple, singable melodic phrase. Play the top voice alone so you can really hear it. It is the dominant sound in your chord. The top voice often dictates the direction of your chords as you move from one shape to another (voice leading). We will talk more about this concept, which can be called top-down comping, throughout the rest of the course. Think of the top voice of your chord as the "leader of the pack" so to speak.

  The example below sums up our exploration of major 7 chords. It is an excerpt from Chick Corea's tune "Tones for Jones Bones". The keys (scales) change with each chord. What notes in the scales are chosen to make the chords? Look at the variety in the sizes and shapes. There are open and close voicings. The chords are made up of different intervals - 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 6ths, etc. Lastly, see how the top voice plays a simple but distinctive little melody. It was derived from the actual melody of the tune. Using a motif like this in the top voice takes your comping to a whole new level. Instead of just outlining the key areas you are now making real music and providing the soloist with real musical ideas.
  
  

  Listen to Example:

  Study these examples. Practice them and then start to create your own. This kind of practice should be done slowly. You are working to develop your own unique comping style and that takes time. This is all about developing mental dexterity and speed.

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• Minor 7 Chords

  There are several scales to choose when expanding a minor 7 chord into a key. The trick is to determine how the minor 7 chord is being used in the progression. Often a minor 7 is part of a II-7 - V7. See Moments Notice excerpt above. Many standards use III-7 and VI-7 a lot. The tune "Blame it on My Youth" by Oscar Levant is a good example. So....the choices of scales that you could assign to a minor 7 chord include natural minor scale (also known as Aeolean mode), harmonic minor scale, melodic minor scale, the dorian, phrygian or locrian modes. That's a lot of scales! For most of them the only differences are in the 6th and 7th degrees. For example:

  • Natural minor scale - flatted 6th and 7th
  • Dorian scale - natural 6th and flatted 7th
  • Harmonic minor scale - flatted 6th and natural 7th (also called major 7th)
  • Melodic minor scale - natural 6th and natural 7th
  • Phrygian scale - flatted 6th, flatted 7th, and flatted 2nd

  
  If you work hard on the exercises in lesson 1 you'll get good at identifying the 6th and 7th degrees of minor scales, which will help you greatly with this.

  Our next step is to find out how to use the notes in these scales to create minor 7 chords. If the min7 chord is part of a II-7 - V7 progression you may want to give special attention to the 3rds and 7ths. These notes are often called guide tones, and can really help you establish the well-known II-V sound. Otherwise you can generally say the notes all have equal value, that is, any combination of available notes can be used to build a chord. The minor scale you are using will determine which notes are available and which should be avoided. Stay away from flatted 6ths and flatted 2nds. They are difficult to work with. If your chord scale contains a flatted 5th, as in a min7 b5 chord, make sure you include it. The b5 note sets up a tri-tone interval with the root of the chord, and is a very strong and distinctive interval. Natural 9ths, 11th, and 6ths are usually good choices. If you encounter a minor chord with a major 7 note be sure to include that note. You can find an example in the opening of the Miles Davis tune "Solar".

  Let's try to boil all this down into a simple game plan: roots, natural 2nds, flatted 3rds, natural 4ths, 5ths, and flatted 7ths can be used most of the time. When working with II-V progressions you usually want to have the 3rd and 7th notes in there (often in the bottom hand). You use natural 6ths and natural 7ths mostly when the chord symbol tells you to, as in A-6 or C-(maj7). For Min7 b5 chords be sure the b5 note is included.

  The excerpt below is from Horace Silver's tune "Silver's Serenade". Pay special attention to the top voice of these chords. A nice little melodic phrase was taken from the tune and simplified a bit to become a part of this example. As was discussed earlier with major 7 voicings, the top mallet should play something melodic and interesting and the bottom mallets play notes that support the top voice and fill out the chord. Play the top voice alone so you can hear the line. Notice also the use of open and closed voicings, 3 and 4 part chords, and the variety of intervals. Notice also that some of the chords have no 3rd.
  

  Listen:

  The trick to doing this well is seeing the notes you want to play quickly. To practice this, pick a set of 3 or 4 notes that make up a nice minor 7 sound. Start with 1 3 5 7 if you want. Set your metronome to a medium slow tempo and play your chord in all keys. Don't move through the keys chromatically. Use a cycle of 5ths or 4ths. If you miss a chord don't stop, just keep going on to the next key. Repeat the whole thing once or twice if you want. Make up lots of shapes like 2 3 5 6, or 5 3 4 9 (a big shape!), or 1 4 7 3 (all 4th intervals). Memorize the shape and run 'em through the keys. Just do it!

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• Dominant 7 Chords

  Think of dom7 chords as the "movers and shakers" of western music. They provide a kind of aural energy that moves the music from place to place. If you take a look at any popular song written recently or 80 years ago you'll see that chord progressions can be lumped into 3 categories - tonic, subdominant, and dominant. Typically a tune starts in a settled place (a tonic chord), moves away to a less settled place (a subdominant chord), moves from there to a very restless place (a dominant chord), and finally resolves back to a tonic chord (a resting place). Let's take a look at an old jazz staple, Blue Bossa written by Kenny Dorham. Here are the chords with bass notes:
  
  The tune is in C minor. It starts on C-7, a tonic sound, moves to a subdominant sound (F-7 to D-7(b5), then to a dominant sound with the G7(b9), and back again to a C-7, the tonic. Next it modulates to Db major using an Eb-7 (subdominant) and Ab7 (dominant), resolving to a Dbmaj7 (tonic). Lastly it modulates back to C minor with another D-7(b5), G7(b9), C-7. You'll find this pattern of going from settled places to unsettled places and back to settled places everywhere in our music, be it jazz, classical, pop or blues.

  What gives a dominant 7 chord its restless energy? It's the augmented 4th interval that exists between the 3rd and 7th notes in the chord. Western cultural has developed a special relationship with the aug. 4th, also known as a tri-tone. In the 16th century it was considered the devil's sound and composers could suffer grave consequences for using it. Today it provides the sense of movement and propulsion that drives music along from start to finish.

  It is important to know this because you need to give serious preference to the 3rd and 7th when you are playing a dom7 chord. Unlike maj7 or min7 chords, which give you a lot of freedom with note selection, dom7 chords really need the tri-tone in the voicing most of the time. No worries though, you'll still be able to create lots of interesting chord shapes.

  A very popular strategy mallet players use to voice dom7 chords is to put the 3rd and 7th in the left hand and put some combination of root, 5th, and/or available tensions (9, 11, 13) in the right hand. With this simple method you'll be able to ensure that the essence of the chord is stated, while still having many other notes to choose from to color and complete your voicing.

  Lets find out what all those choices are. The basic scale for a dom7 chord is a major scale with the 7th degree flatted. Many of you will recognize this a mixolydian scale. It includes the chord tones 1 3 5 7 and three tensions 9 11 13. As we discussed with maj7 chords the natural 11th can be difficult to work with. I stay away from it. All the others are available. If you use the voicing technique described above you'll have 4 notes to choose from for your right hand - 1, 5, 9, 13. You can also invert the notes in your left hand - 3rd and 7th OR 7th and 3rd. This should give you plenty of room to create nice rich open chord shapes. To demonstrate here's a short excerpt from Jerome Kern's well-known tune "Yesterdays".
  
  Each chord contains the 3rd and 7th, either in the left hand or between both hands. There are open and close voicings used, and a nice variety of tensions are included, along with some root or 5ths. Be sure to check out what the top mallet is playing. You want to create little motifs and simple sequences with your top voice, just as was done here.

  There are also several additional notes available to use in your dom7 chords. They are called altered tensions: b9, #9, #11 and b13. You'll often see altered tensions written in the chord symbols of a lead sheet. Find some in your fake book. Look for chords like C7(b9) or F7(b13) or Ab7(#11). Sometimes you'll see D7alt, which basically says "use whatever altered tensions you want". If your dom7 chord is in a minor key you can also make use of altered tensions. Let's go back to Blue Bossa and see how that works. The tune is in C minor which has a key signature of 3 flats. If we analyze the first few bars we would have a I-7 chord, a IV-7 chord, a II-7 chord, a V7 chord, and back to a I- chord. All of those chords are in the key of 3 flats, so when you build your chords you will be using the notes from that key. For the G7 (V7) that means we can add notes like Eb, Bb, and Ab to the voicing. Those notes are all altered tensions - Eb is a b13, Bb and Ab are #9 and b9. It's true to say then, that when you are working in minor keys think altered tensions for dom7 chords. Clear as mud..??

  Sometimes you can use both natural and altered tensions together to create some nice passing note effects in your chords. Here's an example:
  
  This is a simple V7 to I maj progression in the keys of F major and Bb major. Since we are in major keys altered tensions are not officially available to us for dom7 chords. But here they are being used to create passing notes to move smoothly from one chord to the next. Analyze all the notes used in this example. Be sure you understand how the altered tensions are utilized to create color and movement in the chords. They are pretty much always going to be positioned in the top of the chord where they sound the best. In this example they are used to create a hip little line in the right hand.

  So let's wrap this up. We've learned that dom7 chords have a very important function in modern music. We've learned what notes are needed to establish the dom7 sound and we've learned how to ornament that sound with colorful tensions. Make up a random progression of dom7 chords and play through it with just your left hand playing 3rds and 7ths (known as guide tones in "Berklee speak"). Then play it again adding 1 note in your right hand, a root, fifth, or an available tension. Try to make your right hand note move in a logical, musical way. Here is an example:
  
  See how the top mallet is playing a kind of sequence, and the bottom mallets are playing the guide tones to support it. This is "top-down" comping. Try to think this way when you comp. I know, easier said than done. Practice!!

  Close Topic
• Diminished 7 Chords

  Diminished chords are interesting creatures. They are known as symmetric chords because the interval between each chord tone is the same - a minor 3rd. There are also 2 tri-tone intervals. One between the 1st and 5th, and the other between the 3rd and 7th. We talked about the tri-tone's distinct sound in dominant 7th chords, so you might think of a diminished chord kind of like a dom7 on steriods. It definitely is an energized, restless chord that is often used to move from one chord to the next. It is fair to say that dim7 chords and dom7 chords have a lot in common. They have similar sound quality, and are often used in the same way. In fact, a dom7(b9) chord, which you see all the time, can be played as a dim7, and I tend to think of them that way. You can see this if you take a G7(b9) and play the 3rd and 7th in your left hand and the 5th and b9 in your right. Now play an Abdim7 in an open position with the root and 5th in the bottom and the 7th and 3rd in the top. Exactly the same shape for both. See example below:
  
  The symmetry of dim7 chords is a big help because there are actually only 3 chord structures to learn. An Fdim7 contains exactly the same notes as an Abdim7, a Bdim7 and a Ddim7. An F#dim7 can also be used to play an Adim7, a Cdim7, and an Ebdim7. Is that cool or what! Take some time, if needed, to acquaint yourself with this most useful concept.

  When you're voicing dim7 chords a great way to begin is to borrow the voicing idea that was covered in the dom7 section. That is, put a tri-tone interval in your left hand and put available tensions and/or remaining chord tones in your right. This will instantly give you a nice open voicing with room for colorful tensions. Instant hipness!

  Next we need to pin down what scale(s) can be used to expand the note choices for dim7 chords. Dim7 chords come with their own special chord scale, created just for them. It's called, as you might expect, a diminished scale, and it is very different from all the chord scales we've looked at so far. I can hear someone say "Arrgh! More scales to learn!" The dim7 symmetric structure will come to the rescue again. There are only 3 of these funny scales to learn. Here they are:
  
  Notice that these scales have 8 notes instead of the usual 7. They are constructed of alternating whole and half step intervals. You can also say they are constructed of 2 minor tetrachords, each a tri-tone apart. Look at the first scale. The first 4 notes make up a C minor scale, and the 2nd 4 notes make up a Gb minor scale.

  The first scale applies to Cdim7, Ebdim7, Gbdim7, and Adim7. The second scale applies to the C#dim7, Edim7, Gdim7, and Bbdim7. The last scale works for Ddim7, Fdim7, Abdim7, and Bdim7. Next we need to decide what are the best notes in these scales to add to our dim7 chords as available tensions. There are three that I find work well nearly all the time - the 9th, the 11th, and oddly, the 7th. It is interesting that the maj 7th is not a chord tone as you'd expect, but an available tension. This is just another example of the unique quality of dim7 chords.

  Dim7 chords are often used to pass smoothly from one chord to the next. You'll find examples of this in standard tunes all the time. Get out your fake book and take a look "Night and Day", "Isn't it Romantic", or "Out of Nowhere". You should find dim7 chords used in this way in each of these tunes. Another popular way to use the dim7 is as an approach, or substitute for a maj7 chord. Let's say you have a Gmaj7 chord at the beginning of the tune. The pianist or guitarist will sometimes play a Gdim7 for 2 beats and resolve it to a Gmaj7 for the final 2 beats. It creates a very dramatic effect. You probably don't want to use this re-harmonization technique all the time, but it is a cool trick to use to add drama and excitement to a performance. Here's an example of voicings using passing dim7. The chords come from the opening of "Easy Living":
  
  
  
  See how the shape and direction of the chords follows the top mallet, which is playing a little sequence going up in 3rds. Both open and close voicings are used to give variety to the sound. Using only open or only close voicings gets dull real quick. Mix it up. The next example is taken from the ending of Billy Strayhorn's tune "Upper Manhhattan Medical Group". The progression is simply a Dbdim7 resolving to a Dbmaj7, an interesting way to use diminished chords.
  
  This time the dim7 chords have some tensions in the top voice. As always, analyze the notes and pay special attention to the top voice. It is moving down in 3rds this time, and the remaining 3 notes fill out the sound and support the top note. Compare the last chord in this example with the last chord in the previous example. In both cases the major 7 chords are all voiced using perfect 4th intervals. This sound is very distinctive and frequently used for both maj7 and min7 chords. I use them a lot because they sound great.

  Since dim7 and dom7 chords have a lot in common you might want to practice them together. You want to get very good at picking out those tri-tones. Practice voicing dim7 chords in open positions like 1,5,7, 3. See if you can find the inversions - 5, 3, 1, 7 and 3, 7, 5, 1. Then try some 3 part chords with a tri-tone in the left and a tension in the right, just as you did with dom7 chords. Concentrate on seeing the similarities in these 2 chord types. There are many.

  Close Topic

This concludes Lesson 2. A truckload of information has been covered here. Don't be impatient to move on to Lesson 3. You don't need to master everything in a lesson before moving on to the next, but don't race through them either. Each lesson builds on the last. In Lesson 3, the final in this course, you'll be given chord progressions with the top note of each chord included. Your job will be to provide the remaining 2 or 3 notes to fill out the voicings. The goal will be to strengthen this "top-down" approach to comping. There will also be exercises to help you quickly identify common tones between any 2 chords. Identifying and using these common notes is a sure fire way to develop smooth voicing leading technique. Good luck! Next Lesson

Intro || Lesson 1 || Lesson 2 || Lesson 3