Rootless voicings

Walking Bass and Rootless Voicings

So if you're playing a walking bass or a 2-feel bass in the left hand, you've got the root of the chord down low on the keyboard.

Key Concept:
In fact, you don't really need to put it in the chord as well. This is called unnecessary doubling.

Three Note Shapes

Let's look at some three-note shapes that you obtain by leaving out the root from the previous set of chords that we practiced. This is easily done.

• Starting with a Triad: You can get a rootless voicing just by moving the root down to the seventh.
  • For a major seventh chord, that would be C to B. The root will actually be down here.
  • This often sounds better than playing the full four-note chord in the right hand.

Important Note:
If it's a C7 chord, you need to move the root down a tone.

• C7 Rootless Voicing:
  • For a minor chord, start with a minor triad, and you can move the root down a semitone to B.
  • This would be called C minor major 7, often written with a triangle symbol.

Common Shapes

• More common is the minor seventh chord with a flattened seventh.
• Classic Shape:
  • For C minor, you don't need to put the C in the chord.
  • All of those voicings have the seventh on the bottom. Think of them as a 7, 3, 5 shape.

This is one of the most basic and commonly used rootless voicings.

Applying Rootless Voicings in a 2-5-1 Sequence

Now, let's see how that works in the 2, 5, 1.

• D Minor: Start with the 7th on the bottom.
• When we go to G7, you don't need to jump; you just need to move one note. How cool is that?

As we've seen before, the seventh of the minor chord, the C, falls a semitone and becomes G9. Because we've kept the A on top, you don't really want to do this:

• You don't need to play the root in the G7 chord.
• Leave the A on top, and you automatically get G9.

Resolving to C Major

You'll be resolving to C major, which again is a 7, 3, 5 shape.

You'll notice that in a 2, 5, 1, or any cycle chord sequence where the roots go up in fourths, the shapes alternate:

• The G7 shape we used just now was a 3, 7, 9 shape.

Alternate Key Example: Key of F

You also need to be able to do that the other way around. For example, if we were doing it in a different key, the key of F:

• You might want to play the chords in the same register, starting with a third on the bass.
• G Minor 7: I've actually got the root on top there. I still need to move just one note to make that C7.
• Then go back to the same voicing for the F chord. Although I've decided to put the sixth in the chord as an alternative to the major seventh.

Three Note Shapes Recap

Those are very easy three-note shapes to learn. You might be playing them in the left hand.

More Jazzy Approach:
A slightly more jazzy way of playing this 2, 5, 1 in F would be to start with your 3, 7, 9 shape for G minor. Remember, we used that for G7 earlier, but now it's got a B flat in.

• Again, you just need to move the F to an E, giving you a really juicy C13 chord.
• Note: The 13th is the A. It's the same note as the 6th. You don't need to do this; it sounds better to keep that A on top.

Then you're going to resolve to 3, 7, 9, the other shape.

Alternate Chord Options

You could alternately play 3, 6, 9, which is an F69 chord. It's a little bit more contemporary sounding.

• Interchangeability: Those two chords are basically interchangeable. If you like the sound of the 6, 9, you could go straight to it.

Upper Extensions

The voicings we've just been looking at include what you might call upper extensions:

• We've used ninths (the same as the second).
• We've used 13ths (the same as the sixth).
• You can have 11ths as well, but with a dominant seventh chord, that can be a bit of a clash, so we won't be using elevenths for the time being.

Practice Makes Perfect

Now that you've got your head around these voicings, be sure to practice them around the whole sequence of "All of Me" and then you'll be ready to play the next track.