C Dominant 7 Flat 9 Voicings

So now we move on to voicings. We have the C dominant 7 flat 9. This is a really interesting sound. It's basically the sound that you hear before you go to resolve on the one.

Voicing Breakdown

The voicing we've got written here is as follows:

• The dominant 7 b9 is actually very similar to the diminished shape.
  • If you play a C in the bass, you get the sound of the C dominant 7 b9.
  • If you play a C sharp in the bass, you get a diminished sound.

Learning Tip

A little trick when you're trying to learn these dominant 7 flat 9 voicings is to think of them as a diminished shape with a sub chord over the top. You're substituting the bass note, but in reality, you're playing the diminished a semitone higher.

Variations

These three are as follows. Now, this last one is particularly nice because it can be used in so many different ways; it's a classic jazz chord.

• If we deviate slightly, we can make the flat nine a natural nine, giving us a completely different sounding chord using almost exactly the same shapes.

The same could be said with the left hand if we make the seventh the sixth.

• In fact, with these sorts of large shapes, where you've got the root in the left hand, we have this root seven voicing. This is an absolutely classic shape for jazz piano players to play.

Experimentation

So experiment with different sounds. You're hearing so many interesting combinations of voicings here. A great way of developing this skill is to take them into all 12 keys as well.

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C Dominant 7 Flat 5 Voicings

Next, I'm going to show you the C dominant 7 flat 5. Now, these are quite crunchy, quite abrasive sounding chords, particularly that last one.

• But again, if you change it down one semitone, you have C7.

Even though these things may sound slightly intimidating, like I've said before, you're only one step away from something you know quite well.

Similar Voicings

This last one is a similar chord to the second voicing: C dominant 9, sharp 5.

• Basically, it's the same thing as before, except we're putting the nine in.

This will often come instead of the root, simply because you either don't have enough fingers to play all the notes, or you just want to get rid of the root. Playing the root in the right hand can sometimes make a chord sound slightly less hip and slightly less clean.

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C Dominant 7 Sharp 5 Voicings

These are the C dominant 7 sharp 5 voicings.

• The last one is very interesting because it's very sparse, very open.
• We have this big flat six interval in the left hand, and in the top, we have this cluster of G sharp and B flat sounds.

These are quite open sounds, quite sparse. But sometimes, when we're playing voicings, as piano players, we want things to sound nice and dense, for example, the first chord of that series.

Importance of Voicings

Other times we want them to sound lovely and open. Part of being a good piano player in a jazz, rock, or blues context is playing different voicings that suit different occasions.

• The reason why we give a right hand, a left hand, and a joint one is that as piano players, we're often playing different voicings with different hands.
  • Sometimes we're soloing in the right hand, and our voicings are being played in the left hand.
  • Sometimes if the bass player doesn't show up, we're playing the left hand and doing voicings in the right hand.
  • And sometimes, if the whole band is there and we're not playing any melodies, we'll be playing with both hands.

Encouragement

So there's a real mix of things going on. I encourage you to take all these into all 12 keys. Even though these sounds are slightly more unusual than your standard C7 or minor 7 voicings, they're still really interesting sounds.

• If you study them, you'll be way ahead of everyone else in the band harmonically, especially the guitar player.

So you can be the fountain of knowledge for everyone else to base their music on.

Good luck!