← All exercises
Exercise
— switch — The Cycle Shells with Color Rootless Voicings Bud Powell Left Hand The Turnaround Tritone Substitution Reharm the V Diatonic Sevenths Secondary Turnaround Minor ii–V–i Minor ii-V-i with ♭9 Minor Turnaround Diatonic 7ths in Minor Backdoor Progression Twelve-Bar Blues Minor Blues Bird Blues Blues Stride LH Blues Walking Bass Rhythm Changes Boogie Blues Shuffle Rhythm Changes Bridge Blues Rootless (Evans) Coltrane Changes Blues Pedal Point Standard Intro Blues Block Chords Two-Handed Comping Blues Freddie Green Charleston Comping Bebop Blues Comp Freddie Green Comping Blues Guide Tones Walking Bass Charleston Blues Tritone-Sub Walking Bass Bud Powell Blues Drop Two Two-Handed Modern Blues Stride Bass Stride with Melody Quartal Voicings Upper Structure Triads Hybrid Voicings Kenny Barron Voicing Sus Chord Vamp The Mu Chord Maiden Voyage Chord 4-Way Close Pedal Point Lydian Vamp Phrygian Vamp Bossa Nova Guide Tones Bebop Scale Dominant Bebop Dorian Bebop Bebop Minor The Enclosure ii-V-I Lick Pentatonic Patterns Plain Locrian Melodic Minor Dorian ♭2 Lydian Augmented Lydian Dominant Mixolydian ♭6 Locrian ♮2 Altered Scale Harmonic Minor Phrygian Dominant Half-Whole Diminished Whole-Tone Scale Minor Blues Major Blues Aeolian (Natural Minor) Dorian Mode Ionian (Major) Lydian Mode Minor Pentatonic Mixolydian Mode Phrygian Mode Whole-Half Diminished
Split the work between hands. The left hand plays the
root down in the bass register, where it lives in the
ensemble — that's the bass player's note, but now you've got it
too. The right hand plays the four-note rootless
voicing (3-5-7-9 or 7-9-3-5) in the middle register, exactly as
in exercise 2, just transposed up an octave to sit on the treble
staff.
This is the canonical solo-piano comping sound: a clear bass
note, a fat chord above it, with enough air between to hear both.
In a trio you'd usually drop the LH root (the bass player has it)
and play just the rootless. In solo or duo, you keep it.
LH Just the root, low and singular.
RH Four-note rootless, A- or B-form, mid-register.
Jump to
C F B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B E A D G
C
3
2
X
O
O
O
D
m
7
2
1
1
X
X
O
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
F
3
2
1
X
X
O
G
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
C
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
E
1
2
3
4
X
X
F
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
A
1
1
1
3
X
X
B
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
1
3
2
4
X
X
E
7
D
4
3
1
1
1
X
E
m
7
1
2
3
4
X
X
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
A
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
C
m
7
4
2
1
X
O
O
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
E
3
1
2
O
O
X
F
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
A
2
1
3
X
O
O
B
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
D
1
2
3
X
X
O
E
m
7
2
O
O
O
O
O
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
A
m
7
2
1
X
O
O
O
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
The Daily Drill
Find the gap
3 min Play just the LH root, slowly, in one key. Then add just the RH chord. Then both together. Listen to the gap between the bass note and the bottom of the chord — that air is what makes the voicing sound "open" rather than muddy. 10 min Cycle three keys at a time, ♩ = 70. Don't sprint. 4 min Try displacing the LH: anticipate beat 1 by an 8th ("and-of-4"). That's how jazz pianists actually play it. 3 min Drop the LH entirely for one chorus and play only the RH rootless (as in exercise 2). Notice how much the bass note adds; notice how much the chord still implies without it. Solo vs trio In a piano trio, the bass player has the root, so playing it in the LH doubles them and muddies the bottom. Most pianists in trio settings drop the LH root and play only the rootless — what you learned in exercise 2. In solo or duo (no bass), you need this two-handed approach to anchor the harmony. Knowing both is the goal.
Both hands at once. Same chord; twice the body.