Fourth Voicings for Jazz Piano. If your playing sounds bland, try this instead The Jazz Tutorial Podcast

What is a Fourth Voicing?

Fourth voicings are when you take an ordinary chord (that would normally be built in thirds), and you spread out its notes in fourths, instead of thirds.

For example, C major 7 would normally be played C E G B, each note plays a third above the note below it.

But you could play C major 7 using a fourth voicing, where you would play B E A D G C (typically the bass player would play the chord's root note below the voicing, which would be C).

What type of Jazz chords can I use Fourth Voicings on?

Fourth voicings can be used to play all types of Jazz chord. This includes major 7 chords, minor 7 chords, and dominant 7 chords.

For each type of 7th chord, you'll use the same fourth voicing - that is the same set of scale degrees counting from the chord's root - but you'll need to adjust the third and seventh in order to fit with the chord type.

So for C major 7, you would play a major 3rd (E) and a major 7th (B), like this:

B - E - A - D - G - C  (bass player plays C).

But for C minor 7, you would play a minor 3rd (Eb) and a minor 7th (Bb), like this:

Bb - Eb - A - D - G - C (bass player plays C).

And for C dominant 7, you would play a major 3rd (E) and a minor 7th (Bb), because those are the notes found in C7, like this:

Bb - E - A - D - G - C (bass player plays C).

Can I use fourth voicings when playing Jazz standards?

Fourth voicings can be used when you're playing Jazz standards on piano. However they work best when you're playing with a bass player, because that way the bass player can play the root of the chord, while you play the fourth voicing higher up the keyboard.

If you're playing solo Jazz piano, without a bass player, it might be hard for you to stretch a fourth voicing, while also playing the root of the chord.

If you're playing solo Jazz piano,  I recommend reducing the number of notes in your fourth voicing.

For example, you can cut off the top note, or even the top two notes, from your fourth voicing, like this:

You could play C major 7 as a fourth voicing with C and B in your left hand, and E, A and D in your right hand.

Or you could play C minor 7 as a fourth voicing with C and Bb in your left hand, and Eb, A and D in your right hand.

And you could play C dominant 7 as a fourth voicing with C and Bb in your left hand, and E, A and D in your right hand.

How do I practice Jazz piano chord voicings?

The best way to practice Jazz piano chord voicings is to build them from every note. There's only 12 notes, which means a chord voicing can only be built from 12 notes.

When you practice building a chord voicing, make sure you count the intervals out precisely every time. Do not try to memorize the note names for every chord voicing, as you'll max out after your first few voicings.

Instead, just remember a chord voicing as an interval pattern - e.g. 'root - 7th - 9th - 3rd - 5th', and then you can build that interval pattern from every note.

Is there anything to help me learn Jazz reharmonization?

To go with this lesson, I've written a free chord voicing ebook for Jazz piano. It shows you 5 types of chord voicing which you can use to play Jazz standards. Download it at:
https://jazztutorial.com/podcast


You can also download my free '29 Jazz Piano Licks' sheet music at:
https://jazztutorial.com/podcast


Where can I learn more Jazz piano techniques?

If you're new to Jazz piano, you can watch my beginner Jazz piano lesson where I teach you Jazz theory from the ground up. Watch it here:
https://jazztutorial.com/start