Rootless Voicings Left Hand Stride Drill
Welcome to the first lesson in this practice series on Rootless Voicings.
In this lesson we are going to work on our recognition of rootless voicings using a left hand stride drill. We will do this for major, minor, and dominant chords, and we will explore how to visualise
these voicing shapes so that we can find them quickly and easily whilst playing through jazz standards.
Demonstrate With “Misty”, & “Body & Soul”
Before we dive into the exercises, it will be nice to demonstrate how you can apply this style to your solo piano playing so that you can see the end result of working on these drills.
Using the tunes “Misty”, & “Body & Soul”, we will play the A Sections with stride and left hand voicings and the melody on top in our right hand. You should hear how effective this style can be in ballads. Playing the root, and then coming up with our left hand to add colour and tensions using rootless voicings.
Major 9th Stride Drill
The first drill is Major 9 Rootless Voicings and we will do this for both type A and type B in stride style. We will play the root low down, and then type A voicing formula is 3-5-7-9. We will take this all the way around the circle of fifths.
The next drill is to repeat the same exercise for type B, the formula is always root in the bass, and then 7-9-3-5.
Minor 9th Stride Drill
We can then repeat the same exercise for minor 9th chords. All we do is flatten the 3 and 7 of each voicing. For type A, we would play b3-5-b7-9 and for type B, we would play b7-9-b3-5.
Again take these voicings all the way around the circle of fifths.
Dominant 13th Stride Drill
The final drill is to do it for dominant chords. This is the trickiest of the 3 exercises because the shapes are harder to visulaise on the keyboard.
Isolating them in this exercise will help you become familiar with the shape and construction of these versatile voicings. For dominant voicings, there are 2 important inversions to visualise and memorise:
- 3-13-b7-9
and - b7-9-3-13.
In practice slot 2, we will add all of these chords together into the major 251 progression. Congratulations on getting this for and see you in the next lesson.
Lesson Downloads
-
Rootless Voicings Practice Planner File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
We build upon what we have covered in the previous tutorials by introducing upper structure triads, sus chords and a stride style.
In a minor 251, the 5 chord will be an altered dominant chord. In this lesson we apply altered dominant chords to the major 251 progression.
Misty is one of the most popular jazz ballads and the distinctive melody is immediately recognisable amongst jazz musicians.
Practice Tips
-
When playing these exercises, consciously analyse the scale degrees of the notes you are playing. This will help you recognise and identify the upper extensions each chord.
-
First work on these voicings in isolation, and then in the next lesson in this practice series, we will add them all together in context of the major 251 progression.
-
Apply these voicings to the tunes that you are working on. They are well suited to most jazz ballads.
Hey Hayden, would it be worth it to practice with both hands instead of left hand only?
Hey Dokko,
Yes it is good to be able to visualise these voicings in both hands. They can be very useful when playing a left hand bass line for example.
For the purpose of stride piano, the left hand will play the bass note in the lower register and then move up to play the rootless voicing. This frees up the right hand to play the melody and improvise.
My recommendation would be to do this exercise in your left hand as a priority. You will also find that this helps you find the shapes in your right hand should you wish to use them.
I hope this helps and any other questions just let me know.
Cheers,
Hayden
Hayden. When you say visualize the chords are you visualizing the shape of the chords or your hands over the chords?
Hey Adam,
Yes by “visualise” I mean being able see the shapes of the chord on the piano.
In particular it’s important to “visualise” the 3rd and 7ths, and then often the extensions/alterations can be added around these core pillars of the harmony based on your own taste and the sound you want to create.
If you’d like me to elaborate further just let me know.
Cheers,
Hayden
Can you add a link to the 5 minute master class you mentioned? I don’t see it in the related lessons.
Hi Adam 👋
Thanks for reminding me on this!
I have the lesson plan right here in front of me… I didn’t get around to recording the lesson after planning it. I think I wanted to change it slightly if I remember correctly.
I’m due to record some new tutorials this week/weekend and so I will get it recorded and published in my 5-min masterclass course: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/5-minute-masterclass/
I’ll send you an email once it’s up.
Talk soon,
Hayden
Hello,
Is the 5 minute masterclass for rootless strides available? I can’t seem to find it. Thanks in advance!
Hi Jose,
We don’t currently have a 5 minute masterclass on Stride style but it’s something we can create. Leave this with me.
We do have many jazz standard tutorials that incorporate the stride style of playing. Some of these arrangements contain more stride than others, here’s a list for you:
Unforgettable: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/unforgettable-tutorial/
As Time Goes By: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/time-goes-stride/
Manhattan: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/manhattan-tutorial/
Embraceable You: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/embraceable-you-advanced-stride-lesson/
Cry Me A River: https://www.pianogroove.com/blues-piano-lessons/cry-river-part-2/
Body & Soul For Beginners: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/body-soul-for-beginners/
Stardust: https://www.pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/stardust-tutorial/
Cheers,
Hayden
Thank you! Since the video mentions a masterclass on rootless voicing I assumed it was in the lessons but removed. But this helps!