Contemporary Shell Voicings

Part Two

Introduction

Let's discover, learn, and play Contemporary Shell Voicings (Part 2). Before jumping in and exploring a second set of Contemporary Shell Voicings, I want to share with some exciting news - my online jazz piano store has officially launched, visit JazzPianoSkills.store to check out my courses and lessons (please spread the word!).

As I mentioned in my last blog post, it's so easy to get overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated when studying chord voicings. I believe, learning how to play chords that sound like jazz can be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, challenges for the aspiring jazz pianist. As you already know, there are so many different schools of thought, so many misleading videos easily accessible through the Internet, so many complicated explanations in academic books written for tenure. It's no wonder why so many aspiring jazz pianists are confused about voicing chords. Today, let's continue to discover, learn, and play Contemporary Shell Voicings (Part 2).

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Discover

Contemporary Shell Voicings

Time to discover Contemporary Shell Voicings. Remember, jazz pianists are drawn to chord voicings that comprise of the following characteristics:

1. The voicing fits in your hand naturally (like a glove). It's comfortable!
2. The voicing is easy to move around the piano (inside and outside the harmony)
3.  The voicing hints at a harmonic sound (a shell, not too many notes!)

Like the first set of Contemporary Shell Voicings that we explored in my last blog post, the Contemporary Shell Voicings that we are going to learn today contain all three of the characteristics listed above. This is precisely why they are so popular with professional jazz pianists.

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   Learn

Contemporary Shell Voicings

Time to learn Contemporary Shell Voicings. I use two sets of contemporary shell voicings when I play; today I am going to focus on the second set (we explored the first set in my last blog post). Here is how each Contemporary Shell Voicing is constructed:

1. Major Voicing: 3-6-9 of Major Scale (Lydian)
2. Dominant Voicing: 3-6-9 of Dominant Scale (Mixolydian)
3. Minor Voicing: 1-4-7 of Minor Scale (Dorian)
4. Half Diminished Voicing: 1-4-7 of Half Diminished Scale (Locrian)
5. Diminished Voicing: 3-6-9 of Diminished Scale (7th Mode Harmonic Minor Scale)

Here is what they look like using traditional music notation:

I want you to notice that I construct Contemporary Shell Voicings for all five sounds using only two formats; 3-6-9 and 1-4-7. Once again, the simplicity of thought is a product of much study which makes the physical mastery of a jazz piano skill manageable. Once a jazz piano skill becomes manageable, it then becomes obtainable. We're now ready to play Contemporary Shell Voicings.

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 Play

Contemporary Shell Voicings

Time to play Contemporary Shell Voicings.  The final step in mastering a jazz piano skill is to practice playing the skill within a musical context placed in time. Hearing and Feeling a skill within a musical context makes all the difference in the world - it expedites your musical development. I strongly recommend using an app like iRealPro or software like Band In a Box to help you accomplish this task. Watch the video below to see me practicing Contemporary Shell Voicings.

Remember, always play using comfortable tempos - practicing is never a speed race! Enjoy the entire discover, learn, and play process for mastering Contemporary Shell Voicings.

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Final Thoughts

If you wish to discover, learn, and play more Contemporary Shell Voicings and other essential jazz piano skills, you should take a serious look at the various courses and lessons I have available through my JazzPianoSkills.store. All of my courses contain invaluable lessons focusing on a specific jazz piano skill. Additionally, each lesson in my jazz piano courses includes interactive multimedia elements to help you learnthe jazz piano skill plus numerous videos demonstrating for you how to play the jazz piano skill. Additional support is easily accessible through a private Mavenlink Support Portal, hosted and maintained by The Dallas School of Music (a fantastic way for you and me to personally interact with one another as we discover, learn, and play jazz piano together). Likewise, you’ll receive tuition discounts if you ever choose to have private online jazz lessons with me through The Dallas School of Music.

I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have regarding this blog so feel free to Email me drlawrence@jazzpianoskills.com or call me 972-380-8050 Ext. 211. Please take a moment and listen to a few of my recordings or follow me at SoundCloud to get a feel for how I play and approach this wonderful art form we call jazz. I've included one of my recordings below for you to quickly check out.

I look forward to helping you discover, learn, and play jazz!

Warm Regards,

AMDG