I'm finding it difficult to play 7th chords as 4 note block chords stacked in thirds.
I'm learning from a fundamentals of jazz piano book my music teacher let me copy..
The theory part is fine and I can arrpegiate these examples, but I'm finding it difficult if not impossible to reach all four notes at once as written in this book.
It should be like for example, cmaj.7th.
c,e,g,b...e,g,b,c....g,b,c,e...b,c,e,g....and c,e,g,b..an octave higher..
or 1,3,5,7...3,5,7,1...5,7,1,3.....7,1,3,5..and 1,3,5,7..an octave higher.
And I'm supposed to learn all keys, and dominant and minor sevenths.
Hopefully someone will understand what I'm getting at.
I realise that some things can't be done the same way on guitar and piano.
It makes trying to use this book quite frustrating.
I'm wondering as a guitarist how I should approach this?
It was suggested that as a guitar is tuned in fourths that I should seek more guitar friendly inversions?
And that jazz guitar chords are usually stacked in fourths?
They shouldn't be too tricky.... here's four inversions (C7 shown):
Root on top
8
8
9
8
x
x
3rd on top
12
11
12
10
x
x
5th on top
3
1
3
2
x
x
7th on top
6
5
5
5
x
x
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
To get the others, you can learn the relationships to the C7 voicings... for example, to make a major 7th, you're raising the b7 by one fret, so:
6
5
5
5
x
x
becomes
7
5
5
5
x
x
It will be useful to you to learn all the inverrsions, because it allows smoother lines when you play.
Chords stacked in fourths are used in some jazz (it's called quartal harmony), but that's not the kind of chords we're talking about here. Learn the basic 7ths first :)
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Here's something I found on the guitar tricks website that should help out.
Wow! That was quick!
I see what you've got there and I recognise the chord shapes.
Those would seem to cover what I need to have for notes but would seem to be off by octaves in places..
I started with Cmaj.7th, and I got through it like this.....
x
o
o
2
3
x.....
x
o
5
5
7
x..
0
0
5
5
x
x..
x
0
12
14
15
x..
7
8
9
10
x
x...
That seemed to work as written in my examples, but I had to rely on the open B string, and I don't see how I'll ever get through all the keys with this approach...
Do you see what I mean?
I'm trying to play them in close position?
A bunch of all notes all crammed up on a stick (I'm trying to learn sight reading too!)
:?
Close position is a tough thing to do on guitar.... since the strings are (for the most part) a fourth apart, and for a close position chord you'll want notes a third (or less) apart, you end up with some stretches.
You're doing fine as far as finding a lot of voices for your chords, but memorizing voice positions isn't nearly as important as understanding how to form chords, and knowing the fretboard.
Try these for major 7 voicings:
3 7 8 12
0 5 8 12
0 5 7 12
2 5 7 10
x x x x
x x x x
They're in the order of 5th-7th-root-3rd on top as you ascend.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Thank you, and I'm working on fretboard knowledge and so far constructing chords from a given scale. :)
Is that what I want to describe it as then? close position inversions?
I think you are following what I'm getting at, and thanks for the help!
This whole book follows this format.....and so it may continue to frustrate me all the way through!
So I like to look at the problem from as many perspectives as I can, for when I end up discussing it at my lessons.
