Voice Leading

Im confuzed in not knowing what voice leading is... :-[ It would be good to have that knowledge, and who knows. maybe you already know the answer, sometimes, if you dont fully understand something, and you try to explain it, you fill in the gaps. (or just make it worse for yourself...either way is a good chance to learn)

Crash, you have this under control now right?

Yeah!  It is mighty confusing when there are so many ways to look at how you write music or how it works out...

"voice leading":

Hi,
It is the act of smoothly connecting voices from one chord to the next and so and so.

Rabe  ::)

And, if you use open chord voicings on the guitar, it happens more or less automatically without you having to think about it at all.  Convenient that.

Not so with barre chords in general.

Basically, you try to have the minimum of movement of notes between chords.

Let's say you wanted to move from C major to G major.

You could do it this way:

C --->  G
E --->  B
G --->  D

Not very elegant that, moving all the notes by a 5th.

What about instead:

C --> B   (1 semitone or half-step down)
E ---> D  (2 semitones down)
G ---> G  (no movement)

The latter is voice leading, the former is not.

Heh, I've been using voice leading on keyboard without realizing it.

For 12-bar in C, I use the voicings C-E-G, C-F-A, and B-D-G for my left hand because I'm too lazy to move it (plus I try to avoid parallel 5ths when possible, I don't know why I do that with the blues though but it probably involves being white).

I don't know why I do that with the blues though but it probably involves being white).

lmao

Dirty Rotten

Basically, voice leading is melodic consideration of harmonic progression.  The chord changes should create melodic lines (how many depending on how many voices in the chords).  Another consideration is texture - this is where the parrallel 5ths and 8vas, and spacing rules come in.   Also, correctly resolving "tension" intervals, e.g. augmented intervals resolve inward, diminished intervals resolve outward (this is based on how we perceive tension and resolution, dissonance and consonance).   This is one of the reasons why we study Bach in begining college classes - to learn voice leading.

hi everybody,

Why not take a blues in Bb or F and write a "voice leading" for 2 chorus? Could anyone do it?

Rabe de France. :D

What pieces by Bach did you study Serickso?

Voice leading isn't just slapped on a chord progression, Rabe.  As Serickso said, it's the melodic content of the progression.

You can think of a progression two ways: vertically, as consecutive sets of 'stacked up' notes, or horizontally, as several melody lines played over each other.  A blues progression by itself is really an accompaniment waiting for a melody, so we have to add that melody to it before getting into the voice leading concerns.

Let's say you've got a chord change Bb-Eb-F7, which happens a lot in a Bb blues.  You've got a lot of options on where to play each chord.... most beginning guitarists will keep the chords close together, and play the fingerings they're comfortable with, like this:

6 - 6 - 8
6 - 8 - 10
7 - 8 - 8
8 - 8 - 10
8 - 6 - 8
6 - x - x

Here's another set of choices, using just the highest four strings to keep it simple:

6 - 3 - 1
6 - 4 - 1
7 - 3 - 2
8 - 5 - 1
x - x - x
x - x - x

You're implying a descending melody with each voice.   What if you want ascending?

You could try this:

6 - 6 - 11
6 - 8 - 10
7 - 8 - 10
8 - 8 - 10
x - x - x
x - x - x

Now you've got a bit more movement than the first progression, but not as many wide leaps as the second one, and you've implied upward movement with the melodies.

There are a lot of possible chord changes.  If you just look at basic chords, you've got three inversions of each of the majors, and four inversions for a seventh, which makes 36 possible ways to play this simple three-chord change.  Add doubled notes, open strings, playing on different sets of strings, etc., and the possibilities are pretty much limitless.  How to lead the voices depends on where you want to go!

Tom

Hi Tom,

Thank for your help. If i understand you we have two things work together. The chord =voicing(vertical concept) and the top note or hihgest note (horizontal concept) we give us a direction. Ok

Peace
Sorry for my english, isn't my native langage!
Rabe from France

Voice leading actually worries about all the notes, not just the top one -- for instance, C major, with C on top:

8
8
9
10
x
x

sounds different from this C major with C on top:

8
5
5
5
x
x

Not all voice leading possibilities can be played on the guitar, but enough can that you'll never lack for ways to experiment.

:'( i have composers block