Reader,
For years, I struggled to make my blues comping sound anything other than basic. I had the changes down, but my voicings felt... thin.
Then I discovered this voicing used by Monty Alexander and Gene Harris, and suddenly my blues playing had weight and character. Let me show you how it works. It's really approachable.
Play this:
This voicing has our essential tones for F7 in the left hand, that's our 3rd (A) and 7th (Eb). In the right hand, we're building from the top down. On top is the root (F) and then 2 more notes, each of which is a perfect 4th below.
This is a big phat F7 dominant chord!
In fact, there are 2 ways to play this chord. The one above, but another one where you build the right hand with the 5th (C) on top. Notice how I inverted the notes of the left hand to keep them near the right hand notes.
It's important we know both of these inversions, as it helps us create smooth voice leading between chords. For example, if we were playing F7 and then Bb7, we could voice the chords like this, with F (the root) on top of the F7 chord, and F (the fifth) of the Bb7 chord. Only the left hand has to change. 😎
Create Movement
As cool as these voicings sound on their own, they really come to life when we move them. Let's look at just how cool these sound with some basic rhythms, and side slips.
Practice moving this shape around the keyboard. Start with the easiest, by moving the chord down in half-steps. (I wrote 4 of them for you, but you gotta do all 12!)
Once you've got that, try it in other intervals too, like whole steps or minor 3rds. Once you can go down, repeat it going up.
As you do this, you'll learn how these patterns "feel" under your hand and moving them will become more automatic.
Here are some example movements to get you started:
- Example A: Starts on our voicing with the root on top, side slips down a half-step, and then comes back.
- Example B: Starts on our voicing with the root on top, and moves towards the voicing with the 5th (C) on top. But on the way, it side slips up to that chord.
- Example C: Very similar to example B, but with a double side slip.
- Example D: Same idea, but going down to the second voicing instead, and approaching it from a side slip above.
Now, over a blues!
These voicings and these side slip movements are all you need to comp a really hip blues. Make sure you can find both voicings for F7, Bb7 and C7. Practice creating these side slipping movements into those chords. And finally, once you've got that, put on your favorite backing track and jam along.
This is exactly how the pros build their comping vocabulary. Put on a blues backing track and spend 10 minutes moving these voicings around. You'll hear your comping transform really quickly.