Who can explain this?

T

TDOT

New member
This is a little excercise I'm doing:

1) Major Sevenths
Basically, here’s what you do with this exercise…
Start with Cmaj7:
C + E + G + B
… and instead of going to F A C E (which is an Fmaj7 in root position), you’re going to go to the closest inversion of the Fmaj7. Remember: An inversion is another way to play the same chord.
There are four ways to play an Fmaj7 (a.k.a. “inversions”):
F + A + C + E
A + C + E + F
C + E + F + A
E + F + A + C

Which inversion would work best coming from a Cmaj7 (C + E + G + B) ???
Of course the (C + E + F + A) because your lowest note is already on C!


***Now after looking at my excersice, sure it makes a lot of sense and would be easy to figure out having written out that way, but when you're just playing freely, how would you be able to even process that on the spot.
To say "hey I'm going to play Fmaj7 next, in the easiest transition possible.

What do you think?
 
What you have written asked and answered is the key part of playing: Smooth movement from chord to chord becomes second nature once you have become accustomed to playing.

Note that you might still play the root of each chord in the left hand or "indulge" in similar smooth movement practices
 
I'm just assuming you're in the key of C major and are going to a IV7 chord, so what you put (C + E + F + A) is okay since it's just a second inversion of the chord (third note in chord as bass). If you want the chord to sound more dominant, you might just want to play it in first inversion (second note in chord as bass) so it reads (A + C + E + F). Makes it tons easier to go to the next chord coming up which, according to common chord progessions, might either be a V (G Major chord) or a viio (B diminished). That's just how I see it.
 
When play major sevenths do you always add the 7th (or 9th for that matter) with the opposite hand or do really badd cats play the 7th with one hand? Just wondering?

edit.
Okay tried a CM7th on the left hand, kinda hard. But I guess that's why those ol school piano cats' hands look so crazy.
Just a thought.
 
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Voice Leading

The whole idea about moving from chord to chord is the idea of Voice Leading. The most important part about smooth chord motion is making sure the "voices" or notes of the chord don't jump more than a 3rd from one chord to the next. So for your Cmaj7 to Fmaj7 example, C E G B would go to C E F A. You should notice, the C stays on C, the E stays on E, the G moves down to F, and the B moves down to A. IF you think of every note in a chord as its own melodic note, it will help you in writing smoother chord progressions.

Try this:
C G B E --> C F A E
E B C G --> F A C E
E C G B ---> F C E A


etc etc...

---------- Post added at 07:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:57 PM ----------

"really bad cats" usually can stretch an interval of a tenth (an octave plus a third)... it depends on what and when and where they are playing it. good musicians can do whatever they want, and they typically don't play anything only one way
 
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