How do you play seventh chords?

[kodra]

For example on a piano I can press Am7 with one hand. On a LinnStrument it feels impossible without hurting my finger joints. Even some inversion triad like C/G feels quite hard

[FranklyFlawless]

For example on a piano I can press Am7 with one hand. On a LinnStrument it feels impossible without hurting my finger joints. Even some inversion triad like C/G feels quite hard

Well if you are using the tritone layout, I have already written documents for seventh chords, among others, on KVR Audio and Poly Expression. I do not list chord inversions in the documents unless they follow my chord notation naming scheme. For example, Am7 is also treated as C6. For C/G, that would be notated as a G46f, which can be derived from the 46 chord in my Quick Reference document in the Rare Chords section - just omit the ring finger if using the left hand, or the middle finger if using the right hand when forming the chord shape. If you still want to voice the octave, you can place the omitted finger two rows above either the little finger on the left hand, or the index finger on the right hand.

The Quick Reference document is useful if you only want to memorize 36 chord shapes between both hands with the little finger anchoring the root note (with a few exceptions), but if you want more options, you can use my Chord Diagrams document instead, which lists ergonomic chord shapes that are left-handed, right-handed, and ambidexerious in alternate chord voicings.

[kodra]

For example on a piano I can press Am7 with one hand. On a LinnStrument it feels impossible without hurting my finger joints. Even some inversion triad like C/G feels quite hard

Well if you are using the tritone layout, I have already written documents for seventh chords, among others, on KVR Audio and Poly Expression. I do not list chord inversions in the documents unless they follow my chord notation naming scheme. For example, Am7 is also treated as C6. For C/G, that would be notated as a G46f, which can be derived from the 46 chord in my Quick Reference document in the Rare Chords section - just omit the ring finger if using the left hand, or the middle finger if using the right hand when forming the chord shape. If you still want to voice the octave, you can place the omitted finger two rows above either the little finger on the left hand, or the index finger on the right hand.

The Quick Reference document is useful if you only want to memorize 36 chord shapes between both hands with the little finger anchoring the root note (with a few exceptions), but if you want more options, you can use my Chord Diagrams document instead, which lists ergonomic chord shapes that are left-handed, right-handed, and ambidexerious in alternate chord voicings.

Thank you for sharing the resource, but if tritone layout means that each row is a tritone away from the next... I'm not using it Or it's actually the recommended way to use a LinnStrument...?

[FranklyFlawless]

Thank you for sharing the resource, but if tritone layout means that each row is a tritone away from the next... I'm not using it Or it's actually the recommended way to use a LinnStrument...?

Your original question/title is how I play seventh chords, and since I use the tritone layout, I needed to provide background information as to how I actually form the chord shapes with either hand. My tritone layout documents are exactly the resource I utilize for these purposes, with detailed explanations for my findings. I do not use any other layout, which also includes the default 4ths String Layout on the LinnStrument, because I found many "common" seventh chords' shapes unergonomic and difficult to play in rapid succession due to the frequent twisting of either hand. In contrast, my tritone documents were designed to keep the hands' fingers as straight as possible, perpendicular to the playing surface, without excessive stretching, in order to reduce stress/tension to a minimum and to provide a consistent framework for polyphonic movement.

But not to worry, thousands of LinnStrumentalists are satisfied just using the default layout, so if you want to continue using it in spite of my prior experimentations, just wait until someone else with seventh chords experience responds to this thread. The only LinnStrumentalist in recent memory I am certain of possessing that experience using the default layout is Fontaine Burnett.

[John the Savage]

For example on a piano I can press Am7 with one hand. On a LinnStrument it feels impossible without hurting my finger joints. Even some inversion triad like C/G feels quite hard

For 7th chords, just omit the fifth.

You'll find that partials, shell chords, and spread voicings are often necessary. There's also no shame in voicing a chord with two hands. The important thing to remember is that the LinnStrument is neither a piano or a guitar, or any other instrument for that matter.

Cheers!

[zachaudioguy]

For me it is a 2-handed event. Depending on the inversion, I typically will hit 2 notes in the left hand (root/3rd/5th + root/3rd/5th) and then 3 notes with the right hand - 5th + root + 7th or some such thing. Sometimes hitting a triad with the left hand is comfortable as well. This works similarly for suspended chords.

[DarkenedMonastery]

I do thumb on root, index on seventh, second finger on 3rd+an octave

[TigerBalm]

You might like this video by Fontaine Burnett, he talks about using both hands together https://youtu.be/uX-rXyFM80s?si=lYJ4jjfkAQdDLWtE

[Fannon]

I think the trick to omit the 5ths is good. It doesn't really add to the typical quality of a 7th sound.

If you want to play all four notes with one hand: I tend to play such chords with my left hand which is already used to play chord shapes from guitar. There I use thumb for root note, pinky for 3rd, index for 5th and middle finger for 7th. But in general, I find playing chords on the LinnStrument more difficult than on a keyboard. It's maybe more comparable to learning it to play in on a guitar? But at least with the LinnStrument the chord shapes don't change so much

Since it's not so easy to have good control over 4 fingers at once, I think the 2 handed playing style might make more sense.

[kodra]

Thanks for everyone's replies! I'll take a look at two-hand chord method.

[Rune_7s]

I have two standard ways of playing minor 7ths in the root position:

Code: Select all

|_m7|___|___|___|
|___|___|_5_|___|
|_R_|___|___|_m3|

You can also drop the root note an octave to let your hand spread out more and get a fuller sound, if you have the room. I find this shape comfortable to play. For the right hand this is thumb on R, pinky on m3, ring on 5, index on m7. It works well on the left hand, too, but with different fingers, obviously.

Code: Select all

|_m3|___|___|___|
|_m7|___|___|___|
|___|___|_5_|___|
|_R_|___|___|___|

This one is a little more difficult for the right hand. I usually play it just like I would a minor triad and then I add an extra finger to the m7. So it's usually thumb on R, ring or pinky on 5 , index on m7, and middle finger on m3. I also sometimes simply bar the m3 and m7 with my index. When I play this with my left hand I use my thumb on R, index on 5, middle on m7, and ring on m3. It's actually a little more comfortable for me to play it with my left hand though it does require shifting your elbow a bit to get a more horizontal angle.

A shape that I use less frequently find myself liking more and more is this one:

Code: Select all

|___|___|___|___|___|
|___|___|_m7|___|___|
|_m3|___|___|___|_5_|
|___|___|_R_|___|___|

What's nice about this is that the form is very easily turned into a dominant 7th simply by going up a half step on the minor 3rd, and moving both the m3 and the m7 up a half step will give you a major 7th chord. There's a lot of variety you can get while only moving two fingers and I think all 3 chord variations are easy to play from this shape.

[FranklyFlawless]

A shape that I use less frequently find myself liking more and more is this one:

Code: Select all

|___|___|___|___|___|
|___|___|_m7|___|___|
|_m3|___|___|___|_5_|
|___|___|_R_|___|___|

What's nice about this is that the form is very easily turned into a dominant 7th simply by going up a half step on the minor 3rd, and moving both the m3 and the m7 up a half step will give you a major 7th chord. There's a lot of variety you can get while only moving two fingers and I think all 3 chord variations are easy to play from this shape.

That definitely looks like the most flexible chord shape to address the 36 seventh chords I have in my Quick Reference document, so I am curious as to the fingering choice you use with either hand for it.

How about fingerings for extended chords? Some of the ones off the top of my head are the sus7♭9, 7♯9, 7♭9, and m69 chord. I already have chord shapes for these in another tritone layout document for five fingers, but it is incomplete and I have been more interested in developing my LinnStrument proficiency instead.

[Rune_7s]

Code: Select all

|___|___|___|___|___|
|___|___|_m7|___|___|
|_m3|___|___|___|_5_|
|___|___|_R_|___|___|

I play it like this:

Right Hand
Thumb = Root
Pinky = 5th
Index = minor 3rd
Ring = minor 7th

Left Hand:
Thumb = Root
Index = 5th
Pinky = minor 3rd
Ring = minor 7th

Both of these shapes leave a finger free to hit a few different extention notes, but if I need to play more this 4 notes then I usually use both hands. I'd probably play the triad in the left hand and the extensions in the right hand. And if I needed to drop a note then I drop the 5th.

I honestly think that you should come up with your own fingerings for chord grips on the Linnstrument. There's just so many possibilities. Especially when you start factoring in inversions, which are crucial for voice leading. What might be comfortable and natural to me might feel unnatural painful for you. And if you need a new fingering due to ergonomics then simply try every inversion of the chord until you come up with one you like, and then use that as a framework for adding extensions.

[Fannon]

Code: Select all

|_m3|___|___|___|
|_m7|___|___|___|
|___|___|___|___|
|_R_|___|___|___|

After some playing around, I think this is my current favorite way to play it.
Very easy to do with either left or right hand. Leaving the 5th out doesn't hurt, maybe it even makes the sound more distinct and minimalistic. I use the thumb to play the root note.

[LarsDaniel]

Just a completely general observation: In a typical jazz oriented context, the piano player will omit the root in far most chords (if a bass player is present).