Voicing Stuff

[Sascha Franck]

Sorry for the vague topic, this is just triggered by this thread that I didn't want to bloat up with even more confusing stuff than it already is.

I simply want to post my take on "voicing rules" for now (perhaps I may elaborate on other things later on as well).

These things will be put to use the best in a 4-part voicing context (usually 7th chords), so it helps if you are familiar with them and their possible options (scalar extension notes, basically 9ths, 11ths and 13ths) already. They will of course apply to other scenarios as well, and they can be used with a piano, a guitar, horn sections, choires, whatever.

All of them work best if you have something else (your left hand, a sequencer track, whatever) playing the bass note, as this is one of the first things to be replaced in our chord voicing.

Ok, here we go.


1) 7 (j7) for 1.
Only applies for those chord forms that don't allready have a 7th present. In case you're dealing with j7 chords, make sure not to play the root above the j7, as it will create an unwanted b2 or b9 tension (as said, there's exceptions, but not for now).

2) 9 (b/#9) for 1.
Make sure not to use the same 1 that you replaced by the 7th allready. In case you do so, the resulting chord would be some Xadd9 type rather than an X9 type (perhaps more about that later on).

3) 9 (2) for 3.
Usually only applies to major chords as the major third overtone is so strong it'd become unclear if you'd leave out the third on minor chords - again, there's exceptions, in context it might work for minor chords as well, but the general consensus usually says that minor chords need a minor third to be present.
Note: You will VERY often find a chord symbol like "add9omit3rd" for this - which isn't the most clever name for it. Sus2 or just 2 is making much more sense.

4) 11 for 5
Only applicable to minor chords, with major chords it'd clash with the 3rd (yes, especially for guitar players there's exceptions, but we're talking about some generalize-able stuff here).

5) 4 for 3
Applicable for major chords only, as said above, minor chords usually require the 3rd to be present. Resulting chord symbol of this replacement is Xsus4.
Exception for minor chords: The min7b5 chord. The b5 overtones will strongly keep the minor character, even when the 3- is replaced by the 4th.

6) #11 for 5.
Only applicable for major chords, a minor chord would become minb5 (or diminished), which is quite another thing.

7) 13 (b13) for 5.
Usually used for major chords, on minor chords it might result in a clash with the 7th. There's quite some exceptions for this one though (min7/13 in modal contexts, minj7/13, just to name those two).

8) 6 for 7
Often used to replace major7 chords in case the root has to be the melody note (to avoid minor second or minor nine intervals). Sometimes used for minor chords to give them a bit "loose" character, or as a tonic chord for certain jazz things.

9) 6 for 5
Used sometimes in case a 7th isn't allready present.

Some more or less important notes:
- The plain fifth could almost allways be left out, unless you're dealing with powerchords (which this post isn't all about) or in case it's needed as a melody note.
- Chord extensions (anything beyond the 3 or 4 part basic chord, generally 9, 11, 13) should be placed rather high in the voicing, to avoid an unclear sound.
- 9, 11 and 13 chords require a 7th to be present. That's some sort of international agreement which actually makes sense. In case the 7th isn't present they happen to be named like this:
9 becomes add9 (or add b/#9) or eventually 2 or sus2 (in case the 3rd is replaced by the 9th/2nd).
11 becomes add11 (or add#11), sometimes mistakenly notated as 4/add4.
13 sometimes becomes add13, but usually 6 is used (and making more sense as well, from a functional point of view).

And ANOTHER IMPORTANT note:
Those are generalized rules that will work in a LOT of situations, but A) They won't work in ALL situations (example: powerchord rock stuff) and B) There are a LOT of exceptions, just as for almost any rule there is.
They do however apply very well for learning/teaching and "bread and butter" situations, so before anybody starts to complain I'd recommend to check them out first.

[Deric]

Sascha, what is 'j'? and what do you mean by x FOR y ? i.e. "4 for 3" ??

Great topic though!

[duncanparsons]

yip, I'd pretty much agree with all of that - took a moment to work out what the X for Y notation was (I wondered it was like when playing solo or in a trio, or Tea for Two! thankfully the penny dropped it's substitution )



DSP

[nuffink]

Quality work Sascha. I await with glee it's correction by kvr's own king of swing.

[CypherOne]

I can honestly say none of that made any sense at all...

I'll get out of this thread now.

[Sascha Franck]

Alright, and as this is all a bit dry, here's an example of how to put some of this to good use.

Let's use a simple II-V-I progression in G.
Our chords would be Amin7, D7 and Gmaj7.
Possible extensions for the chords when everything would entirely stay inside the G major key:
Amin7 could be extended with a 9th and an 11th (the 13th would clash with the 7th).
D7 could be extended with a 9th and 13th (the 11 would clash with the 3rd). We could as well play it as sus4, but in this example we won't.
Gmaj7 could be extended with a 9th and a 13th (again, the 11th would clash with the 3rd).

Lets play the strict 7th chords first, trying to keep the voice movements as small as possible. Don't forget to play a root bass note an octave or two below.
Amin7: G - A - C - E
D7 : F#- A - C - D
Gmaj7: F#- G - B - D

The movements are as close as it could get.
Now let's start with what probably would be the most obvious thing, replacing the 1 with the 9th.
The result:
Amin7/9: G - B - C - E
D7/9 : F#- A - C - E
Gmaj7/9: F#- A - B - D

We could now continue applying all the other possible options as well. For instance, a nice variation for the D would be D7/9/13, in this particular example voiced "F#-B-C-E".
Also, adding a 13th to the Gmaj7/9 can sometimes sound interesting. The result: "F#-A-B-E".
Adding an 11th to our Amin7/9 wouldn't sound too good in the particular inversion from above, probably because in "G-B-C-E" (which is what it'd look like) there's too many second intervals.
Without the 9th it will however work quite fine, our Amin7/11 looking like this: "G-A-C-D".

There's different voice replacements working best with different chord inversions, so you need to experiment and find out.

A little tip for those on guitars: As we can't play much close voicings, try using the socalled "drop 2" technique. This means that the second note from the top will be lowered by an octave. All of a sudden all these voicings become playable just fine.
Drop 2 voicings are also a nice tool to make 4 part horn sections sound fuller.

[Sascha Franck]

Sascha, what is 'j'? and what do you mean by x FOR y ? i.e. "4 for 3" ??

j = common abbreviation for major. Used to both describe 7ths in interval comparisons and in chord symbols. You often find maj as well. And for 7ths in interval comparisons you can sometimes find 7+ and 7 as well, but I prefer sticking to the j or maj (the latter probably being easier to decipher on busy sheets).
x FOR y = the note x will be replaced with note y.

I can honestly say none of that made any sense at all...

I'll get out of this thread now.

Sorry mate. As said in the first post, a more or less proper knowledge about how 7th chords and their extension are built up is defenitely required.
I may write that stuff down one day as well.

[CypherOne]

not sure if that was for my benefit, but thanks.

now where's the 'head explodes' emoticon?

[Paulie Phonick]

Great stuff Sascha! Instant bookmark!

Would you care to elaborate more on horn section voicings?

[Deric]

Thanks Sascha! Bookmarked too!

Great that you've added the guitarists perspective too along side practical piano voicings! Very useful.

Ps. +1 on horn voicings too (and arranging if you care to!).

[Sascha Franck]

Here's two audio examples:
http://home.arcor.de/s.franck/voicings/Voicings01.mp3
This is exactly the stuff described in my example progression.
First plain, then with 9ths, then with mixed extensions. Each progression played twice.

http://home.arcor.de/s.franck/voicings/Voicings02.mp3
This is almost the same, just that I started with another chord inversion (start voicing for Amin7: C-E-G-A), for the rest I used the same minimal voice movements.
It's again plain, 9ths and mixed extensions, each played twice.
Oh, hold on, there's a variation for the G in the plain version already: I played G6 instead of Gmaj7, simply because the root note is on top, which would clash with the maj7. Just as described in the first post.

Paulie, the very same voicings would happily be playable with a horn section.
If anybody wants, I can post a MIDI file, so you can assign sounds on your own. But it's not all that tough to program though.

[Paulie Phonick]

Paulie, the very same voicings would happily be playable with a horn section.

And there's nothing more to it? I've normally found it hard to create convincing horn voicings - well, I've never really succeeded - so I was wondering what am I doing wrong and how should it really be done.

Are there really no special tricks/considerations to horn voicings?

[Sascha Franck]

Of course there's *way* more to horns - but seriously, if I knew about it, I probably wouldn't be sitting here.
However, here's some uber-lame attempt. I just moved the piano part of my last example to some not so shiny horn tracks and added some bog standard rhythm. It's all mouse edited and I didn't even spend a second on the groove, bassline, timing or whatsoever. So, this isn't meant as any serious approach to horn programming, it's simply to show that these things *will* work.
http://home.arcor.de/s.franck/voicings/LameHorns.mp3

[JumpingJackFlash]

Ok, firstly I don't want to tread on Sascha's toes; this is his thread and I don't disagree with anything he wrote.

When I first saw this thread though, I thought it would concentrate on the principles of voice leading (which is more a horizontal concept rather than a vertical one), so I thought I'd add some rules for voice leading. - These are mainly applicable to 4-part harmony in the traditional Western sense. A lot of modern music does not follow these 'rules', but I think that, certainly in certain situations (like writing for strings), they are useful to be aware of.
(Note, I use SATB for voices; soprano, alto, tenor, bass, in order from highest to lowest).

This post is not directed at anyone particular, hopefully someone may find it useful. The principles are somewhat hard to explain in text, and are much easier to explain using manuscript paper, but that is hard to do in a forum like this (but if anyone wants examples I shall try and provide them).

Adding voices and voice leading principles:

Put adjacent notes in a part as close to each other as possible (pitch wise).
Don't cross or overlap parts (for example, don't have the alto go lower than the tenor).
A lower note in a chord may never rise above a higher note in that chord (and vice versa).
In 4 part harmony, keep the tenor high. Only the bass and tenor are allowed more than an octave gap between them.
Avoid false relations (note and chromatically altered note in different parts).
Avoid parallel (perfect) 5ths or octaves between any 2 parts.
Avoid parallel 4ths between the bass and any other part.
In V-I and V-VI, the leading note (in V) should generally rise to the tonic (in I or VI).
In V-IV, the 5th of V must rise a third to the root of IV in the soprano (top line).
Most dissonances (like sevenths, suspensions, appoggiaturas etc.) must resolve downwards by step (to a consonance).

Passing notes:

A passing note between the 5th and 7th of the scale is usually not effective.
Parallel passing notes may only be used in 3rds or 6ths.
Never have more than 2 simultaneous passing notes (vertically).
In a minor key, the 6th of the scale as a passing note is usually sharpened, the 7th as a passing note is not.
Passing notes do not alter harmonic (or other voice leading) errors (such as parallel 5ths).
Don't run 2 parts into each other (don't run into a note that has just been sounded in a different part).
Avoid the leading note sounding against the tonic, or the 4th against the 3rd.

Leaps:

Avoid leaping a 7th, diminished 4th, or any interval larger than one octave (nor with just one note in-between).
Leaps of diminished 5ths, octaves and 6ths must be followed by notes in-between the leap.
Never leap an augmented interval.

And the most important rule: There are exceptions to every rule.

[Sascha Franck]

Great stuff, Jack. I had almost forgotten about all that (even if I had to learn it back then), nice to see it written down.
One question though (probably a language thing or so?):

A lower note in a chord may never rise above a higher note in that chord (and vice versa).

What do you mean by "rise"? That is: How would/could it rise?