Be a Close - Talker

Using 4-Way Close Voicings

I was talking to a band mate of mine today about piano voicings and it brought back to my memory one of the first fundamental things I learned when I began my professional training. The “4-Way Close” Piano Voicing. This approach to constructing chords totally revolutionized my way of playing and I still use these voicings and variations on these voicings today. Prior to learning this, I voiced chords super simple, as I learned from my first few private teachers. Root, third, fifth, and sevenths and their various inversions. I knew what ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths were, but didn’t know how to implement them in my overall vocabulary until I learned these new voicings. The following is coming to you very much from a piano player point of view and piano players will benefit mostly from this post. However, the theoretical building blocks used here can benefit any melodic instrumentalist. So I hope there will be information in here that everyone can take away from.

Basics:

The “4-Way Close” voicing is a four-note voicing meant to be played with one hand. Depending on your playing situation, if you are supporting yourself (Solo piano, or no bass player) and you do not need to play the melody, you can play this voicing with your right hand while the left hand can play the root in octaves, a root / fifth diad, or a root / third diad, or a root / seventh diad. More advanced players can play shell voicings in their left hand as well. A shell voicing is a three-note voicing consisting of the root, third, and seventh. A more advanced option is to play thirds and sevenths only in the left hand without any root (called a root-less shell voicing), if there is a bass player present. Left hand shell voicings can fill a blog all by itself, so back to the topic at hand: 4-Way Close voicings are very close together. The notes are usually a third apart from each other. A lot of times, second intervals are in the voicing too.

So, what are the four notes in this voicing?

The notes of a 4-Way Close Voicing are the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth.

Inversions:

The good thing about the 4-Way Close Voicings is that there are only two inversions. Unlike basic triads, which have three, and traditional 4-note voicings like seventh chords, which have four possible voicings. This makes the learning curve a little more attainable. The 4-Way Close Voicing is a “rootless” voicing. Meaning, the root note of the chord is never played as part of the voicing.

Inversion 1: 3, 5, 7, 9

Inversion 2: 7, 9, 3, 5

The key to remembering these inversions is, the voicing can only be built beginning with either the 3rd note of the chord, or the seventh note of the chord.

A really great way to practice these voicings is to run them through the II - V - I progression.

In the key of C Major, the first chord is D minor 7. The 4-Way Close voicing for this is F (3rd), A (5th), C (7th), and E (9th). Voice-Leading is important with these voicings, so when moving in a 5th cycle motion, like in II - V - I progressions, it’s best to alternate between inversions.

The second chord would be G7. The voicing would be F (7th), A(9th), B(3rd), and D(5th). You will notice here that there are two constant notes between the first chord and the second. The F and the A. In the D minor 7 chord, the F functions as the 3rd note. And in the G7 chord, the F functions as the 7th. So, if you have the same note in both chords, it’s best not to jump octaves, but keep it where it is to provide a better flow from chord to chord. The two notes that do move, are the C (7th of D minor) down a half step to a B (3rd of G7) and the E (9th of D minor) down a whole step to the D (5th of G7).

The third chord is the C major 7. For this chord, we flip back to Inversion one. 3 (E), 5 (G), 7 (B), and 9 (D). You will notice similar voice leading here as was in between the II and the V. This time the B and D are constant. The B (3rd note of G7 becomes major 7th note of C) and the D (5th note of G7 becomes the 9th of C). And the two moving tones are the F (7th of G7) moves down a half step to E (3rd of C) and the A (9th of G7) moves down a whole-step to G (5th of C).

This progression can be played flipped around as well. Instead of using 3,5,7,9 for the D minor 7 chord, you can use 7,9,3,5 - C,E,F,A. And it will easily voice-lead into the 3,5,7,9 version of the G7 chord (B,D,F,A) and then the 7,9,3,5 version of C major (B,D,E,G). It is important to know them both ways. One will sound better than the other based on the register you are in. You don’t want things to sound too muddy as you get to the lower register of your instrument, so in this particular key, I prefer starting with the 3,5,7,9.

Alterations:

The alterations on these voicings are very numerous and can be quite daunting, but I will show you the first couple of alterations, which I use most of the time.

Alteration 1:

On the dominant chord (In this key, G7), you can use the 13th note instead of the 5th note. In other words, Instead of D, use E. Making the voicing 7,9,3,13. This provides a third common tone between the D minor 7 chord and the G7 chord. Leaving only one tone that moves, the C (7th of D minor 7) moving down a half step to the B (3rd note of G7) because the E (9th of D minor) becomes the 13th of G7 and stays right where it is between these two chords. Sounds beautiful, doesn't it?

Alteration 2:

On the tonic chord (In this key, C major 7), you can substitute the 5th for a 6th. In this case, you use an A, in place of the G. Thus providing again a nice set of leading tones from the previous chord.

Other things to work on:

The Minor II - V - I progression:

D minor 7 (b5), G7 altered (or b9, b13), and C minor (6 or minor / major 7).

The possibilities are endless! We haven't even gotten to the myriad of alterations you can do with the 9th note of the Dominant chord! If you would like me to go deeper into more variations, please message me and let me know! Have fun!

I’ve included a sheet here of an example of how I run through these II-V-I’s. Feel free to print it off and use it in your own practice! Happy close-talking!