Here is a series of chords to comp over a 2-5 which features nice voice leading.
Take the b7 of the ii chord (D-7) and lower by 1/2 step. This gives you a dom.9 chord with no root. This is a sub for the V chord in the 2-5 sequence.
Take the b7 of the ii chord (D-7) and lower by 1/2 step. This gives you a dom.9 chord with no root. This is a sub for the V chord in the 2-5 sequence.
Take the rootless dom.9 chord (G9) and lower its 9 a half-step resulting in a rootless dom.7(b9) chord (G7b9). Notice that rootless dom.7(b9) chords look like diminished chords. Also note that min6 and rootless 9 chords look like min7b5 chords.
If the 2-5 resolves to a 1, you can resolve to the one, Cmaj7 or C-7 depending on the type of 2-5.
Practice this same movement with as many fingering as you can. Pick a random minor 7 chord and then move to the five with the 9th movement. For 2-5 progressions that resolve to a minor, you might want to leave out the movement to the dom.9 and just go from the ii-7 to the V7(b9).
This exercise is helping me greatly to learn all the inversions shown here. I go to the page of the Minor 7 chords and start on a chord in a column. I know where the roots of these inversions are, but now I need to learn where the b7th is for each one.
Moving the b7 of the min7 a half-step gives me a rootless ninth chord.
This exercise is helping me greatly to learn all the inversions shown here. I go to the page of the Minor 7 chords and start on a chord in a column. I know where the roots of these inversions are, but now I need to learn where the b7th is for each one.
Moving the b7 of the min7 a half-step gives me a rootless ninth chord.
I need to visualize where the root of this ninth chord is for future use (it's always a whole-step down from the 5 of the minor ii chord you started with).
This fingering is also synonymous with a min7b5, so I will take some time to visualize that chord, and where its root is. The finger you just moved down from the ii chord is the third of the ninth chord. But it is also the root of the min7b5 chord with the same shape.
This fingering is also synonymous with a min7b5, so I will take some time to visualize that chord, and where its root is. The finger you just moved down from the ii chord is the third of the ninth chord. But it is also the root of the min7b5 chord with the same shape.
In the second half of the second measure, we take the nine of the ninth chord and move it a half-step down so it becomes a rootless Dominant with a flat-nine.
The root of this chord is a half-step down from the note you just moved. This fingering is synonymous with a diminished chord, which is a moveable chord, repeating every four semi-tones. The root of a diminished chord could fall on any of these notes.
You might go back and forth between these dominant chords, visualizing the them also as their 'synonym' chords.
Now we need to find the Maj7 to resolve to on the last measure. If you can remember where the root of the first chord you started with (the minor ii chord), the root of the I7 is just a whole-step down from that. Now try and remember what shape you can apply for a Maj7 with that note as the root. For the purposes of this exercise, the shape should be in the same string grouping as your other chords.
Now we need to find the Maj7 to resolve to on the last measure. If you can remember where the root of the first chord you started with (the minor ii chord), the root of the I7 is just a whole-step down from that. Now try and remember what shape you can apply for a Maj7 with that note as the root. For the purposes of this exercise, the shape should be in the same string grouping as your other chords.
For the fourth and last measure of our 2-5-1, we can change the Maj7 to a Maj6. This means we have to learn where the P7 is in each of these Major chord shapes. Once we find that, we can move that note down a whole-step to the 6 (or 13, if you like to call it that).
Look at this last chord shape. You should recognize it as not only a Maj6, but as a min7 chord.
Note where the root is on both these chords. You may want to shift between the Maj7 and Maj6 to get a feel for the movement, which I call the 'Mickey Baker' move, because Maj7 to Maj6 is the first thing he teaches.
Now that you are on a Maj6, which is essentially a min7, you can start the whole routine again with the min7 shape as the new ii chord.
If you do this for all the inversions for the 6432, 4321, 5432, 6543, and 5321 groupings, you will be reinforcing all the shapes for Min7, Maj7, Dom9, Dom7(b9), Min7b5, Diminished, and Maj6 chords! We are also learning where 7ths, 9s, and b9s live. This is also a practical exercise -- you can use it to comp over any 2-5-1 progression. Finally, you will start hearing the voice-leading and learn how the b9 fits in, just through sheer exposure.
You can alter this process to also reinforce the Dominant chord fingerings by doing a second pass on each 2-5-1 with a 'tritone substitution.' Instead of changing from Dom9 to Dom7(b9) in the second measure, we will play a substitution for the V7 chord, whose root is a tritone away from the V7. It is easier than it sounds.
The root of the subsititue V7 chord will always lie between the root of the ii chord and the root of the I7 chord. So start with a minor shape for the first measure. The root of your V sub will be a half-step down from the root of the minor ii you just played. Find the Dominant chord fingering that goes with that root -- that is the Dominant tritone sub.
Now that you are on a Maj6, which is essentially a min7, you can start the whole routine again with the min7 shape as the new ii chord.
If you do this for all the inversions for the 6432, 4321, 5432, 6543, and 5321 groupings, you will be reinforcing all the shapes for Min7, Maj7, Dom9, Dom7(b9), Min7b5, Diminished, and Maj6 chords! We are also learning where 7ths, 9s, and b9s live. This is also a practical exercise -- you can use it to comp over any 2-5-1 progression. Finally, you will start hearing the voice-leading and learn how the b9 fits in, just through sheer exposure.
You can alter this process to also reinforce the Dominant chord fingerings by doing a second pass on each 2-5-1 with a 'tritone substitution.' Instead of changing from Dom9 to Dom7(b9) in the second measure, we will play a substitution for the V7 chord, whose root is a tritone away from the V7. It is easier than it sounds.
The root of the subsititue V7 chord will always lie between the root of the ii chord and the root of the I7 chord. So start with a minor shape for the first measure. The root of your V sub will be a half-step down from the root of the minor ii you just played. Find the Dominant chord fingering that goes with that root -- that is the Dominant tritone sub.
Play this dominant for bar 2 (the ii is bar 1), and then resolve to your Maj7 and Maj6 on the last two bars just like before.
If you do one pass with the flat-nine movement and one pass with the tritone sub, you will be covering just about all of your basic inversions!
If you go through them again with a minor 2-5-1, you can throw in your minor sixes also. You will probably ignore the dom9 chord and just hit the dom7(b9) for the second measure, though. I'll leave that to you to work out.
If you do one pass with the flat-nine movement and one pass with the tritone sub, you will be covering just about all of your basic inversions!
If you go through them again with a minor 2-5-1, you can throw in your minor sixes also. You will probably ignore the dom9 chord and just hit the dom7(b9) for the second measure, though. I'll leave that to you to work out.
| two-five_voiceleading.pdf |
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