Voice Leading

One of the reasons we need good voicing is that it makes our chord changes more fluid.

Amateur jumps all over the keyboard from one chord to another.

You play all the chords in root position.

Using inversions, we can vry the distance and direction of the individual voices.

Tones that are shared by 2 successive chords (common tones) can be sustained or repeated in the same voice, so there is a connecting link between teh chords.


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When playing from a fake book.

One should try to change chords with an economy of motion.

Make yourself aware of the common tones of frequently used chord progressions so that your fingers don't shift awkwardly when making the changes.

If you find yourself continually lifting your hands off the keyboard, your voice leading could be better.


How does one read the voice lading implied by the chord symbols?
this is one area in which fake charts can make things difficult.

You've seen chord charts where 3 or 4 or even more complicated looking chords are crowded into one measure.
You've wondered how it is possible to make those changes so quickly.

These measures contain only one main chord and all the other symbols re there to point out the movement of a voice in that chord. It maybe the bass or the inner voice.


The use of inversions allows for a smooth bass line.

For eg.

F C/E Dm F/C Bb Dm/A Gm Bb/F C C/Bb F/A C7/G F Gm F/A C7


Notice how the bass line moves in a descending F major scale through the first four measures.

The imp bass notes are always on the strong beats.
Notice the scalar movement is not interrupted.

With a long, unidirectional bass line, it is imp to start high enough if the line is descending, and low enough if the line is ascending.


Playing inversions when no specifically indicated will come naturally with exp.
As a general rule, any time you can use an inversion to make a bass line move stepwise, it will probably sound good.

However reading voice leading from a chord chart goes far beyond the bass line.



There are also inner voices that move in similar fashion.

For eg.

Le's loko at a progression in closed opsition:

Cm Cm+7 Cm7 Cm6

C B Bb A