Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum block chords

hi,
can ne1 here tell me exactly what block chords are and how they are played?Also pls let me know of ne online lessons for block chords.I know that there is this block chord style of "george shearing" but i dont know how to play it.Are there block chord styles of other pianists as well
thanks

I'm afraid ne1 isn't registered here. Perhaps you should learn to spell properly before trying to learn about block chords.

Hi indianboy,

I checked out the wiki page, its got some pretty good information about the block chords. It mentions the shearing method:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_chords

Can't help you personally as I don't know enough theory.

Euan.

hi,thanks checked it out personally.cudn't really follow

Yeah, it is quite theory-intensive.

Just keep looking around the internet, there will be an easier guide. And there will probably be some answers here as well.

Also, it might be an idea to post your question in the 'Non-classical' forum.

Some people there have a good understanding of chord theory and will be able to give you help on this.

Hi indianboy

the way I think it is this...

A block chord is a chord where all the notes are played at once

a simple block chord would be say a three note triad as in

C Chord ...(C E G) played all at once or maybe its first inversion E G C or its 2nd G C E

or for a four note chord say a C6 Chord (C E G A)

the block chord notes can be played close together and that is called a closed voicing or can be spread out between both hands but still played all at the same time (block chord) these are known as open voicings

An open voicing could be played (for example lets say root and fifth in the left hand) so for a C6 chord (C and G) and the (E and the A) would be played higher up the keyboard with the right hand

If a chord is not played all at once (block chord) it is broken up and that is called an arpeggiated chord or arpeggio

regards


Lee

a block chord by definition is a group of notes selected and ordered by harmonic association, not a random group of notes though. say you play a C major piece, and want to make LH accompaniment using chords, then the first thing you need to know is what chords or the major chords are associated with C major scale? it comes down to 3 major chords: tonic, dominant and subdominant, but what they are and how they are formed? to answer that, you need to know these:

for C major, tonic note is C, dominant is G and subdominant note is F. to build the major chords over those notes, you need to make each of those note as 'root' note, i.e. the lowest note within the chord, after that, you pick a major third note E (from C) and place it on top of C, then you got a triad (tonic), and then place a perfect 5th note G (from C) on top of E to complete the formation of tonic chord of C, i.e. CEG (played together). do the similar tricks to dominant or subdominant, you will get dominant and subdominant chords of C major: GBD, FAC. any of these chords could be rearranged (from root to 5th) to get to the inversion of the same chord to achieve different sound coloring, e.g. CEG's 1st inversion is GCE and 2nd inversion is EGC.

a chord formation is all about intervals between notes, and details on how to form each chord over a particular key signature can be found in any theory book or wikipedia.

What the Wikipedia page talks about is simply playing the chord in closed voicing but with the melody tone on top. That means you may have to play inversions of the chord. "Shearing" style plays the melody line in the left hand as well, as bass tones.

For example: if the melody is f, a, c and the chord is F, then you could play: F (1st inversion: a-c-f), F (2nd inv: c-f-a), F (root position: f-a-c).

Actually, I think you're supposed to play 4-tone chords (7ths), and you have to apply all kinds of chord variations to keep it interesting, but this should get you started.

A decent book on this is "Play Piano by Ear" by Simon Schott.

hey,I came up with this question after viewing this video from duane shinn's http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/98-block-chord-styles.htm
the problem is that he says that play the melody in both hands but with the right hand play the chord as well.Now which chord is he talking about.I mean will any chord that has the melody note in it will do or is he referring to the chord one would have otherwise played maybe based on the lead sheet or the sheet music

hey,I came up with this question after viewing this video from duane shinn's http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/98-block-chord-styles.htm
the problem is that he says that play the melody in both hands but with the right hand play the chord as well.Now which chord is he talking about.I mean will any chord that has the melody note in it will do or is he referring to the chord one would have otherwise played maybe based on the lead sheet or the sheet music

I really hope that correct spelling at all time is not required at this forum, because than I should have been excluded a long time ago !

Indianboy, the video is quite advanced and I am not very advanced when it comes to chord playing, but I looks like something I try to do when I play a song without singing.

With LH I play only the key note (C if its a -major chord, F in a F major.....) very often I play the octave (two Cs or Fs).
With my RH I play a chord with the melody note on top (so if the meldy has E and the chord is Cmajor I play G-C-E with RH).
Very often some of the melody notes does not belong to a chord and I just play them single between the chords.

If I don't have the sheet music I choose the chords myself, If I have melody line with chords I play the suggested chords but very often simplify a bit

(This was very difficult to explain in English, I am not sure it is understandable.. sorry )

Ragnhild

Ouch. That's a bit harsh. Do people usually spell perfectly when posing on a message board or sending a phone text? Not the usual welcoming attitude I've seen on these boards.

It's not unintended mispelling I object to, just the unwillingness to take half a second to write out the damn word, if he's going to ask people to take time to help, perhaps he should show a modicum of respect in return and put in just the that little bit of effort.

Indianboy,

There is a little confusion here as block chords actually means a couple of different things. The term "Block Chord" is often used interchangeably with Close Voiced Chord which simply means play the chord in one hand in any inversion. Block Chord Style is different in that it describes a method of playing where the each (and every) melody note is played as the highest note of the harmonic (guitar part on a lead sheet) chord. Variations on this style see the bass note as either a copy of the melody note (double melody) or as the root of the chord.

I personally am not that fond of the Block Chord style but rather play a variation where only the first note of a bar or at a chord change actually includes the full chord. The remaining notes from the melody will either be individual notes, or pairs which include the melody note and one of the notes from the chord. The left hand can either play roots, roots in octaves, pedal tones, or a pattern/arp (think walking bass line for example).

I've written a pretty comprehensive chord voicing/theory thread which you might find useful.

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/32/1258.html

Hope this helps,

Rodney

Hi Indianboy: Mahlzeit is correct in the information that he gave you. Duane Shinn is usually talking about the Shearing style when talking about block chords. Yes, you play the melody note in both the right and left hands and fill in underneath the right hand with notes of the chord from either the lead sheet or whatever you decide is the proper chord to be playing. You ALWAYS make the left hand melody note stand out over the other notes by playing it slightly louder. Also, other notes can be added in the left hand if the melody is not moving for a while, such as arps, rolls, etc.

Alene

hey,
thank you guys.so that was what duane meant when he said let the left hand stand out.

http://jazzlessons.blogspot.com/2005/12/block-chords.html
I found this article earlier but couldn't really follow.thanks to you people now I understand what the author is trying to say.
also duane talks about varying the chords even for the same melody for variation.Now he goes 1-5-1-5-1 if one listens carefully.what does he exactly mean?
Also Rodney I checked out the other thread,how about putting it all on video with your own song examples once you get on another row.I mean it.take care

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