If you have been with us
throughout this series of lessons on chord prediction, you
have met:The
family: The I, IV, and V chords.
The cousins: The II, III, VI
and VII chords.
The neighbors: Any chord that
is 1/2 step above or below a Family member or a Cousin chord.
We have also become familiar
with the "Circle of 4ths" and how chords want to move around
that circle.
We also learned that as we
move from chord to chord, we can take shortcuts by using the
neighbor's yard -- we can cut across the neighbor's yard as we
move from family member to family member, or cousin to cousin,
or family member to cousin, or vice-versa.
For example, let's say that
you are moving from the C chord to the A7chord. Instead of
just playing those two chords, play the Bb7 chord on the way
to A7. That way you are "sliding in" to A7 from above. Or you
can play Ab7 right before A7 -- that way you are sliding in
from below. Of course, you have to keep within the time
parameters of the song -- you can't add a beat or two (unless
you are playing "rubato" -- free time). So if the sheet music
indicates that you should hold the C chord for 4 counts before
playing the A7 chord, you might use the 4th beat of that 1st
measure to "slide in" to A7 via the Bb7 chord.
The way you might voice the
chord would depend upon what the melody note is at that point.
Let's say the melody is "G". In that case, you might voice the
Bb chord like this:
Left hand: Bb F (from bottom
up in the 2nd octave below middle C)
Right hand: Ab, C, D, G (from
bottom up overlaping middle C)
A general rule for voicing
half-step slides is to "parallel the target chord" as much as
possible -- in other words, form the chord exactly 1/2 step
above the target chord note for note, and then simply slide
down to the target chord.
