Hi folks,
In this post I touch briefly on Part D on praise music from my post. These are techniques you can master by following HearAndPlay’s Gospel Music 300 course.
Part D is a 6 2 5 1 progression and follows Part C. When you end Part C, you will be on a 5 chord.
So, on the left hand you can walk up to the 6th tone in half steps. i.e. 5 ♭6 6.
13 chords
For the 6 2 5 1 in the key of A♭, we can use all 13th chords:
F7 add13 (E♭ A D / F)
B♭ add13 (A♭ D G / B)
E♭ add13 (D♭ G C / E)
A♭ add13 (G♭ C F / A♭)
Another way to play it is:
F7 add13 (E♭ A D / F)
B♭ add13 (A♭ D G / B)
E♭7 ♯9 (G D♭ G♭ / E)
A♭ add13 (G♭ C F / A♭)
Note that to play the E♭7 chord, on the right hand you just move all the notes down a half step.
Tritones
If you have a bass player, you can play tritones based on the 3rd tone of the chord key you’re playing on (think of it as playing a 7th chord without the 5 note, i.e. 1st tone, 3rd tone and ♭tone).
So for A♭ major, you would use:
6 – A + E♭ / F
2 – A♭ + D / B♭
5 – G + D♭ / E♭
1 – G♭ + C / A♭
Note that as you go from one tritone to another you just lower each of the 2 fingers down by 1 half step.
Right hand lick
If you have a bass player playing base run, you can play tritones on left and the following lick on the right hand:
<F E D♭ D> <F A♭ B B♭> <A♭ F A♭>
Chromatically dropping minor chords
On the right hand you can play chromatically dropping minor chords including the 3 minor chord, ♭3 minor chord, 2 minor chord. After these 3, you can wrap up with a 1 diminished chord, and finally a 1 chord: So
3 minor – ♭3 minor – 2 minor – 1 diminished – 1.
E.g. In key of A♭, you can play
C minor – E♭ G C
B minor – D F♯ B
B♭ minor – D♭ F B♭
A♭ dim – B D F A♭
A♭ – C E♭ A♭
How to transition from part D back to A
You can do a walk up on the left hand from 3 to 5. 3 4 ♭5 5.
On the right hand you can play
B♭ quartal chord / C (B♭ E♭ A♭ / C)
D♭9 (B E♭ F A♭ / D♭)
Ddim (B D F A♭ / D)
A♭maj / E♭ (C E♭ A♭ / E♭)
E♭7 ♯9♯5 (G B D♭ G♭ / E♭) – hold this connector chord for a moment.