Introduction to keyboard harmony

In order to work with the video tutorials (links below), a little background information is necessary.

Seventh chords are chords constructed using alternating major and minor thirds starting on the root, then the 3rd, the 5th and finally the 7th. We use the numbers 1 3 5 and 7 to describe these notes.

The three most common seventh chords occurring in African music and music of the diaspora are the major 7th, the minor 7th and the 7th chord or dominant 7th. These chords employ different combinations of major and minor 3rds (or b3) and major and minor 7ths (or b7).

• The dominant seventh chord has this structure: 1 – 3 – 5 – b7
• The major seventh chord has this structure: 1 – 3 – 5 – 7
• The minor seventh chord has this structure: 1 – b3 – 5 – b7

Minimal voicings

This system reduces the chords to the essential notes that express their particular sound quality. As the 5th occurs unchanged in all three chords, it tell us nothing about the quality of the sound. It can therefore be left out.

So we are left with 3-note chords. The root (1) is essential as it tells us what note the particular chord is built on. The 3rd and 7th in different combinations will tell us whether the chord is a dominant, major or minor seventh.

Voice leading

Good voice leading is important when playing harmonic progressions as it allows you to play with moving your hands excessively on the keyboard. This exercises help you to practice voice leading using minimal movement for ease of playing. The progressions also sound much better as a result.

These chords can be played two ways, either in the open position: 1 – 3 – 7, or inverted in the closed position: 1 – 7 – 3.

The open and closed positions are important because they allow you to play the progression smoothly using good voice leading by alternating the open and closed positions. Otherwise you would have to move your hand quite a bit to play the next chord. At the same time, by alternating open and closed positions, you are able to move in whole steps or half steps to the next chord. This is a good way to practice smooth voice leading.

So 1 – 3 – 7 would be followed by 1 – 7 – 3 and then 1 – 3 – 7 again continuing through the progression to the end. Similarly, if you start on 1 – 7 – 3 you would move to 1 – 3 – 7 and then to 1 – 7 – 3 again continuing through the progression to the end.

Another important point is that the 7th is always followed by the 3rd which becomes a 7th as you progress. Similarly, the 3rd is always followed by a 7th and then a 3rd as you move through the progression.

Now that you have a basic idea about keyboard harmony, you can follow the links to the video tutorials below:

• The dominant 7th chord chain
• The major 7th chord chain
• The minor 7th chord chain