voice leading

Hip with how chords are voiced? In the following ideas we simply examine cool and common ways to move from one chord to another. We call it voice leading because here we will basically think in terms of our voices, as in the higher soprano down to low down bass tones. Cool with these terms? They come from choir music. Here's a chart of the voices. Example 1.

Cool so far? O.K. with the notation? So, our musical task here is how we move these four pitches of this chord to the four pitches of the next chord, as created by the progression of the song we are playing. Assuming of course that the "next" chord has four pitches yes? Thinking that it does, the following possibilities emerge. Thinking tonic One to Four in the major tonality. Example 2.

Easy enough eh? Are our voices the most common instrument used to create the chordal harmonies of the popular American sounds? Well no, guitar and piano? Well yes! Just kidding. So, are our voice leadings generally governed by how these two instruments and their relatives are tuned and function? Pretty much, unless you happen to have a orchestra or some sort of choir handy.

I scratch my head as I write this, thinking, is this really true? I think in the modern day, practical realities of the emerging artist that yes it is, as the piano and guitar are oftentimes most readily available. Other common chordal instruments? Vibes, marimbas? Perhaps common at educational facilities I guess, as is generally the piano. If the reader has access to a larger group of instruments to write for, say at your school, to experiment with different voice leadings, good on ya mon, and shame on ya if you do not take advantage of the writing opportunity! Ooops, just kidding about the shame thing, writing music for larger groups of instruments is not so easy. Ever thought about writing music for such groups? If you do, you'll bump into voice leading, range of instrument concerns etc. For now, we continue this discussion of voice leading as if the piano, it's common relatives and the six string guitar are our chordal instruments of choice.

Are the common ways we move from chord to chord based on creating a particular musical style? Is it the historical tradition and musical legacy laid down by our heroes that defines the elements of current style today? Could be eh? Example 2a.

So, again we see the gradual extension into the upper part of the arpeggios as we move through the American styles. So simple, so cool. A gradually increasing complexity of style as we move up into the upper structure of the chords. Cool with this?

So with this in mind, let's explore some of the more common properties associated with voice leading. As perhaps one can well imagine, there are some guidelines that govern the motion to create a particular style. Knowledge of these parameters helps the emerging learner gain a sense of how to create and get a sense of tonal stability and the basic tension and release dynamic within a style. In creating the American sounds, the guitar is often the instrument of choice, with the players often following set chord shapes and traditional patterns, so at least initially, not too much concern into how one moves each of the individual voices from one chord to the next. For piano players, due to the ease of the pitch / key mechanism of the instrument, it's pretty wide open how the voices within chords can move about, with the motion of choice based on the experience of a cat, their style etc.

One easy rule of thumb for voiceleading. Regardless of which chords are involved, a most common way to voice lead from one chord to the next is to try and move each voice of one chord the smallest interval to a chord tone of the next chord. For example, thinking root position chords, here is a common voice leading of One to Four. Example 3.

Let's analyze the above chord motion voice by voice, from the low bass to highest soprano voice. Example 3a.

Using a 1st inversion dominant chord, here is a voice leading from One to Five. Example 4.

Here is an analysis of the voice leading. Example 4a.

So, do we have to keep things close when moving voices between chords? Nope, it's just an easy way to start. Unless writing to create a particular style, there are really no limits or restrictions as to how the voices might move. Of course, playability of our ideas might factor in also eh?

Folk music. The music to support folk melodies is so often created on guitar, using the major and minor triads found in the lower register of the instrument. Often a capo ( kaypoe ) is employed to modulate these same shapes to other keys. Does the way the chords are shaped in the guitar's standard tuning determine the voice leading? Pretty much. Here is an idea transcribing open guitar chord voicings onto treble clef. Example 5.

The six strings of the guitar make for some big chords eh? Do we always use all 6? Of course not, any combination? Absolutely. Are there dozens of open chords? Yep. Common shapes? About 10 or so. No wonder the guitar is among the most popular instruments on the planet!

Rock music is similar to the folk styles, with the guitar oftentimes being the predominant chordal instrument. So again, voice leading goes out the window a bit due to the nature of the instrument, where predetermined chord shapes or fingerings are often the easiest, and are simply sequenced as the artist deems. Of course, different rock styles oftentimes demand different chords, which effects the voice leading. Explore a bit of the theory of your favorite players and adapt their ways of voicing chords to your music to get at the sound of a particular style.

Perhaps most illustrative of this idea is the parallel motion of perfect 5th's for the hard rock / heavy metal artists, whose overdriven amplified sounds work better with less pitches. Here the voicings are perfect 5th's, moved upward along the pitches of the minor pentatonic scale. Example 6.

So, what song is it you want to hear? Without the overdrive roar of the electronics, this motion of just the 5th's is about as "bare bones" as it gets for creating chords within equal temper. For softer rock, country rock and their various sub genres, barre chord voicings are very common, provide the essential major, minor and 7th chord colors in easily, movable shapes while creating a cool sound. So, do the "built in" guitar shapes determine the voice leading? Pretty much. Cool with this?

Blues chords nowadays usually contain a tritone interval between the 3rd and 7th degrees, creating the common dominant 7th chord as found in diatonic harmony. This provides the "unstable" basis which motors the blue colors. Blues voice leading often uses a half step motion of this tritone color to cover it's principle One / Four / Five progression. Example 7.

Sound familiar? This is a very elementary blues voice leading, but by it's historical significance, captures perhaps a part of the original colors as we know them to be, meaning earliest recordings of the style etc. For piano players, moving the four voices in the blue tonality might look like this. Example 7a.

An important idea with this last idea concerns how the chords are voiced. What seems to happen within all of the styles is a bit of a "leap frog" format in the learning process. Players exhaust and tire of their existing sounds prompting the exploration for new ways of taking care of business. The leap frog thing here is that the new chord shape discovered is often a bit too far beyond our existing understanding of the music, theory, playing abilities etc. This new shape initially becomes a "chunk" of harmony on our palettes, which with time will gradually mold itself to our artistic perspective as we attempt to fit it into our sound and get it solidly under our fingers. This is perhaps especially true when we get to hang with more advanced players and they show us their cool ideas, voicings, licks etc., providing us with new challenges on all of the important levels. Sound, theory, fingerings, new areas of the literature to explore etc. This leap frog of the theory / in practice dynamic is perhaps even more common in American jazz music, where as we ascend the arpeggios, our ears have to catch up, accept and understand the sound as being "correct" in the setting we are to use them before it can be confidently applied when creating improvised American musical dialogue.

Jazz chords cover the full spectrum of colors available within equal temper. With the harmonies so often created on the piano, it's relatives and guitar in the popular jazz styles, the ways to voice chords and the motion between them is pretty wide open. Voice leading gets a bit sticky in the jazz world in that the chords are often extended way past the initial triadic basis of our chords. That 7th chords move to 9th chords or # 11 or 13th chords at the whim of the artist. That advanced players will stack different triads atop one another, creating cool, complex colors or head towards polytonality. All of this is can shape one's sense of tonal gravity in the music.

So in regards to how one jazz chord moves to the next within the progression of a song, it's pretty wide open. Does it all come down to what is physically doable for a player? Fortunately, there are styles within the jazz style that will help define not only how the chordal colors are chosen but also voicings and voice leading employed to create that style's sound. Most of this approach is based on what has historically been used over the years by the major jazz figures. History and hindsight allows us transcribe their recordings and look at how they worked the magic.

So, for a player getting started, where to start. Well, so many factors. Here are a couple of root position Two / Five One motions, the popular cadential sounds in many of the jazz styles. First in the major tonality then minor. Example 8.

Cool enough eh? Using the common tone and root motion by 5th in bars 31 and 33. Stacking perfect 4th's in bar 32 to create the tonic color. If you dig the sounds, run these voice leadings through the cycle of 5th's, i.e., try to recreate the sound in each of the 12 major and 12 minor tonal centers.

Here are some of the common jazz / blues chords in vogue today, voiced and moved as a guitarist might. Click the chord symbol for the chord shape. Example 8a.

Hear any chord voicings or motions you dig? Examine it's structure, run it through the 12 keys and it's use forever. Simple eh?

Are there other ways to move from one chord to another? Of course there is, but you knew that right? The following ideas examine various artistic techniques for voice leading, applicable to most of the American styles.

Perhaps the most common of these techniques is termed the half step lead in. With this motion we simply approach our target chord from either above or below by half step. Example 9.

Easy enough eh? Can we do this with any of the chord types? Absolutely. Any style? Well, this half step motion is not a big hit with the folk artists for some reason, although I'd imagine it must be somewhere in the literature. Blues, rock and jazz? Totally, although rockers tend to favor the approach from whole step below, not half step, as it is a bluesier color. To create the elusive rhythmic swing feel, the half step lead in can become indispensable in getting things off the ground so to speak.

Parallel motion / constant structure. A close relative to the above half step motion is to move one voicing as dictated by the chord progression of the song. The parallel motion implies moving the same voicing or constant structure in various ways. Here we move the same blues color voicing down by half steps. Example 10.

Sound familiar? Tis a pretty common way to move things about. Basically moving one chord voicing down chromatically? Yep.

With the diminished colors, moving things by minor 3rd's is easy, as the chord perfectly inverts as it moves up or down by the interval of a minor 3rd. Example 10a.

A Hollywood sound eh? Yes, they love the diminished color for it's tension. Can we apply the same idea to the whole tone / augmented triads, moving a voicing in major 3rd's? Lets try and see. Example 10b.

Although not all that common, knowing the theoretical properties of these two colors might open up some new avenues for exploration for the creative artist.

Review. Here are a few of the basic ideas surrounding voice leading for the emerging, creative artist.

Historically, the concept of voice leading evolves from the four part writing from choral music. From the low bass voice to the highest soprano pitches.

Cool with the numbers? The idea that each of the voices can have a numerical equivalent based on it's relationship to the root of a chord?

That when moving between chords, moving each voice to the nearest chord tone of the next chord is a sure way to go when first starting out.

That chords are found in different inversions, whereby different pitches of the chord are found in the lowest bass voice.

That each of the styles of American music have their own ways of voicing chords and moving through their chord progressions, and that much of this is determined by the nature of the instruments used in creating the style, especially the guitar, in the folk, blues and rock styles especially.

That there are really no limits as to how chords can move from one to another, that by reviewing transcribed music of the American and European masters, we tap into an inexhaustible supply of cool music, solid ideas and ways of leading the voices.

Where to next?

review new ideas

"If you think from the root of the chord you'll never get lost" Dr. James B. Miller