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Kenny Barron Voicings


Today we're going to talk about voicings, called the Kenny Barron Voicings, a famous jazz pianist. They sound like this: this is a C Minor, F Minor, Bb Minor. They have this really nice, open sound to them, and I'm just going to show you how they're built. They're actually really easy once you figure out how they're built. The cool thing is, they're all fifth intervals. If you take the bottom hand, and say, you want to build one off of C, start with a C in your pinkie, go up a fifth to G, go up a fifth to D. Then, with your right hand, go up a half-step and do the same thing. Start on Eb, up a fifth to Bb, up a fifth to F. That's the full voicing.

You can start that from any key, and technically, the notes in this chord, this would be a C Minor. We've got the C, the root, the fifth, the ninth, the D, the third, the seventh, and the eleventh. Sometimes I like to double the ninth up here, stretching it out. Really, you just stay with that open sound. Let's start building one, say, in G. If you start G, up a fifth, B, up a fifth, A, then with your right hand, always go up just a half-step. That grabs the minor third. Then go up a fifth again, so Bb, F, C. It's a real nice, open sound on the keys. And that is the Kenny Barron Voicings.

   

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