4 Note Voicings

4 note voicings sound very nice if played and voice lead properly. They are sometimes called closed position voicings or Mehegen voicings. They consist of the two guide tones (third and seventh) and two other notes (usually tensions ).

It's easiest to start by playing either guide tone as the bottom note. This would make the voicing consist of 3, 5, 7, 9 or 7, 9, 3, 5 (but feel free to replace the fifth with the sixth for more color). When the third is the bottom note, it is called an "A" voicing. When the seventh is the bottom note, it is called a "B" voicing.

Often it is simplest to alternate A and B voicings in order to get smooth voice leading as seen here in the first 8 bars of the song, "All the Things You Are."

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the first chord, F-7, is a B voicing and the next chord, Bb-7, is an A voicing and this pattern keeps alternating. When it gets to the Dbmaj7 chord I play consecutive A voicings because the notes were getting to low on the piano so I wanted to bring the chord to a higher register.

Also note that on every dominant V7 chord there are altered tensions to get a more colorful and jazzy sound.

4 note voicings are a great choice when you want more substance to your chords than shell voicings. Bill Evans made these chords very popular in his playing and I definitely recommend listening to him to hear different ways of using these voicings.

Proceed onto two handed voicings or head back to The Jazz Resource Homepage