“ Reckless Love”. If you’ re playing the song in |
the key of E, the verse chords would be C # m7, |
Bsus, and A2. With this progression you have |
your choice of two common tones to put in |
the soprano of your voicings. How quickly do |
you recognize what those common tones are? |
They are B and E. So, if you put the B on top |
of your voicing, here’ s how you might voice the |
three chords. |
Chord Name |
C # m7 |
Bsus |
A2 |
|
B |
B |
B |
|
G # |
F # |
A |
|
E |
E |
E |
|
C # |
B |
B |
And here are some voicings that could work if |
you put the E in your soprano. |
Chord Name |
C # m7 |
Bsus |
A2 |
|
E |
E |
E |
|
C # |
B |
B |
|
B |
B |
B |
|
G # |
F # |
A |
With time, recognizing these common tones becomes automatic and you will instinctively land on voicings that preserve common tones.
You might think this is a lot of work, deciding what note to put where, what note to move, etc. Thankfully, with time, recognizing these common tones becomes automatic and you’ ll start to notice that your hands are instinctively landing on voicings that naturally preserve common tones.
Spend time at your instrument trying these common tone suggestions. Perhaps write on your chord chart what the common tones are between the chords in your song’ s progression. Experiment with the effect of these common tones using an acoustic piano sound, a pad sound, maybe an organ or electric piano sound. And by all means you should try the popcorn / chocolate chips thing. Yum.
Ed Kerr Ed lives in Seattle with his family. He serves as Worship Arts Director at First Free Methodist Church, teaches keyboards in Paul Baloche’ s leadworship workshops, and is a clinician with Yamaha’ s House of Worship. He also manages the Yamaha Worship Facebook Group and invites you to join the group. www. KerrTunes. com
FIG. 3 FIG. 4
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