This week’s gospel music lesson is a spin off of the last blog post.  It’s about how to incorporate jazz licks into gospel music. Hope you enjoy it and can apply it to your music right away!

For example, what one considers to be gospel music now does not sound like what people expected gospel music to sound like 100 years ago.

 CLICK HERE to hear what at one time was considered modern music.  “Wade In The Water”

I believe that there are so many relevant styles and approaches to music that can be applied to gospel music.  I was a jazz major in college and I learned about so many different jazz artists that helped to shape the genre of music in which they were classified. One common denominator among musicians that made a huge impact in music was the fact that those musicians were always looking for something fresh and new.  These people caused the music to evolve and change.  Many times people didn’t like change and rejected the new styles and sounds that these musicians were introducing. Below is the same song “Wade In The Water” with a more modern arrangement.

Music is constantly changing and evolving.

I am an advocate for studying various styles of music and incorporating different sounds and approaches to gospel music. I would like to reiterate that I believe what makes gospel music gospel music is the message of the music, not necessarily the chords or the beat of the song.

As time continues to go by the chords and beats that we use will evolve as musicians explore various ways of playing and arranging music to the message of the gospel that we love.

I would encourage you to think outside of the box and explore various styles of music for the sake of educating yourself about how the music works and what makes it sound the way that it does. I am a big jazz fan and I would like to share with you some of the people that I have studied over the years that I believe has helped to shape my playing and my personal approach to gospel music.

In no particular order:

Bill Evans  – Piano  (Chord Voicings, Chord Progressions)

Oscar Peterson -Piano  (Improvisation)

Phenias Newborn Jr. – Piano  (Improvisation)

James Williams – Piano   (Chord Voicings)

Art Tatum – Piano  (Stride Rag Time Piano)

Mycoy Tyner – Piano  (4th Chords, Playing Outside of Keys)

Herbie Hancock – Piano  (Dissonant and Abstract Chord Voicings)

Charlie Parker – Saxophone  (Improvisation)

Cannonball Adderley – Saxophone  (Improvisation, Articulation, and Tone)

Stretch yourself and reinvent yourself musically. There is so much to learn, so why not get started today! I would encourage you to check out some of my favorites on Youtube.

I would love to continue this discussion further. Make a comment or ask a questions.

KH

Quickly and easily learn to accurately play the song “When I See Jesus” by Alabama A&M. You will receive an organ video tutorial with an up close view with the notes spelled out so that you can quickly and easily learn the song. This tutorial contains several chord progressions and movements that are broken down and explained. Download Now and get started right away.

Click here to view a demo of “When I See Jesus”

Quickly and easily learn to accurately play the song “I’ve Got a Reason” by Olanda Draper/ Hezekiah Walker. You will receive an organ video tutorial with an up close view with the notes spelled out so that you can quickly and easily learn the song. This tutorial contains several standard chord progressions and movements that are broken down and explained. This tutorial is a great way to understand and effectively play this great style of gospel music. Download Now and get started right away.

Click hereto view a demo of “I’ve Got a Reason”

The Common Top Tone is an interesting concept that I think you will enjoy.  It’s about how to take one common note and play several chords with that one common tone.  Enjoy and please post your comment or question below.

Quickly and easily learn to accurately play the song “Draw Me Nearer” by James Fortune. You will receive an organ video tutorial with an up close view with the notes spelled out so that you can quickly and easily learn the song. Download Now and get started right away.

Click here to view a demo of “Draw Me Nearer”

Quickly and easily learn to accurately play the song ” Oh Lamb of God” by Lily of The Valley – Voices of Excellence. You will receive an organ video tutorial with the notes spelled out so that you can quickly and easily learn the song. Download Now and get started right away.

Click here to view a demo of “Oh Lamb of God”

This lesson is on how to play simple chords that are suitable for high praise moments. I did this lesson with the beginner to intermediate player in mind. This progression is very simple but the beauty of it is that you can easily play this in any key when ever you need or want to.

Enjoy!

One thing that I love to hear when listening to an organist or pianist is when the musician really knows how to voice their chords.

A chord voicing is referring to how you arrange the notes within a particular chord. For example I can play a C major chord several different ways.

right hand    CEG

left hand        C

right hand    E C

left hand     C  G

right hand    GCG

left hand      CGE

There are so many different ways you can voice a particular chord.  Here are a few tips to follow when you are trying to figure out how to voice a particular chord.

• Know or identify what specific notes make up a particular chord

For example a C major chord is comprised of 3 notes which are C, E and G

Now I know that C, E, and G are the notes that I have to work with. Now I will try to arrange these 3 notes to get the best possible sound.

I can use a particular note of the chord only once in my chord voicing.  I can also use a particular note of the chord more than once in my chord voicing. Let your ear be the judge of what is the best chord voicing

• Look for the sweet spot

Take the notes that make up a particular chord and try to arrange them so that they sound just right.

You don’t want your notes to be too low (played to far to the left) which will make your chords sound muddy or cloudy. You also don’t want to play the chord too high (played too far to the right) which will make the chord sound thin.

You want to find what I call the sweet spot, which is the ideal place on the keyboard for the chord that you are playing. Sometimes a combination of high and low works well. Sometimes a very close voicing works well. (Where the notes a very close to each other)

Sometimes an open voicing works well. (Where the notes have larger spaces in between them)

Experimentation is the key!!! You will be surprised at the great things you can find from just experimenting with different chord arrangements.

• Use Voice Leading

One thing that makes your chords sound good is good voice leading. Voice leading is how smooth the particular notes within a chord move to the notes in the very next chord.

You don’t want to jump around a lot when playing your chords.  Many times the notes within a particular chord don’t have to move more than a half step, whole step, or a third. This gives you a flowing and connected sound when you play your chord progressions. This sounds pleasing to the ear.  When you move from one chord to the next some of the notes may stay the same. Some may go up and some may go down. This is voice leading. The notes of your chords are the voices and you want them to move smoothly to the next notes of the chords.

I also like to think that the notes in my chord are like individual people singing in a choir. When someone is singing in the choir, the notes that the person sings does not have huge jumps and spaces in them. (Jumping from a really high note to a really low note)

That would sound unnatural and would be difficult to sing. Think of your fingers like little singers and you want each finger to move easily and smoothly from one note to the next note within a chord progression.

These are just 3 tips to think about when voicing your chords. I would love to hear your comments. Please let me know if you have any questions or want me to go into greater detail in any of the above mentioned tips.

KH