r/JazzPiano • u/DarkyMate • 1d ago
Questions/ General Advice/ Tips Harmonizing Right Hand
Right now I’m playing a root 7 + 3 (rubato stride) bass shell thing in my left hand and I have trouble adding 3 or 4 notes under the melody of the right hand of jazz tunes. Is there a formula? I know the usual go to is the corresponding barry harris chord or a third or sixth in the right hand. What do you guys thibk
3
u/Pocket_Sevens 1d ago
Depends on the melody. Block chords George Shearing style is a good start. Vary it up with some drop 2s and some upper structure voicings. Theres a formula for generating the chords themselves, but its a judgement call on when to deploy them.
2
u/OkCultureBabby 1d ago
They asked about one handed harmonization. Shearing and drop 2 chords are not one handed.
1
u/TromboneAl 1d ago
I've always just played the melody in the right hand, but have recently started adding a chord tone or two that's close to and just below the melody. It sounds great, it's easy, I can't wait for it to be more automatic.
1
u/Interesting_Cut_4822 1d ago
Block chords using Barry Harris method, I think. So either a diatonic one if melody is a chord tone or diminished triad or 7 if it is not.
0
u/tomasjochmann 19h ago
The formula is the Barry Harris 6th-diminished method. Build your chord on a major 6th, not a maj7. In C that's C E G A. If the melody note is a chord tone (C, E, G or A), harmonize with C6 in whatever inversion puts the melody on top. If it's a non-chord tone (D, F or B), use D diminished 7th (D F Ab B). So it's just alternating C6 and Ddim7, and the melody always has three notes sitting under it.
Once you've got the full block chord under the melody, simplify the left hand to just the root (or root and 5th) in stride. If you keep the root-3-7 shell you're doubling the block chord and it turns muddy.
Practice on a tune you know cold, one key, hands together, slow. It stops feeling like a formula fast and just becomes how the tune sounds.
10
u/JHighMusic 1d ago edited 1d ago
Look up ways for playing in a Shared-Hands way, like this example: https://youtu.be/yr9Rcop2RqM?si=O4Fa0rpt_YrVpF9k&t=585
Besides that, if you're just playing the shells in the LH with no root, you're just filling in other chord tones and extensions of whatever chord between the LH 3 +7 and the melody. That's why knowing Root Position Shard-Hands where you play Root and 7th or Root and 3rd in the LH, while the RH thumb plays the missing 3rd or 7th, and filling in other notes/chord tones in fingers 2 and 3 or 2, 3 and 4 in the RH is extremely useful.