Here's a cool trick for Pianists
 

I apologize if you guys already know this. :(

I recently got this book called 'voicings' by Frank Mantooth. Great book-def. recommendation. But there are some cool formulas in here for playing poly chords (or alt. chords) in two hands. I'll throw a few out here to see if you like em. ;)

C7(b5) or C13(#11) --- II/I(7) put the 3 and 7 in the left hand (I[7]) and play a D chord in the right (II).

C7(#9) --- bIII/I simply play a C (1 and 5) in the left hand and play a full Eb chord in the right (bIII).

C7(b9 b5) --- bV/I just play a C (1 and 5) in the left hand and play a Gb chord in the right (bV).

C13(b9) --- VI/I(7) You place the left hand on 3 and 7 of C and play an A in the right hand.

C7(#9 #5) --- bVI/I(7) play the 3 and 7 of the C dom. and put an Ab in the right hand.

But it gets really fun when you start playing the blues and alternating your right hand between the chords and creating interesting melodies. Man. If you haven't tried it yet, do so right NOW.

peace :thumb:
-nick

maybe some pictures? :D cause i don't get it...

Cool, I'm giving this a try. Could this be moved to the Talk Instruments section?

Alternate chord voicings and inversions are always fun to learn. These seem pretty cool I'll have to try em' out the next time I'm near a piano.

@stereoid, hopefully this should explain things a bit:

numbers like 1 and 7 are used to represent notes within a scale. So on a C scale, C is 1, D is 2, E is 3 etc. etc. They're used to make transposing songs and chords in your head just a little bit easier to comprehend--and even communicate.

So, when I say:
on your C scale your going to put your left hand on E and Bb and play a standard D chord (which would be D, Gb, and A). Now if you have someone play a C note on a bass or even the piano, you'll come out with a C7 flat 5 chord.

Hope that explains a bit.

peace,
-nick

ok, thanks for explanations, i didn't know it ;)

Just got me a new digital piano and I will be trying this! Thanks!

I think I'm gonna go through and write out the formulas for standard 7 and 9 chords and put it in one 'Piano Chord Formulas' thread sometime in the future. Would you guys find that helpful?

I'll also include different ways to voice them--like Radiohead usually voices maj7 chords with the 1 and 5 in the left hand and the 3 and 7 in the right. Gives it a very spacey feel.

peace,
-nick

I'm not an expert musician by any means but I understand enough and this makes no sense to me. Firstly a standard D chord is D F# A. Gb is the enharmonic equivalent but it should still be written F# so in the scale of D every note is accounted for. Also if youre advised to play 3 and 7 from the C scale there is nothing there to indicate the 7 is flat.
How is the chord C7 b5 or C 13 # 11? If you play all the notes at the same time it is both. With a C in the bass as suggested the chord would be C13 b5 m7.