Piano Lesson: Jazz Piano - Block Chords

by David Bruce

In this lesson we'll look at block chords, used by jazz pianists like George Shearing,
Bill Evans and many others. Block chords are effectively a way of harmonising a
melody by having all the notes move in parallel. There are a wide variety of ways to
do this. We'll look here at some of the most common, all examples of what is known
as 'four-way close' harmony.

The first example alternates between C6 chords and dimished 7th chords:

Try playing up and down this series of chords. Notice how the upper line is a C
major scale with a 'passing note' of a G#. The reason for the G# is it allows the
chords to continue to alternate - if the scale was G then A, we would have to
harmonise using two C6 chords, so the G# gives us another opportunity for a
dimished 7th chord, and allows the pattern to continue.

To see a piece that incorporate these chords, see On the block by David Bruce
here on 8notes.com - there is a middle section to the piece which allows you to
improvise over a repeating left-hand pattern.

There are three alternative versions of the above, all alternating one chord with a
diminished 7th chord. Firstly this one alternates minor 6th chords with the
diminished:

The next one alternates minor 7th chords with the dimished 7th chords:

And finally, dominant 7th chords:

All four of these are very closely related, but you can see how they give a huge
range of possibilies when improvising jazz piano