What Are Jazz Piano Chord Voicings? (Simple Guide for Beginners)

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What are Jazz piano chord voicings?

Jazz piano chord voicings are the different ways you can arrange the notes of a chord when you play it.

Even if the chord symbol stays the same (like C major 7), there are many different ways you can play that chord on the piano—each one with its own sound and character.

Some voicings sound full and rich, others sound light and minimal. Some are spread out across the keyboard, while others are tightly grouped together.

In this lesson, you’ll learn:

What jazz piano chord voicings actually are
The main types of voicings used by professional players
How different voicings change the sound of a chord
How to choose the right voicing when playing a song

Major 7 Voicings

To start, here's just a few voicings I could use to play C major 7:

Each of these arrangements (show above) is called a ‘chord voicing’. They are all different ways of 'saying' the same chord.

All of the chord voicings above sound like C major 7 - but some have added colors (9ths, 11ths, 13ths)…

Some voicings have spread out sounds spanning more than an octave (open voicings, 4th voicings, or the Kenny Barron voicing), while others have a crunched up sound and span less than an octave (closed voicings and rootless voicings)…

Some voicings sound sophisticated by building the chord in 4ths (C B E A D), while others sound warm and emotional (C G B E).

As a jazz pianist, a BIG part of the fun comes from choosing which chord voicings you'll use to ‘voice’ a jazz song.

The Main Types of Chord Voicing

Here are some of the main types of voicing that Jazz pianists use.

Most of these shapes can be applied to any chord type – major 7, minor 7, or dominant 7.

But a few are specific to chord type (e.g. Upper Structures are only for V7 chords).

Closed position voicings

This is where you play literally what the chord symbol says - 1 3 5 7. Often played in root postition or 2nd inversion - 5 7 1 3.

Open voicings

Instead of playing the chord tones in 3rds (1 3 5 7), open voicings feature wider gaps between each note - 1 5 3 7, or 1 7 3 5, or 1 5 7 3 are some examples. Open voicings have a wider sound than closed voicings because they span from the bass - mids, and sometimes up to the treble.

Shell voicings

Play the chord's 1 7 3 or 1 3 7.

These minimal 3-note voicings give the soloist maximum freedom to choose whichever scales they want to play from.

Rootless voicings

In your right hand, play the chord's 3 5 7 9, or 7 9 3 5.

Rootless voicings are very commonly used when playing with a bass player. The pianist tends to play these in their left hand, leaving the root of the chord to the bassist. You can then solo in your right hand, or play the song’s melody.

4th voicings

Modern jazz pianists will sometimes voice chords in stacks of 4ths – instead of 3rds.

For example, C major 7 could be voiced as a stack of 4ths starting from the chord’s 7th - (C) B E A D.

Upper Structures

These are a type of two-handed chord voicing used for V7 chords.

Upper structures work by playing the chord’s 1 3 7 in the left hand (e.g. C E Bb for C7), and then playing one of several triads in the right hand. For example, here's D major (D F# A) played over C7:

Other right-hand triads you can play over C7 include Eb major (Eb G Bb), Ab major (Ab C Eb, and A major (A C# E). Each triad adds its own collection of chord extensions.

How to choose which voicing to play

With so many voicings available – how do you actually choose which one you'll play?

Here's the method I use. I call it 'melody-matching':

As a beginner, I suggest you start by playing ‘closed voicings’ only (playing literally what the chord symbol says, 1 3 5 7). You can play any jazz song using just 1 3 5 7 and 5 7 1 3 of each chord (root position and 2nd inversion), while playing the melody line above in your right hand:

However, for more advanced players who have learned multiple types of chord voicing - I recommend using a technique I call ‘melody matching’. Here's how it works.

'Melody-Matching' Explained

Look at what the melody note is in relation to the chord (e.g. 9th, 5th, 7th, etc), and then choose a chord voicing that already has that note as its top note.

That way, you can play the chords and melody together, just by playing carefully chosen chord voicings throughout the song:

NOTE: You only have to look at the first melody note played to choose your chord voicing. Most melodies will change notes later in the bar, but you can keep the same chord voicing in place. Sometimes you'll have to release some of the top notes from the chord voicing if the melody moves downwards into the chord and needs space.

Let's take some examples...

Say that the chord is C minor 7 and the melody note is D - the 9th. Which chord voicing will you use?

Well in this case, you'd want a minor 7 chord voicing that has the 9th as its top note - like this 'rootless voicing' (1 / 3 5 7 9) for example:

Or let's say the melody note was a Bb (the minor 7th) over the same C minor 7 chord. Which chord voicing will you use?

Well in this case, you'd want a minor 7 chord voicing that has the 7th as its top note - like this 'open voicing' (1 5 3 7) for example:

Or finally, let's say the melody note was an F (the 11th) over the same C minor 7 chord. Which chord voicing will you use?

Well in this case, you'd want a minor 7 chord voicing that has the 11th as its top note - like this 'Kenny Barron voicing' (1 5 9 / 3 7 11) for example:

And you would continue to work your way through the song, one chord at a time, choosing chord voicings which contain the melody note as their top note. This will need to be done slowly, and I suggest writing your chord voicings above the sheet music.