Improvise cool R&B chords for piano

So you'd like to be able to play those deep soulful chords with a lot of emotion and tension?

R&B / Soul or even blues chord progressions tend to have a lot more tension than other genres. Deeper neo soul with artists such as Jill Scott, Erkah Badu, D'Angelo, Bilal etc.. tend to have chords with so much tension that they are technically outside the scale simliar to Jazz, but the the phrase will usualy finish with a "coming home" note, usually in the Major key.

I am not one who is big on music theory so I won't be going into depth with explanations, rather I'd just like to show you some effective chords progressions even for guitar that can be used to build tracks. I tend to discover most chords by trial and error, although recently I have developed a technique to quickly find chord transitions.

See below for some nice chords progressions I have discovered.

Using power chords try the following, easy to improvise on the piano.

Fm9 / Bb7 / Ebmin9 / Ab7 - This can be looped to create a soulful tension souding verse.

Switching from Fm9 to Bb7 (Dom) is simple. The C (index) and Eb (thumb) are simply shifted to - Bb (index) and D (thumb)., bass note stays on F (see the pictures below).

Same switching from Ebmin9 to Ab7 (Dom). Bb and Db are shifted to Ab and C - simple.

Bb7 can be deepend by adding a 6th (G)

Ab7 can also be deepend by adding a 6th (F)

Try it out, guitar player also.

This one is another 4 chord pattern and has gentle tension on all chords giving it a deep sound.

Am9 / Bm7 Cmaj9th / BbMaj7.

You'll find that playing this to a slow tempo has a Dwele feel to it. Try it out!!!

Start with Ab Major 7th(right hand improvise on the Eb key, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D)

G Minor 7th(right hand improvise on the Bb key, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A)

Gb Major 7th(right hand improvise on the Db key, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, B)

F Min 7th (right hand -> back to key of Eb)

Switching keys like this is the key for Neo Soul sound.

Voicing can be described like "Giving character" to a chord, it's a good way to improvise on the piano. A chord will normally be played by press all key simultaneously however hitting the keys and different times and produce different effects. With good voicing you can really impress friends and family by them thinking you are really playing the piano with both hands when in fact you are simply spicing up a power chord.

Everybody has different methods but I like the Bass, melody x 2, Bass, Melody x 2, Bass Melody x 4.

To achieve this,simply positiion your hands for a power chord and randomly hit left, right x 2, left rightx x 2, left, right x 4. There are countless combinations.

Another good voicing method is the play a full 9th with your left hand. I think the easiest way to do this is invert of the 9th key because the 9th may be too far for your pinky to reach so bring it down an octave. The 9th key should now be next to the base key, with this setup you should be able to play a 9th easily with all five fingers. For the right hand try randomly hitting keys within that scale and see what you find. For a more jazzy organic feel, try hitting groups of keys that are next to each other, it creates more of a deeper harmonic sound.

Listening to 1000's of Soul / R&B / Neo Soul tracks I can clearly hear that the E flat key is the most commonly used. The key is Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C and D. This is very easy on the fingers had has a very soulful and jazzy feel to it. The 2-5-1 sequence will be Fmin, Bb 7 and Eb Maj. Once you are comfortable with these, you can branch out to other combinations or even chords out side the scale. E.g. Gb Maj has a Gospel type of feeling if played in the key of Eb.

Another good trick for a jazzy sound it to play a 6th or Augmented chords between chords transitions. This is simply done by moving the 5th or 7th (or both) down a step and playing that chord as an (in between) chord. I work it out using ear and trial and error.

• Nov 23th - Ab Maj 7th / Gmin 7th or 9th / GbMaj 7th / Fmin9th - Very soulful neo soul grove which can be played at at 4/4 signature
• Nov 29th - Cmin7th / Dbmin7th / Bbmin9th (tension can be eased) if you follow with AbMaj / G7.
• Nov 30th - Gmaj7th / Gmin9th / EbMaj9th / Db Maj9th (GMaj7th is in the key of D Major, after that use melodies from keys Eb or Db, its up to you)
• Dec 18th - Fmin9th, Gmin7th, Amin9th.
• Mar 1st - Bbmin9th, Gmin7th or 9th, Fmin9th
• Mar 9th - Bbmaj9th, Amin7th, Gmaj 7th - Very D'Angelo sounding.