Locked Hands
In the previous lesson we learned the Locked Hands Chord Voicing Technique (as well as Four Way Close and Drop 2 Voicings). We determined that the Locked Hands technique is a great way to play a stepwise melody, by harmonising each note with a chord.
The underlying idea of Locked Hand is to create a I-V-I-V-I chord progression
- If we take C as our Tonal Centre:
- The I chord could be a: C6, C7, Cm6, or Cm7
- The V chord (G7) was substituted with a diminished chord one semitone above the root (A♭o7). This creates a rootless G7♭9 chord.
This technique works fine if you have a melody like the one below:
| Melody | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chord | C6 | A♭o7 | C6 | A♭o7 |
| Notes | C E G A | D F A♭ B | E G A C | F A♭ B D |
But what if you have a melody like this:
| Melody | A | B | C | D♭ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chord | C6 | A♭o7 | C6 | ? |
| Notes | C E G A | D F A♭ B | E G A C | ? |
What chord should we play over the D♭ melody note? Neither a C6 nor an A♭o7 chord has a D♭in it?
The basic Locked Hands technique does not cover every single note – there are some notes that you cannot play. But, there are a number of things you can do to make this technique a bit more complex and interesting and to reach those few remaining notes. I have called this the Advanced Locked Hands technique.
The basic Locked Hands idea uses
- a basic Tonic 7th chord;
- a diminished substitute for a V7 chord
But there’s no reason to restrict yourself to these particular chords or substitutions. As long as you maintain that underlying I-V-I-V progression, it will sound good.
Advanced Locked Hands
Altered Diminished Chord
In a previous lesson on the Diminished Scale, we discovered that you can move any note in a diminished chord up one tone and still remain within the same diminished scale. I’m going to call this an Altered Diminished Chord. For example, an A♭o7 chord can be modified as follows:
| Chord | Diminished | Altered Diminished |
|---|---|---|
| A♭o7 | A♭ B D F | A♭ B D G |
| A♭ B E F | ||
| A♭ C# D F | ||
| B♭ B D F |
Using this idea you can make the I-V-I-V progression a little bit more interesting and jazzy.
Available Tensions
V7 Chord
We can use this altered diminished chord or any other V7 chord in the Advanced Locked Hands Technique. The V7 voicings must include the 3rd & 7th (Guide Tones) and must NOT include the natural 4th or natural 7th (Avoid Notes). But you CAN use any Available Tension.
So, in place of a V7 chord you can use the:
- Diminished substitute;
- Altered diminished substitute;
- Any other G7 alt chord.
Ideally, you should try keep the I-V-I-V pattern, but you can break it briefly if need be and create a I-I-V-I-V-V-I progression (or something like it) if the melody requires it.
I Chord
We can extend and alter the Tonic Chord with the Advanced Locked Hands Technique. But again, the I chord voicings should (generally) include the 3rd & 7th (or 6th) (Guide Tones), it CAN include any Available Tension, and should avoid the Avoid Notes.
| Possible G7 Chords | |||
| Chord | Notes | Melody Note | Other |
| NA (G7sus?) | Avoid Note | C | G7sus (D F G C) |
| Alt Do7 | D F A♭ D♭ | D♭/C# | G13#11 (F A B C#) |
| Fo7 | F A♭ B D | D | NA |
| G7♭9♭13 | F A♭ B E♭ | E♭/D# | G7#9♭13 (F A# B Eb) |
| Alt Fo7 | F A♭ B E | E | G13 (F A B E) |
| A♭o7 | A♭ B D F | F | NA |
| NA | Avoid Note | G♭/F# | Avoid |
| Alt A♭o7 | A♭ B D G | A♭ B D G | G13 (B E F G) |
| Bo7 | B D F A♭ | A♭/G# | NA |
| G13 | B E F A | A | G9♭13 (B E♭ F A) |
| Alt Bo7 | B D F B♭ | B♭/A# | G7#9♭13 (B E♭ F A#) |
| Do7 | D F A♭ B | B | NA |
| Possible Cm7 Chords | |||
| Chord | Notes | Melody Note | Other |
| Any Cm | E♭ G A C | C | NA |
| NA | Avoid Note | D♭ | |
| Cm9 / Cm69 | E♭ G A D | D | |
| Any Cm | G A C E♭ | E♭ | |
| NA | Avoid Note | E | |
| Cm11 | B♭ C E♭ F | F | |
| NA | Avoid Note | G♭/F# | |
| Any Cm | A C E♭ G | G | |
| NA (Cm♭6?) | Avoid Note | A♭ | Cm♭6 (C E♭ G A♭) |
| Cm6 | C E♭ G A | A | NA |
| Cm7 | C E♭ G B♭ | B♭ | |
| CmMaj7 | C E♭ G B | B | |
| Possible CMaj7 Chords | |||
| Chord | Notes | Melody Note | Other |
| Any C | E G A C | C | NA |
| NA | Avoid Note | D♭ | |
| CMaj9 | E G B D | D | |
| NA | Avoid Note | E♭ | |
| Any C | G A C E | E | |
| NA | Avoid Note | F | |
| CMaj7#11 | B C E F# | G♭/F# | |
| Any C | A C E G | G | |
| NA | Avoid Note | A♭ | |
| C6 | C E G A | A | |
| NA (C7?) | Avoid Note | B♭ | C7 (C E G B♭) |
| CMaj7 | C E G B | C | NA |
| Possible C7 Chords | |||
| Chord | Notes | Melody Note | Other |
| C7 | E G B♭ C | C | NA |
| C7♭9 | E G B♭ D♭ | D♭ | |
| C9 | E G B♭ D | D | |
| C7#9 | E G B♭ D# | E♭/D# | |
| C7 | G B♭ C E | E | |
| NA (C7sus?) | Avoid Note | F | C7sus (G B♭ C F) |
| C7#11 | B♭ C E F# | G♭/F# | NA |
| C7 | B♭ C E G | G | |
| C7♭13 | B♭ D E A♭ | A♭ | |
| C13 | B♭ D E A | A | C6 (C E G A) |
| C7 | C E G B♭ | B♭ | NA |
| NA | Avoid Note | B | |
So taking the melody we used at the beginning of this lesson, and expanding even further, we could play something like this:
| Melody | A | B | C | D♭ | D | E♭ | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chord | C6 | A♭o7 | C6 | A♭o7 alt | C69 | G9♭13 | CMaj7 |
| Notes | C E G A | D F A♭ B | E G A C | D F A♭ D♭ | E G A D | F A B E♭ | G B C E |
In the below video, I use the song ‘Blue Monk’ as an example to show you how this enhanced technique can be put into practice. You would not generally use the Locked Hands Technique on a song like this, because it has a very chromatic melody. But I do it to show you an extreme example of what you can do with this Advanced Locked Hands Technique.