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Advanced Locked Hands

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

This technique works fine if you have a melody like the one below:

MelodyABCD
ChordC6A♭o7C6A♭o7
NotesC E G AD F A♭ BE G A CF A♭ B D

But what if you have a melody like this:

MelodyABCD♭
ChordC6A♭o7C6?
NotesC E G AD F A♭ BE 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

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:

ChordDiminishedAltered Diminished
A♭o7A♭ B D FA♭ 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:

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
ChordNotesMelody NoteOther
NA (G7sus?)Avoid NoteCG7sus (D F G C)
Alt Do7D F A♭ D♭D♭/C#G13#11 (F A B C#)
Fo7F A♭ B DDNA
G7♭9♭13F A♭ B E♭E♭/D#G7#9♭13 (F A# B Eb)
Alt Fo7F A♭ B EEG13 (F A B E)
A♭o7A♭ B D FFNA
NAAvoid NoteG♭/F#Avoid
Alt A♭o7A♭ B D GA♭ B D GG13 (B E F G)
Bo7B D F A♭A♭/G#NA
G13B E F AAG9♭13 (B E♭ F A)
Alt Bo7B D F B♭B♭/A#G7#9♭13 (B E♭ F A#)
Do7D F A♭ BBNA
Possible Cm7 Chords
ChordNotesMelody NoteOther
Any CmE♭ G A CCNA
NAAvoid NoteD♭
Cm9 / Cm69E♭ G A DD
Any CmG A C E♭E♭
NAAvoid NoteE
Cm11B♭ C E♭ FF
NAAvoid NoteG♭/F#
Any CmA C E♭ GG
NA (Cm♭6?)Avoid NoteA♭Cm♭6 (C E♭ G A♭)
Cm6C E♭ G AANA
Cm7C E♭ G B♭B♭
CmMaj7C E♭ G BB
Possible CMaj7 Chords
ChordNotesMelody NoteOther
Any CE G A CCNA
NAAvoid NoteD♭
CMaj9E G B DD
NAAvoid NoteE♭
Any CG A C EE
NAAvoid NoteF
CMaj7#11B C E F#G♭/F#
Any CA C E GG
NAAvoid NoteA♭
C6C E G AA
NA (C7?)Avoid NoteB♭ C7 (C E G B♭)
CMaj7C E G BCNA
Possible C7 Chords
ChordNotesMelody NoteOther
C7E G B♭ CCNA
C7♭9E G B♭ D♭D♭
C9E G B♭ DD
C7#9E G B♭ D#E♭/D#
C7G B♭ C EE
NA (C7sus?)Avoid NoteFC7sus (G B♭ C F)
C7#11B♭ C E F#G♭/F#NA
C7B♭ C E GG
C7♭13B♭ D E A♭A♭
C13B♭ D E AAC6 (C E G A)
C7C E G B♭B♭NA
NAAvoid NoteB

So taking the melody we used at the beginning of this lesson, and expanding even further, we could play something like this:

MelodyABCD♭DE♭E
ChordC6A♭o7C6A♭o7 altC69G9♭13CMaj7
NotesC E G AD F A♭ BE G A CD F A♭ D♭E G A DF 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.

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