there is a lot to know about music more then you can process in a life time
but what should you study first?
tritones substitution left hand chords upper structures tertial chords fourths fifths two hand voicings left hand voicings suspenisons?
there are two things you should learn first and then after that go explore
you should first learn the
four basic seventh chords
Major seventh / major 6 1,3,5,7 1,3,5,6
minor seventh 1, b3,5,b7
dominant seventh 1,3,5,b7
diminished 1,b3,b5,bb7
minor seventh b5
learn how to form these play them in every key and in every inversion
knowing them is not enough you need to be able to apply them in a song contect in every key ballads and fast songs
the second thing you need to learn is
how the above chords work in the context of a key
that is what I will explore here
in traditional harmony
I= major 7 or major6
II- minor 7
III= minor 7
IV= major 7
V=Dominant7
VI=minor7
VII= minor7b5
in Jazz harmony
same as above but the
VI=dominant 7 very often but not always
blues harmony
!=Dominant 7
II=Dominant 7
III=Dominant7
IV= Dominant7
V=Dominant7
VI=Dominant7
VII= V7 same as chord as you would use on the five so its a slash chord
Gospel harmony combines the above three harmonic structures
!= major7 major 6 or dominant 7
II= minor 7 or dominant 7 or minor 7 b5
III= dominant7#5 or minor 7 or dom7#5#9
IV=major7 or dominant7
Vi minor7 or dominant 7 or dom7#5#9
VII= V/Vii or Minor7b5 or diminished or dom7b5
which quality you use depends on the song
for a down home churchy quality backwater style you use more of the dominants on the I, IV and V chords
For ballads and hyms you use major 7 or major 6 or triads with doubled roots and an added 9
on the I and Iv chords
the II will sometimes be played as a dominant or a minor depending on how you wish to interpret the song
Altering and playing with the III and the VI will give you very nice sounds and will determine yopur sound by what you prefer to play on these chord stations
finally
I would practice the above formulaes using the
7,3,6,2,5,1,4 progression
start on the one chord then play the 7 chord followed by the 3 chord
play them the best way you know you may have to jump around at first thats ok to start with but you should learn how to voice lead them any good theory book will teach you about voice leading
I recommend the contemporary keyboardist by john novello and he just came out with a book for beginners its cheaper and you will be able to dig in right away.
