Well, i'm merely a "student" of this. So this may not be ALL there is to say about it. However:
1) First of all, sometimes when people say "tritone", they are actually referring to a "nice sounding CHORD". When in fact the tritone is not technically the ENTIRE chord, but rather
only the two notes that the Left Hand is playing, and those two notes on the Left Hand are the (3 & b7 or b7 & 3 either way).
2) 99% of the time, when the (two note, Left Hand)
tritone is properly coupled with a Right Hand chord, it will produce some sort of
DOMINANT chord. This is true because when the Left Hand plays (3 & b7 or b7 & 3), those two notes are actually the
SHELL of a DOMINANT chord! Thus, the Right Hand just adds the window dressing, so to speak.
i know a lot of theory...
3) If this is true, you shouldn't have much difficulties with what i'm about to say:
When constructing a "tritone
chord", 99% of the time it will be a
DOMINANT chord. Therefore, the way you do it is:
On your Left Hand, play the (3 & b7 or b7 & 3), and with your Right Hand add the rest of the "number chord tones" of whatever DOMINANT chord you want to play! (And that includes any extended or altered dominant chord you can think of).
5 quick, easy & commonly taught ways of making a "tritone chord" is:Left Hand plays the two note tritone (3 & b7 or b7 & 3)....Right Hand plays a simple "root inversion Major triad". When playing your "root inversion Major triad", there will be
FIVE places to place your
Right Hand thumb:
1) Left Hand tritone + Right Hand Major triad (THUMB ON 2)____
dom9,13,b52) Left Hand tritone + Right Hand Major triad (THUMB ON b3)___
dom7#93) Left Hand tritone + Right Hand Major triad (THUMB ON b5)___
dom7b5b94) Left Hand tritone + Right Hand Major triad (THUMB ON #5)___
dom7#5#95) Left Hand tritone + Right Hand Major triad (THUMB ON 6)____
dom7,13,b9There you have it - Five common & easy dominant chords using the tritone & a simple Major triad.
Now, keep in mind, in the examples above, the Major triads are "root inversion", but you don't
have to always use root inversion, you can play
ANY inversion of that Major triad as long as you still have (3 & b7 or b7 & 3) in your Left Hand. Try the different inversions and hear how they sound.
Bottom line:
*Left Hand = (3 & b7 or b7 & 3 either way)
*Left Hand Tritone coupled with Right Hand Major Triad = 5 commonly used Dominant Chords.
*Major Triad can always be inverted.
*Left Hand Tritone (3 & b7 or b7 & 3) coupled with additional Right Hand numbers to create any "other" dominant chord besides the Five above.
*Anywhere you use a Dominant Chord, you can play a Tritone Chord.
