Chord Voicing: The A & B Voicings Of Right Hand “Skeletons” In Octave Position

Our focus in this lesson is on right hand skeletons in octave position.

Here’s an example of the right hand skeleton of the C major seventh chord:

If you’ll want to understand why the C major seventh chord above is played the way it is, and how other chord qualities in the major key can be formed as well, then this lesson is for you.

Attention: If you’re just coming across the term skeleton for the first time, you don’t have to worry looking it up on google because we’re getting started in this lesson with the definition of a skeleton.

“What Is A Skeleton?”

Every chord has at least three tones and although all chord tones are important, there are two tones that are more important and that’s because they determine the quality of the chord.

If you take a closer look at the C major seventh chord:

…and the C minor seventh chord:

…you’ll observe that both chords have the same first and fifth tones (which are C and G respectively):

…while the third and seventh tones of both chords differ.

The Skeleton: The Third And Seventh Tones Of A Chord

The third and seventh tones of a chord determines its quality. For example, the third tone in the C major seventh chord:

…is E:

The interval between the first and the third tone (which are C and E):

…is a major third interval.

Attention: It is the major quality of the third interval that determines the overall quality of the C major seventh chord:

The seventh tone in the C major seventh chord (which is B):

…forms a major seventh interval with the first tone (which is C):

Altogether, C-B:

…is a major seventh interval.

“Check Out The Skeleton Of Major, Minor, And Dominant Seventh Chord Types…”

The skeleton of the C major seventh chord:

…consists of its third and seventh tones (which are E and B):

The skeleton of the C minor seventh chord:

…consists of its third and seventh tones (which are Eb and Bb):

The skeleton of the C dominant seventh chord:

…consists of its third and seventh tones (which are E and Bb):

Attention: To learn more about this, I recommend our 500+ page course: The “Official Guide To Piano Playing.” Click here for more information.

A Short Note On The A & B Voicing Concept

The skeleton of a chord consists of its third and seventh tone.

The A & B voicing concept is concerned with the placement of the third and seventh tones of a chord. When a chord is played in its root position, the third tone is usually placed before the seventh tone.

For example, in the C major seventh chord (in root position):

…the third tone (which is E):

…is placed before the seventh tone (which is B):

There are also situations where the seventh tone of a chord is placed before the third tone. For example, in the C major seventh chord (in second inversion):

…the seventh tone (which is B):

…is placed before the third tone (which is E):

The A-voicing Vs B-voicing

In the A-voicing of a chord, the third tone is placed before the seventh tone, while in the B-voicing, the seventh tone is placed before the third tone.

Using the C major seventh chord (as a reference):

E-B:

…is the A-voicing because the third (which is E) is placed before the seventh tone (which is B).

B-E:

…is the B-voicing because the seventh (which is B) is placed before the third tone (which is E).

So, every skeleton voicing can be played either in its A-voicing or its B-voicing and this depends on the placement of the third and seventh tones.

Attention: To learn more about this, I recommend our 500+ page course: The “Official Guide To Piano Playing.” Click here for more information.

The A & B Voicings Of Right Hand “Skeletons” In Octave Position

Before we go into learning the A & B voicings of right hand skeletons in octave position, it is important for us to briefly discuss on the concept of octave position.

A Short Note On The Concept Of  “Skeletons” In Octave Position

The skeleton of a chord can be played in octave position and this is as simple as duplicating one of its notes. For example, the skeleton of the C major seventh chord:

…which is “E-B”:

…can be played in such a way that E:

…is duplicated.

“Here’s How It Works…”

The duplication of E:

…produces “E-E”:

…which is an octave.

Consequently, we’ll have “E-B-E”:

…which is the skeleton of the C major seventh chord in octave position.

“Wait A Minute…”

We derived the octave position of the skeleton of the C major seventh chord (“E-B”):

…by the duplication of E:

It’s also possible to duplicate the B-note:

The duplication of B:

…produces “B-B”:

…which is an octave.

Consequently, we’ll have “B-E-B”:

…which is the skeleton of the C major seventh chord in octave position.

Altogether, we’ve derived two skeletons in octave position:

E-B-E:

B-E-B:

…which are basically skeletons:

E-B:

B-E:

…with duplicates:

E-E:

B-B:

…played in octaves.

A-Voicings Of Right Hand “Skeletons” In Octave Position

Check out the A-voicings of scale tone chords in the key of C major:

The 1-chord (C major seventh):

The 2-chord (D minor seventh):

The 3-chord (E minor seventh):

The 4-chord (F major seventh):

The 5-chord (G dominant seventh):

The 6-chord (A minor seventh):

The 7-chord (B half-diminished seventh):

…and here are their skeletons:

The skeleton of the 1-chord:

The skeleton of the 2-chord:

The skeleton of the 3-chord:

The skeleton of the 4-chord:

The skeleton of the 5-chord:

The skeleton of the 6-chord:

The skeleton of the 7-chord:

Check out skeletons of scale tone seventh chords in octave position:

The skeleton of the 1-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 2-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 3-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 4-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 5-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 6-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 7-chord in octave position:

“Let’s Go Ahead And Add Bass Notes To These Skeletons In Octave Position…”

The 1-chord:

The 2-chord:

The 3-chord:

The 4-chord:

The 5-chord:

The 6-chord:

The 7-chord:

Attention: To learn more about this, I recommend our 500+ page course: The “Official Guide To Piano Playing.” Click here for more information.

B-Voicings Of Right Hand “Skeletons” In Octave Position

Check out the B-voicings of scale tone chords in the key of C major:

The 1-chord (C major seventh):

The 2-chord (D minor seventh):

The 3-chord (E minor seventh):

The 4-chord (F major seventh):

The 5-chord (G dominant seventh):

The 6-chord (A minor seventh):

The 7-chord (B half-diminished seventh):

…and here are their skeletons:

The skeleton of the 1-chord:

The skeleton of the 2-chord:

The skeleton of the 3-chord:

The skeleton of the 4-chord:

The skeleton of the 5-chord:

The skeleton of the 6-chord:

The skeleton of the 7-chord:

Here are the skeletons of scale tone seventh chords in octave position:

The skeleton of the 1-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 2-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 3-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 4-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 5-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 6-chord in octave position:

The skeleton of the 7-chord in octave position:

“Let’s Go Ahead And Add Bass Notes To These Skeletons In Octave Position…”

The 1-chord:

The 2-chord:

The 3-chord:

The 4-chord:

The 5-chord:

The 6-chord:

The 7-chord:

Attention: To learn more about this, I recommend our 500+ page course: The “Official Guide To Piano Playing.” Click here for more information.

Final Words

With all the right hand skeletons covered in this lesson and the principles that govern their formation, I’m doubly sure that you have another perspective to the formation of seventh chords.

Thanks for reading and see you in another lesson.

All the best.

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Chuku Onyemachi

Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group

Onyemachi "Onye" Chuku is a Nigerian musicologist, pianist, and author. Inspired by his role model (Jermaine Griggs) who has become his mentor, what he started off as teaching musicians in his Aba-Nigeria neighborhood in April 2005 eventually morphed into an international career that has helped hundreds of thousands of musicians all around the world. Onye lives in Dubai and is currently the Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group and the music consultant of the Gospel Music Training Center, all in California, USA.

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