How to implement certain techniques and chords

Hi,

I'm new. My question is how do I use higher level chords in a song. For example, say I have the lead sheet to twinkle twinkle little star and I know where to use the chords, CM, etc. How would I "Jazz it up" by including 9ths, 13ths, 7ths etc. in my playing? Is such a thing possible? I find the information on the subject to be confusing. Also, I wonder how do I make my playing sound more interesting? For example I can play straight chords fine, but I rarely hear a straight chord; rather, some medley involving the chord tones in the left hand is played. So basically, I'm wondering if there are any specific techniques to vary the way I play chords. E.g. instead of just playing CM, playing C-E-G-E-G etc.

nipponman

Hi =) And welcome!!

Well, Im not the best to answer this and It also seams you know more already about this subject than I do... But my advice must be before you know all the things there is to know - fool around abit!!

Music is all about emotions, and what you feel is right. If you try out and you like it, it dosnt matter if its correct according to all the rules!! And meanwhile you will probably get better theoretical and these things(fooling around and looking for cool thing) will give you experience around the piano. Well.. Thats my tip, so maybe someone with better theoretical baggage got something more reasonable to say hehe

Thx for above. I've tried many different experimentations but they sound rather disjoint and kinda crappy, frankly. I mean, I'm looking for something to make my playing more interesting. Thanks anyway.

try doing sevenths, for example heres normal twinkle little star

C
C C G G A A G

You can try changing your C chord (c e g) to a c7, C E G B

Thanks I've tried that already. I'm looking more for techniques people use to improve the sound of their playing. Like rhythm/melody changes, systematic chord substitutions, various chord voicings etc. I know this must seem horribly general and broad. I just want to go to the next level in piano playing.

I know what your saying. You can learn the blues scale, the one for C major would go like this:

A C D D# E G

and sometimes just make a run through it in the song, adds a jazzy feel to it ;D

Also, Jazz tends to have alot of distance between the notes often. So think about that when youre forming your chords =)

Do you play jazz chords using the i-iii-v like in a major scale? Because the number of semi-tones between the i'th jazz scale note is different from a major/minor.

Phobik2000 wrote:Do you play jazz chords using the i-iii-v like in a major scale? Because the number of semi-tones between the i'th jazz scale note is different from a major/minor.

Jazz often tends to sound very much like its "floating" achieved by alot of 7ths, try this progression in C Major scale:

C7 -> F7 -> G dominant 7