Workshop 15 mini-test

1. What is the best way to mentally process several fast jazz chords?

2. What is Dm7-G7 in C?

3. What guide-tone motion defines Dm7→G7?

4. Why are shell voicings useful for comping?

5. What is the point of leaving some charted chords unplayed?

6. What is the altered third of A7 and where does it want to go?

7. What is the root motion in A7-D7-G7-C?

8. What makes good comping conversational?

9. Why should the pianist look/hear ahead to the destination?

10. What is the deepest lesson of this workshop?

Answers

1. Group them into functional packets such as ii–V and hear their destination.
2. ii–V pointing to C.
3. C→B while F can remain common.
4. They define function with very few notes, minimize hand movement, and leave room for melody/soloist.
5. Harmony can often be implied by bass, melody, and context; leaving space prevents overcrowding and creates dialogue.
6. C♯, resolving toward D.
7. Down a fifth/up a fourth: A→D→G→C.
8. Short, rhythmically varied responses, dynamic contrast, and silence rather than constant chord attacks.
9. Because phrasing, bass approaches, and guide-tone resolutions must begin before the destination chord actually arrives.
10. Comping becomes musical when you stop treating chord symbols as instructions to play and start treating them as information about what the music is doing.

The central lesson of Workshop 15 is:

Knowing the harmony gives you permission to leave it alone.