For a lush and funky sound, we’re going to improvise with seventh chords. Here are the chords to use (familiar from Heart and Soul, but turned into sevenths); Cmaj7, Am7, Fmaj7, G7. Right now, you don’t even have to understand how those chords are constructed, because I’ll give you the notes.
Using just your left hand, place b on the bottom, then, c, e and g (the C major triad with a b added to the bottom of it). The b is the seventh, added to the bottom instead of the top of the chord (and thus they are “inversions”, one possible way to turn the chords upside-down). Don’t worry about your right hand right now, although you can of course play these chords with either hand. You build the other chords in the progression the same way. Here are the chords spelled out for you:
| LH Finger | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Cmaj7 | b | c | e | g |
| Am7 | g | a | c | e |
| Fmaj7 | e | f | a | c |
| G7 | f | g | b | d |
| chord degree | 7 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
Once you understand the hand form, you may want to play seventh chords up and down the scale, all over your harp. Then, try to play through the sequence above, rolling the chords in your left hand, until you get very secure about which chord comes next.
To begin improvising, try playing any notes from the chord in your right hand as you play each chord with your left. Find pleasing notes that connect the chord tones, and you’re on your way to creating your own melody. Remember, there is no test . . . this is about having fun with sound!
This post is adapted from material that I originally published in the ezine, Notes from the Harp.
Great website you have here but I was wondering if you knew of
any forums that cover the same topics discussed in this article?
I’d really love to be a part of online community where I can get responses from other knowledgeable individuals that share the
same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Thank you!
Hi, Margarita,
You can look at the forums on Harp Column or look for one of the groups of harpists who share all sorts of information with one another via several different Yahoo Groups (Harplist, Virtual Harp Circle, and so on).
Best,
Susan
I don’t know whether it’s just me or if everybody else
experiencing issues with your website. It appears like some of the written text on your content
are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me
know if this is happening to them as well? This
might be a problem with my web browser because I’ve had this happen before.
Many thanks
Hi, Frederick,
It doesn’t happen on any of the three browsers I tried (Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox). Perhaps someone else will have a suggestion.
Susan