Try it at the piano
Two hands, one chord.
The lower staff is the bass; the upper staff is the chord shape.
The actual notes
Four octaves · notes repeatFind the upper root
Move above the bass by a minor third, major third, or perfect fifth.
Play the seventh chord
Keep its identity: major 7, minor 7, half-diminished 7, or diminished 7.
Hear the new function
Name each note against the bass. Then listen for the one that changes the mood.
Same hook. New bass.
Keep the eleven notes fixed. Change only the chord underneath; listen for the notes that turn into 9ths or ♯11s. The original performance lives in Your MIDI.
When ♯11 earns its place
Use maj9(♯11) when that raised fourth suits the melody and the harmonic setting. On a C chord it is F♯; on an F chord it is B. Natural 11 remains a different, often more exposed tension against the major third.
Your eleven-note hook
What you played.
1,692 note attacks · full piano range · one performance track · 5:00.96. Timing, velocity and sustain-pedal release data are taken from the supplied MIDI. The keyboard sound here is a new built-in synth, not the original Pianoteq instrument.
File tempo metadata: 132 BPM, 4/4. The performance is free enough that this is not a verified bar-by-bar tempo analysis.
How the labels were checked
Chord names below come from inspected bass and upper-shape note events, not a whole-take automatic chord chart. Melodic embellishments and pedal overlap can add other pitches around each landmark. The full take has not been transcribed into a finished score.
| Moment | Observed bass / upper shape | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:03 | C / E♭–G–B♭–D | Cm9, with the opening minor-coloured hook |
| 1:24.54 + 1:25.10 | G / B–D–F–A♭ | G7(♭9): a clear dominant landmark |
| 3:52.12 + 3:52.70 | C / G–B–D–F♯ | Cmaj9(♯11, no3). E in the melody later supplies the third. |
| 4:22.91 + 4:23.58 | F / C–E–G–B | Fmaj9(♯11, no3). A establishes major quality when included. |
| 4:31.07 + 4:31.62 | A / E–G♯–B–D♯ | Amaj9(♯11, no3). Nearby C♯ in the melody supplies the third. |
Select every pitch class in the requested voicing. Octave and inversion are free in this drill. Clear extra notes before checking.
Use your own keys.
Once MIDI permission is granted, the CK keyboard is selected automatically. Hold the chord and check it. The pedal counts sustained notes until you release it.
The first connection may ask for browser permission. On-screen notes stay available without a keyboard.
Ten minutes at the piano
- 2 minutes: one root, major 9 versus minor 9.
- 3 minutes: move the same recipe through C, F, and B♭.
- 3 minutes: keep E♭maj7 fixed; move the bass C → A♭. Hear D change from 9 → ♯11.
- 2 minutes: record the hook once. Listen for balance, spacing, timing, and pedal changes.
One chord, several lives.
Begin with the notes that define the harmony. Add colour only when the melody and groove have room for it. Every shape transposes, plays back, and can be checked from your keyboard.
The shell is the hinge.
In Jason Zac’s lesson, the hand moves from 1–5–3 spread triads to 1–7–3 and 1–3–7 seventh-chord shells. The fifth can leave; the third and seventh tell us whether the chord is major, minor or dominant. Then add 6 and 9, or place a familiar seventh chord above a new bass. In a blues, clear the pedal when the harmony changes so the old colour does not blur the new one.
A song and a substitution.
Play the shells exactly as the Sunday Intermediate handouts teach them. The notation gives one practical register; you can move the upper notes to suit your hand. Check your playing by MIDI, then carry the shape into another key.
The “All of Me” chord order and shell formulas follow Jason Zac’s Sunday Intermediate class chart. The selected octave, playback rhythm and practice feedback are this app’s arrangement.
Make a route. Play your way through it.
Choose how far to travel and how much harmony to let in. Diatonic routes use notes from one key. Chromatic routes make a planned detour and return home.
What did your hands find?
The CK keyboard is selected automatically once MIDI permission is granted. Play the bass below your right hand; inversions and octaves above it are free.
Seven chords. One key.
Choose a key with one tap. Play I, IV and V first; then hear how the same notes give you a relative-minor home.
Put the chords to work.
Play a route at a steady pulse. Notice where the bass finally sounds at rest.
The third chord in major is a plain minor 7. Adding a natural 9 would leave this key. Keep the seventh for now.
What to remember
- Play the bass alone until the key feels clear.
- Add the third and seventh; they tell the ear the chord's quality.
- Add the ninth or sharp eleventh only where those notes belong to this key.
- Change the key with one arrow. Keep the same hand idea.
Teach it by ear first.
The distinctive idea is a melody-led practice room: known shapes, changing bass, visible note roles, and small musical decisions. Upper-structure harmony itself is established practice; the opportunity is the teaching experience.
The étude
Perform the hook first. Teach the melody alone, then bass, then upper shape. Loop two gestures slowly. Add one rhythmic variation and one transposition challenge.
Working title: One Melody, Beautiful Piano Chords
The three interval moves
Major third + m7 → maj9. Minor third + maj7 → m9. Perfect fifth + m7 → m11 without its third; establish that third. Then hear the ♯11 reveal.
Working title: Jazz Voicings from Chords You Already Know
Give it somewhere to go
Introduce dominant 9 and 7♭9 through a ii–V–I, then a blues. Resolve the altered notes by ear. Use diminished shapes for movement rather than a static list of exotic names.
Working title: From Soulful Chords to Jazz & Blues
What your class already establishes
- Closed shapes → spread 1–5–3 → shells 1–7–3 and 1–3–7.
- At 52:54 you correct the D6/9 formula to 3–6–9. Keep that correction.
- At 54:14 the maj9 shape needs a minor seventh chord above the bass, not just a minor triad.
- At 58:11, F♯m7/B is a Bm11 colour with no D. Add D, or explain that the minor context supplies it.
- Keep the fifth when it defines a diminished or augmented chord. “The fifth is redundant” is a shortcut for an unaltered fifth.
- Use stable melody and voice leading to connect non-diatonic chords. Extensions do not erase harmonic relationships.
Checked against the supplied class transcript and all three handwritten study-guide pages. Transcription mistakes and shorthand are not treated as authoritative theory.
Make it feel like R&B / neo-soul
- Keep common tones; move only one or two inner voices.
- Leave space above the bass. Compare a close upper shape with a spread version.
- Repeat the melody while changing a single colour: 9 → 11, or 11 → ♯11.
- Use a steady pulse with intentional anticipation, delay and silence.
- Contrast a held texture with a dry, short answer. Clear the pedal when the harmony needs it.
- Start with restrained reharmonization. A useful extension serves the phrase.
A chord symbol alone does not create a genre. Timing, voicing register, articulation and melodic phrasing carry much of the feel.
The verified recipe sheet
| Target | Move above the root | Known shape | C example |
|---|
Make the idea your own
Keep the melody fixed and explore the harmony beneath it. Try all 12 roots, change inversions, learn the recorded hook, then build a voicing from memory. A useful next practice step is to record two versions and compare their spacing, pulse and pedal clarity.
The listening room
Carry one question into a performance. In Erykah Badu’s NPR Tiny Desk, listen for space around the vocal and changes in time feel. In Robert Glasper Experiment’s NPR Tiny Desk, follow how a repeated vamp supports interaction. These are listening prompts, not claims that those performances use the app’s exact voicings.
Source trail
- Jason's supplied assets: Sunday_Intermediate__2026-09-27_12.13.12.pdf (3 handwritten pages); Sunday Int 2026 - 29 - Major & Minor Chord Extensions and Shapes - Analysis.txt (67.2-minute class); jaZZ lesson voicing extensions.mid (5:00.96).
- Berklee: Piano Voicing Techniques — chord identity, altered fifths, spacing and connecting voices.
- Berklee: Simplifying Jazz Harmonic Theory — established upper-structure pedagogy.
- Open Music Theory: Chord Symbols — extensions and chord-symbol conventions.
- NSM: How to Play Piano Fills Between Chords (Octaves + Modern Pop Voicings) — 22:16. Official chapters, related local class transcript, captions and four sampled frames at 05:30–07:20 reviewed.
- NSM: Peaceful Pop Piano Etude for Finger Independence — 19:39. Captions reviewed for performance-first teaching, technical focus and variation.
- Noah Kellman: 6 Harmonic Tricks & Voicings for Neo Soul — 9:04. Caption-based comparison of voicings and teaching structure; verify sounding notes independently.
Research checked 27 September 2026. The supplied transcript is the record of Jason’s class. Its associated video was not independently viewed; MIDI analysis uses the supplied note-event file.