Two-hands chords

Playing chords with two hands has two reasons: it can be necessary for when the chord include many notes and it can create a richer sound for other chords that also can be played with one hand.

Major and minor triads

A two-hand version of C major can be executed with the left hand playing C - G and with the right playing E - G - C on the next octave.

C

C chord two hands diagram

A two-hand version of C minor can be executed at a similar way with the left hand playing C - G and with the right playing Eb - G - C.

Cm

Cm chord two hands diagram
Open voicings such as these will in general sound better when the notes in the bass isn't to near each other.

Major and minor seventh chords

The G7 chord can be executed with two hands with left hand playing G-D and the right hand playing F-G-B on the next octave.

G7

G7 chord two hands diagram

The Gmaj7 chord can be executed with two hands with left hand playing G - D and the right hand playing F# - G - B on the next octave.

Gmaj7

Gmaj7 chord two hands diagram

The Gm7 chord can be played with two hands with left hand playing G - D and the right hand playing F# - G - Bb on the next octave. The right hand could omit the G to avoid the dissonance from F# and G notes on the same octave.

Gm7

Gm7 chord two hands diagram

Extended chords

Extended chord mustn’t be played with two hand because there are possible to omit notes and use inversions. Nevertheless, playing these chords with two hands will often fulfil the potential of colorful sounds.

This is one option to play Dominant 9th chords using both hands, in this case with all fives notes and including some inversions.

G9

G9 chord two hands diagram

This is one option to play Dominant 13th chords using both hands, in this case with the fifth, ninth and eleventh omitted and doubling the tonic.

G13

G13 chord two hands diagram

There are many possibilities of chord forming with ten fingers available. As said before, try to have some distance from the first bass note. Also, if many notes are needed near each other, they often sound best placed in the middle part of the chord construction.



See also Voicings ›