Hi PianoGroove family!
It’s me again, and this time I’d like to share a simple, yet challenging way to learn to play and variate drop 2 voicings.
I call the drop 2 voicings “core voicings”, as with all possible variations, they cover a majority of good piano voicings in jazz, as well as they have been a useful tool pretty much throughout the entire history of Western music.
Just briefly, drop 2 voicing means the following:
where we take the second highest note of any chord, and drop it an octave lower. This also changes the chord from closed position to open position.
closed position = all chord tones (except the root) are within an octave
open position = all chord tones (except the root) are positioned wider than an octave
And now, I want to give you an - easy to start and progress - method for learning them.
PSA: This still needs plenty of time, daily practice and patience 
To make this method work, I urge you to learn each step well and thorough before moving forward!
- Where to start
First, we want to learn the 3-note voicings.
Learn them in the following way:
We have to learn to play 251 in every key, in major and minor. As you notice, these simple voicings have only two inversions, which is also enough when we move to the actual drop 2 voicings.
If you are a beginner, don’t worry, this will take a while before getting the voicings under your fingers, but be patient, and keep working on it, and I promise you, it will pay off!
Why do we do this?
- This will teach us where the most important chord tones (1, 3, 7) of each chord are.
- Playing piano is not only about hearing the chords, it is important to visualise the chord tones and voice leading on the keyboard, and this exercise will help tremendously in that.
- By repeating this day after day, our ear learns to hear the 251s in a deeper way, and thus you will learn to recognise them when listening music. Remember, 251s are the most important building blocks of music!
- Now The Same Thing With Drop 2s!
Once you have mastered the 251s in major and minor with the 3-note voicings, it’s time to do the same with drop 2s:
Here is a good way to learn the major and minor 251s by using the drop2 voicings.
As you can notice, the drop 2 voicings are same as 3-note voicings, just 2 notes added to each chord. While practicing, you can find the chord tones 1, 3 and 7 from the drop 2 voicings.
Again, I urge you to practice these as long as you can play them without a thought in every key. Remember, give yourself time and be patient!
- Playing songs
Once you can do the drop 2 voicings easily in every key, you can start practicing them over any song you like!
My suggestion is to take a real book and start playing the songs by using these voicings. From these 251 exercises you will find a voicing for any chord; usually in a 251 situation.
Stay tuned for a part 2, where we’re exploring different possibilities and variations on drop 2s, as well as how to use these voicings insole piano setting!
-Tuomo