Four Views of a Turnaround

A I-VI-ii-V turnaround is one of the most common progressions in jazz. It’s the key to understanding how to play “rhythm changes”; it also figures into jazz blues variations. There’s a lot to be learned about harmony from studying different ways to approach this turnaround.

To that end, let’s look at a typical situation in Bb major in which the lead sheet or chart just asks for the basic chords: Bb, G7, Cm7 and F7.

View 1:

View 1 shows what might be played by someone who doesn’t know much about jazz playing. It’s exactly what the lead sheet asked for, so at least the chords are “right”. But if you actually play this in a group of experienced jazz musicians, it’ll sound very wrong! Why? First of all, the chord voicings are too big and there’s too much doubling with no purpose. The fifth is not a very important note in each chord, yet it’s doubled throughout. Second, the root is on the bottom in each chord and it’s voiced low enough on the guitar that it will clutter up the rhythm section sound and hem in the bass player. Third, these are just plain boring voicings with no special color or texture. I could go on, but you get the idea.

View 2:

View 2 is a bit better. These voicings are based on the ones from View 1, but the doubling has been eliminated. Each chord has only four tones and the roots aren’t always on the bottom. The voice leading overall is much better than #1, too – smooth motion from voice to voice. Still, there’s not much color going on. The ninth added to the G7 voicing is about the only interesting thing happening.

View 2a:

View 2a is an improved version of View 2. I added a couple of color tones to each of the dominant chords and extended the ii chord with a 9^th. You may recognize the F7(b5,+5) as a voicing for B9. Sure… unless the bass player plays a big fat F underneath it.

Actually, View 2a would work much better in a rhythm section if we just left off the bottom voice in each chord! The G7 voicing would have no 3^rd in it, but that might not matter too much. Odds are, someone else in the band will be playing the 3^rd at some point anyway.

View 3:

View 3 further explores the use of color tones. (It’s important to remember that not every I chord has to be a major seventh chord.) I used a 6/9 voicing. This is an easy chord to play; it also has a nice open sound because it’s comprised totally of perfect 4ths.

View 4:

View 4 exploits texture to a greater degree. The guitar is tuned in 3rds and 4ths, so guitar players tend to use voicings that have lots of thirds and fourths. Note that there are quite a few close intervals (major 2nds) in these voicings. Also, not all the chords have four voices. And none of them use the root, which gives the bass player more choices for his lines. It also frees up your fingers to grab those interesting notes!

So there you have it – four different ways to approach a I-VI-ii-V turnaround. There are many, many more – go dream up a few of your own!