"Shells and Tritones" is where jazz playing starts when trying to learn LH piano comping.

Tritones for the dom7 chords, Shells for all else.

When playing the dom7 chord, it is okay to add the 9th, unless of course the Melody has a note that clashes with the 9th.

The Shells, just think of always playing the 3rd, Major or minor, usual is minor, then adding the appropriate extension. If the minor is a m7, which is typically the case in any ii-V7 situation, then the base of the Shell is going to be the m3 and the b7. Again, you might be able to add the 9th as well.

It is important to start out by memorizing these patterns in all keys such that you can grab them without thinking about them. The two five one drills around the circle are the best way to practice these. Note that you can only do six at a time before they start over again on the key you started out with. So then go up a half step and do the drill again, to cover all keys.

As for being able to add extensions, "on the fly" -- it sounds like you are doing it backwards in your way of thinking about it. In other words, don't think, "Let me see if the 13th works here" and then play it. Save that kind of experimentation for when practicing by yourself.

It is far better to learn to HEAR the note before attempting to add it to the chord. With practice at the ear training, it becomes possible to be able to lean on the infallible human ear for such things. It is much like how you can tell what color something is by simply looking at it. Which means that you can also "see" that color in your head without actually looking at something that is that color.


There are rules as to when we can safely use all of the extensions, if you use a good internet search engine like Bing to bring up some of the jazz piano information that is out there for free, you should easily find a webpage tutorial or two about LH piano in jazz, about those rules, and what and how to practice.

Two-Five-One drills and Rhythm Changes are the basics that you are looking for.


--Mac

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