4 Upper Structure Triads Every Jazz Pianist Needs to Know (chord voicing lesson)

The Jazz Tutorial Podcast

What is an Upper Structure Triad?

Upper Structure Triads are a style of chord voicing used by Jazz pianists.
Upper Structures are large voicings, consisting of 5-7 notes, and require two hands to play.
In the left hand, the pianist plays the chord's root, 3rd, and 7th.
And in the right hand, the pianist plays a major or minor triad (usually major), built from a specific scale degree above the chord's root - for example a major chord built from the 9th.
What type of chord are Upper Structures used for?

Upper Structure voicings are used primarily for dominant 7 chords.
Occasionally they can be used for other types of chord, like the minor-major 7 chord.
How many different Upper Structure Triads are there?
The most common Upper Structure triad is to play a major chord in your right hand, built from the dominant 7 chord's 9th.
So over C dominant 7, you would build a major triad from D (the 9th), which would be a D major triad (D F# A). Your complete Upper Structure would be C E Bb in your left hand, and D F# A in your right hand.
Next, it's common to build a major triad from the dominant 7 chord's 13th (6th), which over C7 would be A. So you would play an A major triad in your right hand (A C# E) over the left hand (C E Bb).
What are all the Upper Structure Triads Jazz pianists use?

Here are all the triads Jazz pianists can use over a C dominant 7 chord:
- Major triad built from the 9th (D). That would be D major played over C7: C E Bb / D F# A.
- Major triad built from the 6th (A). That would be A major played over C7: C E Bb / A C# E.
- Major triad built from the #9th (Eb). That would be Eb major played over C7: C E Bb / Eb G Bb.
- Major triad built from the b13 (Ab). That would be Ab major played over C7: C E Bb / Ab C Eb.
- Major triad built from the #11th (F#). That would be F# major played over C7: C E Bb / F# A# C#.
- Minor triad built from the #9th (Eb). That would be Eb minor played over C7: C E Bb / Eb Gb Bb.
- Minor triad built from the #11th (F#). That would be F# minor played over C7: C E Bb / F# A C#.
Can I use chord inversion for an Upper Structure triad?
It is common for Jazz pianists to invert the Upper structure triad, which means to rearrange the 3 notes of the triad into a different order.
So instead of playing the triad in root position (1 3 5), you can invert the triad and play it in first inversion (3 5 1), or second inversion (5 1 3).
Using chord inversion in your Upper Structure triads can be useful when you want to lower the notes of the right hand's triad, so that your right hand has less of a gap above the left hand's notes.
Chord inversion is also useful when you want to have a specific note at the top of your chord voicing, like when you want the melody note to be at the top of your voicing. Use chord inversion to rearrange the Upper structure triad in your right hand.
Is there anything else that can help me learn Upper Structure Triads?

To go with this lesson, I've written a free chord voicing ebook for Jazz piano, which shows you Upper Structures in action and shows you how to use them on Jazz Standards. Download it at:

https://jazztutorial.com/podcast
You can also download my free '29 Jazz Piano Licks' sheet music at:

https://jazztutorial.com/podcast
Where can I learn more Jazz piano techniques?

If you're new to Jazz piano, you can watch my beginner Jazz piano lesson where I teach you Jazz theory from the ground up. Watch it here:

https://jazztutorial.com/start