Chords for Locked Hands Technique, George Shearing's Lullaby Of Birdland, Piano Tutorial (4 minutes)

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Hello, in this video I want to show you a technique called locked hands, which is a
block chord technique in which the right and the left hand are [C] both playing the [G] melody
[Dm] _ [E] [Fm] together, and the chord is fit in the middle.
Now this technique was developed by Milt Bunkner, a pianist who played with Lionel Hampton in
the 40s, and then it was taken up after that by George Shearing, who perfected it, along
with Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson, Ahmed Jamal, Bill Evans, they all played this technique.
And basically it's the [G] melody [F] with [Dm] _ [Ab] [C] the chord [Fm] played by the right hand underneath.
So the chord voicings always have to be somewhat inverted into position so that the melody
can be played on top with the fifth finger.
_ [G] _ [Bb] _ [E] _ [Fm] _ _ [Fm] _
[Bb] [C] A lot of times the left hand would do this type of thing to give [Fm] it some expression.
[G] _ [Bb] _ [E] _ [Fm] _ _ [Db] _ [G]
It also used [Eb] a lot of sixth harmony and [Bb] also diminished [Fm] chords, like that. _
[G] [Ab] A lot of diminished chord approaches and sixth chord voicings.
So I'm going to demonstrate this for you now.
I'm going to use the metronome just so to keep the time [Gb] even, and I'm going to play
this song by George Shearing called Lullaby of Birdland.
_ _ [N] _ _
_ 76.
_ _ [Fm] 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4.
[G] _ [Bb] _ _ [Fm] _ _ [Bbm] _
[Eb] _ _ [Db] _ [C] _ [Eb] _ _ [Db] _ [C] _
[Fm] _ [G] _ [Bb] _ [Gb] _ [Fm] _ _ [Bbm] _ [Eb] _
_ [Bbm] _ [C] _ [Eb] _ _ [Fm] _ _ [C] _
[F] _ [Bbm] _ [G] _ [Bbm] _ [Eb] _ [Cm] _ [C] _ _
[F] _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Fm] _ [G] _
[Bb] _ _ [Fm] _ _ [Bbm] _ _ [Eb] _ [Db] _
[C] _ _ [Eb] _ [Ab] _ Okay, so there you have it.
Now that's a little complicated because it's the key of A flat, which is four flats, and
it's not an easy tune to play.
So if you want to try this technique, you might want to start out with something very
simple [Am] like just take a C6 chord, invert it two times, like first, second inversion, and
then double the melody and just play on the C scale [C] like this.
And then every [Ab] other chord you could [Am] make a diminished.
[Ab] So just remember that diminished chords have all minor intervals, minor third [Am] intervals.
So like, you know, you could [Fm] go [Am] like that [Ab] and then another diminished chord, [Am] and then
a [Ab] C6 like that.
So [Ab] that's a [C] start with getting the idea of what [Ab] it sounds like [C] in a simple [Ab] way.
[Am] [Ab] You can keep going [G] if you want [Am] like [F] that.
[Am] _ Then try to play maybe a tune, [Dm] _ [Am] _
_ [Gb] _ [F] _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Gm] _ [Bb] _
[Am] that kind of thing.
So there you have it.
So try this locked hand technique.
It's a really popular and [C] very famous [Eb] technique. _ _ _ _ _ _
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