The “Octave Hopping” Exercise for Chords That Flow

How do you know when you’ve practiced something enough?

Maybe you’re working on a new chord voicing, a scale, a progression...

Whatever the case may be, the adage I like to keep in mind is:

Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they never get it wrong.

So, let’s say you want to get a fancy new chord under your fingers. Something like this juicy Dominant 7 voicing from Sick Chords Vol. 1:

How do you practice so that you never get it wrong?

Here’s a trick that works well for me when getting something new under my fingers, especially at the piano.

I call it “octave hopping,” and it’s as simple as playing the same voicing up or down an octave or two, like this:

This practice hack is a great example of strategically applying constants and variables in the shed.

What do I mean by that?

Well, in order to practice as efficiently as possible, it’s important that you work on exercises that have the right balance of consistency and variation. If you only practiced that Dominant 7 voicing in the same octave over and over again, eventually your muscle memory would take over, and your brain would tune out.

Better to keep yourself on your toes – at least a little bit. That’s why variation is important. That’s why you hop up or down an octave. It forces you to keep your head in the game and get to know whatever it is you’re practicing on a deep level.

Alright! Go practice your voicings from Sick Chords Vol. 1.

And if you haven’t yet ordered your copy, now is the time because this week I’m including the Sick Chords Mini-Course as a free bonus in which you’ll learn my favorite ways to practice, compose, and reharmonize with the 100+ voicings included in Sick Chords.

Click here to get Sick Chords Volume 1 plus the free Sick Chords Mini-Course before the promotion ends Friday, February 5!

Happy Shedding,

Jeff