A question on chords

[ainurelfking]

Hey everyone. I play piano in my church only with chords... So most of the time I play by ear, using the chords only as a reference. However, I'm searching for ways to improve the way the piano sounds. For example: The i chord of the scale can be played 9th; the v chord can be played sus; the iv can be enhanced by adding a 6th; in this example, in a C scale, the C could be C9, the G could be Gsus and the F, F6. But there are much more ways to make chords sound better, depending the chord progressions, using inversions and such. So my question is if anyone knows a website or has any tips to help me with this.
Thanks in advance! 

[BoliverAllmon]

I don't know of any websites particularly, but you can always go to the local library and check out some chord books or jazz books.

boliver

[whynot]

It sounds like you're onto some good things.  You can come up with new voicings by using the bass to lead to each new chord, like a second melody.  There are two easy ways to experiment with this.

1.  Say you have C-G-Am-Em-F-G-C, if you would normally play the root of each chord in the bass, try going down the scale in the bass instead (but using the same chords):  bass= C, B, A, G, F (then back up to finish-- G, C).  It's a common progression, you probably have songs that sound like this...

2.  If that doesn't work with what you're playing, another bass pattern that works with a lot of songs is going down in thirds: C, A, F, D, then back up to finish-- G, C.

One more idea for a change is to just stay on the same bass note as long as you can.  There will be an obvious point where it won't work anymore, but you can start out with a big C bass (if you're in C!), keep playing that on every strong beat, and change only the RH for a while-- C, F, G, Dm, whatever, maybe for a whole verse if it's short, then move around again for the chorus.   

Anyway, you have a very good ear to be doing what you're doing, so if you just make a game of seeing how much you can NOT use the root in the bass, saving it for beginnings and endings of phrases (and other strong moments), you'll probably hear new things to do right away.  Good luck.