Two-hand chords

A triad fits comfortably in one hand, so splitting it is a decision about sound. The usual two-hand version of C major puts C and G in the left hand, and E, G and C an octave up in the right.

C minor works the same way, with E♭ instead of E in the right hand. Voicings this open sound better when the low notes are not too close to each other.

With four notes the split starts to be genuinely useful. In G7, the left hand takes G and D — the root and fifth, the chord’s skeleton — and the right hand takes F, G and B.

Gmaj7 uses the same skeleton and raises the F to F♯. That F♯ sits a semitone from the G: it is what gives the chord its soft, characteristic tension, though it is best not doubled down low.

Gm7 has an F natural, not F♯: its notes are G, B♭, D and F. Here the right hand drops the doubled G, which adds nothing and frees a finger.

Here both hands stop being optional. G9 has five notes: the left hand holds the G–D skeleton and the right hand takes F, A and B, with the ninth up high where it reads clearly.

From the thirteenth up you no longer play the whole chord: you pick the notes that define it and leave the rest out. In G13 the usual choice keeps the root, third, seventh and thirteenth, dropping the fifth and ninth. With six notes spread over more than two octaves, a two-octave view no longer fits — open the chord in the studio to see it whole.

With ten fingers the options multiply. Two criteria that nearly always help: keep distance between the lowest note and the next one, and if several notes must sit close together, put them in the middle of the chord.