Stop 4 of 6
Voicings and voice leading
Inversions, drop 2, drop 3 and moving to the nearest note.
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Stop 4 of 6
Inversions, drop 2, drop 3 and moving to the nearest note.
You already know which notes each seventh chord contains. Now the question is a different one: how you arrange them. Which note goes at the bottom, which at the top, on which strings, how far apart. That choice is called a , and it is what separates clumsy accompaniment from accompaniment that sounds like a record. In this stop you learn the voicings used by jazz, soul and sophisticated pop guitarists — drop 2, drop 3 and shells — and the golden rule for connecting them: .
Listen to Cmaj7 in its four positions. All four contain the same notes (C, E, G, B); only the bass note changes:
The notes in the score above are in : all within one octave, as close together as possible. On a piano one hand plays them effortlessly. On the guitar, though, two notes a whole or half step apart usually fall on the same string or call for impossible stretches.
Try playing C, E, G and B on four adjacent strings, in that order: you would need to stretch five or six frets. That is why guitarists "open up" the chord with a very simple technique borrowed from big-band arrangers: take one voice and drop it an octave.
Take the chord in close voicing, count the voices from the top and drop the second one an octave. The result is a : a voicing with one note per string on four adjacent strings, comfortable and balanced.
Listen: same harmony, a more open and "guitaristic" sound.
Since there are four close voicings (one per inversion), there are four drop 2s on every string set. Here are those of Cmaj7 on strings 4-3-2-1, climbing the neck:
And on strings 5-4-3-2 the root-position drop 2 is a shape you may already have known without knowing its name:
Drop 2 voicings can be played on three sets of four adjacent strings: 6-5-4-3, 5-4-3-2 and 4-3-2-1. Each set has its place in the music:
A practical consequence: you don't need to learn all twelve inversions at once. Start with the 4-3-2-1 set and the three chords of the ii–V–I; once you own it, move on to 5-4-3-2. Remember that the second string bends the shapes (the usual "notch"): that is why the same chord doesn't have the same picture on two different string sets.
If instead of the second you drop the third voice from the top, you get a . On the guitar, that bass note is separated from the rest by a silent string: root on the 6th (or 5th) and the other three notes on strings 4-3-2 (or 3-2-1).
A drop 3 has a low, separate bass note that anchors the chord: it sounds wider, almost orchestral. It is the favourite voicing for solo accompaniment, because the bass note plays the role of a double bass. The muted middle string is silenced by the pad of the finger holding the bass.
The names come from jazz horn arrangers: they started from four voices in close position and "dropped" one of them an octave. Drop 2 = the second voice from the top drops; drop 3 = the third drops; there is even drop 2 and 4, which drops two voices. The name matters less than the result: open voicings that sound balanced and fit on the guitar.
Sometimes less is more. A keeps only the root, the 3 and the 7. And the fifth? It hardly ever defines anything: it is the same in maj7, 7 and m7. The third says whether the chord is major or minor; the seventh, whether it is maj7, 7 or m7. With those three notes the ear recognises the chord perfectly.
Shells are light, leave room for the bass player and the singer, and change very quickly. Hear this ii–V–I with just three notes per chord:
Look at strings 4 and 3: F stays put and then drops to E; C drops to B and stays. The roots jump, but the inner voices barely move. That is the secret we are about to turn into a rule.
Voice leading means treating each note of the chord like a singer in a choir. When the chord changes, each singer goes to the nearest note of the new chord: if the note is already in the next chord, it stays; if not, it moves a half or whole step. Nobody jumps unless they have to.
Play these three drop 2s on strings 4-3-2-1. Your hand hardly moves:
And the same progression lower down, with three other drop 2s that also move by the smallest steps:
Goal: Play the drop 2 ii–V–I in both zones without looking, changing on time at 80 BPM.
Start with Cmaj7 at xx5557. For every following chord, find the nearest voicing on strings 4-3-2-1:
From Cmaj7 to Am7 only one voice moves (B → A). Count how many voices move at each change, and sing the top voice as you play.
Goal: Chain Imaj7–vi7–ii7–V7 in drop 2 with no voice jumping more than two frets.
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