Block Chords?

[wizard3739]

This is one of my favorite Howard Roberts albums, all of the selections are really nice.

wiz

[monk]

The king of block chord soloing was pianist George Shearing.

[cosmic gumbo]

Wes Montgomery-Style Chord Solos

[Flyin' Brian]

This is one of my favorite Howard Roberts albums, all of the selections are really nice.

wiz

If you're talking about The Real HR, I agree. The intro to Serenata is worth the price of admission all by itself. But all of his records have some thing special to offer. His chording in a forgettable song like Winchester Cathedral from Jaunty Jolly is amazing.

[ricksteruk]

This is a great thread, I'm trying out some of those inversions right now... well I was.. back to it

[bobsguitars09]

well, pete, on the guitar block chords are basically a four note voicing on four adjacent strings, often the D G B and E. like this:





--1------
--1------
--2------
--2------
---------
---------


there's a lot of names for that chord, but we'll call it an Fmaj7 for the sake of my example. "block chord technique" refers to something guys like wes and ed bickert were masters of, improvising using not single notes, but block chords. so in my next example, here's the F major scale harmonized in block chords (Fmajor, Gminor, Aminor, Bbmajor, C dominant, Dminor, E diminished) i'll use sevenths, so you'll see Fmaj7, Gm7, Am7, Bbmaj7, C7, Dm7, Em7b5, and back to Fmaj7



-1--3--5--6--8--10--12--13--
-1--3--5--6--8--10--11--13--
-2--3--5--7--9--10--12--14--
-2--3--5--7--8--10--12--14--
------------------------------
------------------------------



now of course, you can feel free to use tastier extensions than just the 7th (9ths, 13ths, whatever)

but where this gets REALLY fun is to connect the dots with passing diminshed chords. wes used this all the time...so like this...



-1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--9--10--11--12--13--
-1--1--3--3--5--6--6--8--8--10--10--11--13--
-2--2--3--4--5--7--7--9--9--10--11--12--14--
-2--1--3--3--5--7--6--8--8--10--10--12--14--
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------



if you notice, this allows you to move chromaticllay up or down the fretboard without skipping a fret on the high E...sweet. try improvising with these chords over a progession in Fmajor...and of course, if the key changes, just reharmonize and you're good to go...

anyone have a example for this with 9, 11 and 13 chords all the way up?

-1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--9--10--11--12--13--
-1--1--3--3--5--6--6--8--8--10--10--11--13--
-2--2--3--4--5--7--7--9--9--10--11--12--14--
-2--1--3--3--5--7--6--8--8--10--10--12--14--
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------

[bobsguitars09]

anyone also have a example of this with rhythm chords on the low strings? with chord reduction

[brwnhornet59]

The block chords that Mr B gave as an example are also called Drop 2 voicings.
These particular set are rooted off of the 7th. Notice that each chord is 7th, 3rd, 5th, root. There will be three other sets of corresponding drop 2 chords that are formed from the different inversions of these chords. The series will all have these corresponding intervals.

Root, 5th, 7th, 3rd

3rd, 7th, root, 5th

5th, root, 3rd, 7th

this symmetry holds true through all of their inversions. Notice that there is always a skipped chord tone between the first and second chord tone.

IE. Root, 5th, 7th, 3rd. The 3rd is skipped going from the root to the 5th.

7th, 3rd, 5th, root. The root is skipped going from the 7th to the 3rd.

That is why these are called drop 2 chords. Make sense?

[brwnhornet59]

anyone also have a example of this with rhythm chords on the low strings? with chord reduction

You can apply the same symmetry on the middle string set, (A D G B).

If you use drop two voicings on the lower string set, (E A D G), they tend to get muddy. Drop three voicings would serve you better. Drop three chords are either played on the E D G B strings or the A G B E strings.

[brwnhornet59]

Drop 2, (block chords), C Major chord scale. middle string set, 7th, 3rd, 5th, root


[TAB]

-x--x--x--x--x--x---x--x-----------------------------
-1--3--5--6--8-10-12-13----------------------------
-0--2--4--5--7--9-10-12----------------------------
-2--3--5--7--9-10-12-14----------------------------
-2--3--5--7--8-10-12-14----------------------------
-x--x--x--x--x--x---x--x------------------------------


C Major Drop 3 chord scale. 5th, 3rd, 7th, root

-x--x--x--x----x---x----x----x------------------------
-1--3--5--6---8---10--12--13------------------------
-4--5--7--9--10--12---14--16------------------------
-2--3--5--7---9--10---12--14------------------------
-x--x--x--x---x----x----x----x-------------------------
-3--5--7--8--10--12--13---15------------------------



G Major Drop 3 chord scale. 3rd, root, 5th, 7th

-2---3---5---7---8---10---12---14---------------------
-3---5---7---8--10---12--13---15----------------------
-0---2---4---5---7----9---11---12----------------------
-x---x---x----x---x----x---x-----x-----------------------
-2---3---5---7---9---10--12---14----------------------
-x---x---x---x---x----x----x-----x-----------------------

[Hugh]

This is a brilliant thread. Many thanks to all you guys posting in this info.
No matter how many years we play, we still find we can learn much much more on the guitar, and it seems there is no end to it. Which is great and keeps us going and have a constant interest in life.
I followed the links to the Wes examples and it has some fantastic info.
Cheers Hugh.

[jonasfixe]

Hi,

I just watched a video lesson by scofield (http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=htGcLZJrstQ at about 1:20) and he uses chords built of 4ths on the C lydian scale, which sound quite fresh. Give it a try! The first one is C F# B E A (if you want, as a start, leave the e string out, just using the middle 4 strings). Then just go up the neck using the lydian scale.

x 3 4 4 5 (5)
x 5 5 5 7 (7)
x 7 7 7 8 (8)
x 9 9 9 10 (10)
x 10 10 12 (12)
x 12 12 13 (14)
x 14 14 15 (15)
x 15 16 17 (17)

Hope it helps!

[brwnhornet59]

Quartal harmony, (building chords in 4ths), is very cool. Holdsworth is a great example. There have been a few threads on the subject in the last few months. Search them out. Lot's of ideas there. Playing melodically in fourths is a cool sounds as well.

It is a good thing when practicing to go through 3rds, 4ths, 5th, 6th, and 7th intervals separately. It helps really open up your ears and is a great dexterity exercise.