Chords - drop 2 etc

[Scrybe]

Can anyone give me eg a PDF with examples of chord voicings in drop 2, drop 2+4 etc formats please? I know a bunch of different grips and substitutions I can use (eg the C6 grip can be used for Am7) but have no idea what a drop 2 voicing would be. Chances are I'm alredy using some of these voicings, but I need to know the tech speak for them for comunicaion purposes and wanna make sure I'm covered for all my basic voicings. Thanks.

[randalljazz]

this is pretty good...there's lots of stuff out there:

Drop 2 Chords & Voicings For Guitar

and of course:

Jazz Guitar Voicings: Vol 1 The Drop 2 Book (Sher Music Co.)

buy here:

Amazon.com: Jazz Guitar Voicings - Vol.1: The Drop 2 Book (9781883217648): Randy Vincent: Books

[Scrybe]

Thanks guys, I'm gonna print the info off and work on it at some point in the next couple weeks (got lots of other stuff on, too). I def need to get clear on the principles tho - in sure it'll open up my voicings further and, although I don't need it now, there'll no doubt come a day when someone asks to me te eg play Cmaj7 in a drop 2+4 voicing and even if I already do that sometimes, I currently have no clue what that means, so I wanna be fully prepared when that day comes, lol. Props for the links, much appreciated.

[NSJ]

You know, I've stopped thinking of the voicings in terms of those types of labels--drop 2, drop 3,etc. For me, it's much more important to think of what is the (1) the root note; and (2) what is the top voice. For example, if I have Cm7 chord and the top melody note is a Eb, I think of a C-7 chord with m3 in the top voice. This is the way I think of chord melodies, but hey, I could be wrong in my thinking, just works for me.

[bako]

1 3 5 7
3 5 7 1
5 7 1 3
7 1 3 5


1 3 7 5
3 5 1 7
5 7 3 1
7 1 5 3


1 5 7 3
3 7 1 5
5 1 3 7
7 3 5 1


1 5 3 7
3 7 5 1
5 1 7 3
7 3 1 5


1 7 3 5
3 1 5 7
5 3 7 1
7 5 1 3

1 7 5 3
3 1 7 5
5 3 1 7
7 5 3 1


These are the 24 orders that the 4 notes of a seventh chord can be arranged.
They are read across, each row a different chord left to right.
They can be applied to any 7th chord quality.
Each group has it's own numerical name which I mostly ignore.
The differences between the groups lie in the amount of space between the notes.

The groups starting 1573 and 1735 form the common playable 7th chords for guitar.
The groups starting 1357 and 1537 offer some common playable chords but also present challenges and
impossibilities for simultaneous sounding notes.

Beyond these are 7th chord inversions with doublings, omissions, octave displacements and combinations of these 3 factors.

How useful these all can be depends on whether you need to color with the 120 crayon set or will the one with 24 be sufficient.
These are all subtle variations of the same basic harmonic info.

[Scrybe]

NSJ - thanks for the tip, so far I've been mostly working by ear inc hord choice, but I wanted to make sure I had all my bases covered by finding out about this labelling/voicing system.

Bako - that was, quite truly, awesome. Thanks for posting (I hope you got to copy n paste those and didn't have to type it all out by hand....if the latter, serious mad props for doing it for me!), that's pretty much cleared everything up as far as knowing what's involved (I can find the names for each pretty easy, I'm sure). Now I just have to print off and go over them a bit and see how useful it all is to me. I have a stronger ear, it seems, for harmony than melody (or I'm better at puttting nice chords together than creating single lines...heh heh), so this is very interesting to me. Again, mad thankage for posting that.

For some reason, I didn't get notified that this thread had been added to since my last post, else I woulda been over here to read much earlier.

[bako]

It was a paste job from an excel chart I had made previously. Pasting allowed me to reorder the 7th families and omit some other unrelated elements.

These are the names as listed in Mick Goodrick's voicing books. Personally I find it simpler to just think the intervals than to do the note flipping necessary to arrive at those intervals.

In the order of the previous post:

1. 4 way close
2. drop 2 and 3
3. drop 2
4. drop 2 and 4
5. drop 3
6. double drop 2, drop 3

[Scrybe]

Thanks agin for another useful post, appreciated famo.

[Dookychase]

Also, I think Charles Chapman who used to teach at Berklee's has a book/cd about drop 2 voicings.

[Scrybe]

Thx Dooky, I'll take a look over that but, for now, I think bako's posts will keep me well occupied. I basically just wanted to know what the names meant and how to link them with what I'm already doing on guitar (where appropriate) so if someone talks about drop2 voicings I know what they're talking about. As I progress I'll no doubt be expanding my knowledge and abilities here though, so the book recommend is always welcome, thx.

[brwnhornet59]

A lot of guys avoid that voicing unless using it in CM. I personally don't mind it depending on how it is being used.

[Drumbler]

Here's a bunch of useful grips. Of all kinds.

[jmstritt]

Here's a bunch of useful grips. Of all kinds.

Good resource! All your basic grips, plus some nice ones that caught me by suprise ;-)

[bobsguitars09]

A drop 2 chord is built by dropping the "second highest note of a chord to the bass"

why are the examples not dropping the 2nd highest notes?

Drop 2 Chords & Voicings For Guitar

I have seen this in other examples also. which one is it?

[m78w]

Drop 2 chords take the 2nd note, the 3rd, and "drop" it to the top of the chord.

So, if you have CEGB, 1357, and you want to make it a Drop 2 chord, just take the 2nd note, the E, 3rd, and drop it an octave higher, CGBE 1573

Weird name, but that's how they are built. Hope it helps.

[bobsguitars09]

I think I get it now. It means dropping the 2nd highest to the next string below right? why not just say drop the highest note to the bottom? That is where I think I got lost.

[bobsguitars09]

I got it! thank you! was lost there. so drop 3 is just dropping the 5?

[bobsguitars09]

Doesn't the Root move or go up an octave too? 1357 to 3715?

I keep seeing it as the top note in pitch of each chord going to the bottom note in pitch. and I see the 3 going down and up an octave each time. The exact definition for the "2nd highest" is always E for a C major 7 right? So when I make my first drop 2 it now has another 2nd highest note name? I am missing something

[randalljazz]

Drop 2 chords take the 2nd note, the 3rd, and "drop" it to the top of the chord.

So, if you have CEGB, 1357, and you want to make it a Drop 2 chord, just take the 2nd note, the E, 3rd, and drop it an octave higher, CGBE 1573

Weird name, but that's how they are built. Hope it helps.

so unlike you here matt. no wonder bob is confused.

@bob--the "theoretic" (sic) example on the lesson page is illustrated correctly, though not described accurately above.

you must begin by thinking of the chords spelled on the staff (not guitar frets). the example on the lesson page is a closed voice root position Cmaj7 chord. all kinds of drop chords (drop 2, drop 3, drop 2 and 4, etc) begin with closed voicings, which may be in different inversion (frequently first inversion). read about these terms and get a good understanding of what they mean.

note to everyone--most musicians (except guitarists, alas) spell chord tones from THE TOP DOWN, not from the bottom up. thus the way to talk about the above mentioned example is "B G E C" , not "C E G B".

anyway drop 2 (or whichever numbers) means take the note that number from the top and drop it an octave. in the example G is the 2nd note from the top, and it is moved down an octave.

this is useful to guitarists because these kinds of voicings make easily playable "grips", which very few closed voicings do.

in sum, understand the terminology independent of the guitar. to see how it works, analyse the guitar chords in reverse. for example, continuing on the lesson page , the first chord in figure 1 is Cmaj7 spelled (TOP DOWN) E B G C. reversing the process, move the lowest note C up an octave, and you have a closed voicing second inversion chord E C B G--playable but not comfortable, and certainly not a movable chord form.

[m78w]

That's how I was shown those chords when I first learned, maybe my teacher thought about them differently, more from a guitar standpoint than other instruments would think of them as you said.

CEGB moves to CGBE

Then the rest are inversions of that first chord.

Closed Drop 2
CEGB CGBE
EGBC EBCG
GBCE GCEB
BCEG BEGC

Or moving the second note from top as was written in the JGG article.

CEGB GCEB
EGBC BEGC
GBCE CGBE
BCEG EBCG


Just a different way of looking at it I guess, both get the same results. It worked for me on the guitar thinking about it one way, but if it's confusing I guess it might not work for everyone. If the other way is easier for you go for it. Whatever makes it easier to understand.

[bobsguitars09]

Thank you guys! saving me some headaches

[randalljazz]

Guitar Lesson World - Drop 2 Voicings

[bobsguitars09]

Thanks again. I really like that page too. am I correct that the drop 2's can also be applied to any chord? C seven sus4? minor seven flat 5?

[randalljazz]

Thanks again. I really like that page too. am I correct that the drop 2's can also be applied to any chord? C seven sus4? minor seven flat 5?

sure. usually used with 7th chord (four notes), as it is derived from horn arrangement* (which in turn is descended from classical voice leading). drop voicings are used to open up the sound (it is rather coincidental that these voicings fit so nicely on guitar---or perhaps not coincidental at all, but rather has to do with the history of the tuning...but i digress).

so, for Em7b5, four root position closed voicing (top down) would be:
D
Bb
G
E
(difficult to play on guitar)

dropping the 2nd note an octave is

D
G
E
Bb
(very common open position on strings 2-5, or up an octave at the 8th position)

C7sus root position, closed voicing:

Bb
G
F
C
(again, difficult to play on guitar)

drop 2:

Bb
F
C
G
(common quartal voicing on any four adjacent strings)

play with that a while, and then look into drop 3, drop 2 & 4, drop 2 & 3...similar proceedure...but don't get overwhelmed.

*where it came from:

Google

[CactusTone]

Any suggestions on harmonizing the Melodic Minor scale with drop 2 voicings?

Some of the voicings are pretty difficult. e.g. III+(M7) on strings 1-4. The voicing with the 3rd in the bass reads from bottom to top: 3, 7, R, +5. With a Root of "C" that would be E, B, C, G#. Try grabbing that without rubber fingers! I've been replacing the root with the chord's 9th (D), which essentially turns the chord into an E7 (3rd relation substitution from parent scale). Is this the correct way to get around an unfriendly finger position? Are there any rules or guidelines to be followed in such instances? There are many fingerings in Melodic Minor that create difficult fingerings on all string sets. Looking for some advise!