The "Must know chord grips" for jazz guitar players (that are NOT drop 2/3)

[Tom Karol]

I had a student some years back who was in a high school jazz band, ran by a teacher who had somehow managed to never interact with a guitar player in their life. He would just get piano or horn charts, and the first thing we'd do is get a sharpie and cross out all of the unnecessary stuff.

Me too! I have a student who's been playing for less than a year. He's just started playing in his middle school jazz band. He brought in these charts with all sorts of overly sophisticated chord changes. I'm doing the same thing as you are, Jeff. (i.e., "Don't worry about that - just play a C7 there.") What the heck are these teachers thinking?!

[Jim Soloway]

Some major 7ths (They're all expressed as Gmaj7 but they're all movable)



The first two are really the same chord but with the root played on the 6th string in the first and the 5th string (and an octave higher) in the second. It's really useful to have them both in the arsenal.

The third chord is handy if only because it feels so natural physically.

The fourth has an octave of the 13. I know a lot of people don't like a recurring voice, in which case you can leave out the one on the 4th string and get a lighter, airier sound with all of the voices still there. I like chords that have the major 7th in the voice. It creates a color that is much darker than I usually associate with major 7th chords.

[mjo]

My modest contribution, dominant#11 and 13:
x 7 8 7 7 x ( C9,#11 ) ; x 6 7 7 6 x ( F13 ) .... these two resolve nicely to B7 = Pork Pie Hat

These could be drop voicings, I don't know. The only reason I know that term is because that's what it said on the sheets of diagrams they handed out -LOL

Do you guys take requests ? I have a rotten time with Major #11 chords, you have some good voicings ?

Cheers.
-Mike

[AllanAllen]

Cmaj#11 family

Major x3455x

Maj 7 x3445x

6th x3435x


I’d probably drop the #11 though. Lately, I’m not seeing the point of everyone highlighting all the extensions.

[Jim Soloway]

Since I only play solo music I always look for ways to play all the extensions

Here are three Cmaj7/#11's (or Cmaj#11 if you prefer)



And here's one that's decidedly Ted Greene-ish given the fingering required. It definitely works best in the upper area of the fingerboard but if I work hard enough I get it down to about the 6th fret for the root (although that's on a 24" scale length).



And as I continue to mess around with these ... here's a Cmaj9#11 that has some nice colors and is not especially hard to play.

[fep]

How about chord grips that work well together in chord progressions?

[pamosmusic]

How about chord grips that work well together in chord progressions?

I think those are all Drop 2s and 3s, no?

[fep]

I think those are all Drop 2s and 3s, no?

Don't know, don't care.

[pingu]

1319575[/URL]]How about chord grips that work well together in chord progressions?

yes that’s the real world useful stuff

[Jim Soloway]

I think those are all Drop 2s and 3s, no?

I don't think so. Just single flat 5 sub in the II-V and a few missing roots (where the rest of the voicings are conventional). The only one that might be seen as a drop voicing is the E9/B (which in my strange little mind I see as a Bm6).

[pamosmusic]

I don't think so. Just single flat 5 sub in the II-V and a few missing roots (where the rest of the voicings are conventional). The only one that might be seen as a drop voicing is the E9/B (which in my strange little mind I see as a Bm6).

Hmmm …

Line one … Bm7 root drop 3, B-6 root drop 3, A major 7 root drop 3

All of line two are drop threes in root position. The first voicing has the fourth traded in for the fifth; the second has a flatted fifth.

Third line, the first and last don’t seem to be drop voicings but the middle one is a sus chord in drop 2.

The fourth line, the first two are drop 2s.

[AllanAllen]

Since I only play solo music I always look for ways to play all the extensions

yeah, context is key.

[Jim Soloway]

Hmmm …

Line one … Bm7 root drop 3, B-6 root drop 3, A major 7 root drop 3

All of line two are drop threes in root position. The first voicing has the fourth traded in for the fifth; the second has a flatted fifth.

Third line, the first and last don’t seem to be drop voicings but the middle one is a sus chord in drop 2.

The fourth line, the first two are drop 2s.

I think we have a different understanding of what contitutes a drop 2 or 3 chord.

[pamosmusic]

I think we have a different understanding of what contitutes a drop 2 or 3 chord.

I guess so?

Out of curiosity ... how are the ones in the first line not drop 3 chords?

[Jim Soloway]

I guess so?

Out of curiosity ... how are the ones in the first line not drop 3 chords?

I'm reading ... and you may well be right. I've always thought of drop voices as putting the dropped note at the bottom of the chord. Apparently that's a closed voicing. To become an drop voice the root goes down an octave to be below the rest of the voicing. But given the way chords are voiced on guitar I have to wonder how meaningful that really is. That Bm7 is about as basic a chord as there is. Notes haven't been moved to change the voicing. They been played the way they lay out in the most basic way on the fingerboard which I guess puts me in the same camp as FEP: Don't know, don't care. Just another example of why I should keep my mouth shut more often.

[pamosmusic]

I'm reading ... and you may well be right. I've always thought of drop voices as putting the dropped note at the bottom of the chord. Apparently that's a closed voicing. To become an drop voice the root goes down an octave to be below the rest of the voicing. But given the way chords are voiced on guitar I have to wonder how meaningful that really is. That Bm7 is about as basic a chord as there is.

Right. Yeah, I think that's why the thread is interesting. Lots of the go-to voicings––the ones that are easy because of the way the guitar is laid out––happen to be drop 2 or drop 3 chords. So it's nice to have some voicings in mind, that are kind of essential, but aren't some version of those drop chords.

As an aside: I always find the inversions to be infuriatingly hard to play, even while the root position ones are the first jazz chords most folks learn.

And we're dancing around the topic here ... if basically any playable four-note chord will be a drop ... where's the love for the three-note chords, ya'll?

I nominate:

x x 3 4 5 x

The G13, or Dm6/9, or Db7(#9), or Fmaj7(#11)

(yes, this is the chameleon voicing from earlier, just with the top note removed, but I always came to this one as a rootless shell with an extension on the B-string)

[rpjazzguitar]

Right. Yeah, I think that's why the thread is interesting. Lots of the go-to voicings––the ones that are easy because of the way the guitar is laid out––happen to be drop 2 or drop 3 chords. So it's nice to have some voicings in mind, that are kind of essential, but aren't some version of those drop chords.

As an aside: I always find the inversions to be infuriatingly hard to play, even while the root position ones are the first jazz chords most folks learn.

And we're dancing around the topic here ... if basically any playable four-note chord will be a drop ... where's the love for the three-note chords, ya'll?

I nominate:

x x 3 4 5 x

The G13, or Dm6/9, or Db7(#9), or Fmaj7(#11)

(yes, this is the chameleon voicing from earlier, just with the top note removed, but I always came to this one as a rootless shell with an extension on the B-string)

'

I like it. xx345x is b3 6 and 9 -- and that's going to sound like a Dm69 to me, if the bassist has the root. You even hear the 5 as an overtone of the root, not that it's likely to matter much.

So, if I'm already used to thinking about chords by the numbers of the intervals, like say R 3 5 b7, moving to 3 note thinking is easy.

That is, Dm69 says that it needs an b3 to be minor, a 6 and a 9 to be a 69. The 5 doesn't help that much. The bassist has the root. So, you need three notes and you know where they are.

I don't see how drop thinking is helpful with this.

[mjo]

... where's the love for the three-note chords, ya'll?

I nominate:

x x 3 4 5 x

The G13, or Dm6/9, or Db7(#9), or Fmaj7(#11)

(yes, this is the chameleon voicing from earlier, just with the top note removed, but I always came to this one as a rootless shell with an extension on the B-string)

LOVES me some 3 note !
... here I was asking for maj #11 and I'm too damned dumb to know when I've got one ... keep choppin that wood Mike..
I love the fact that these can be several different chords.

A couple more, not 3 note:
x 6 5 3 3 x ..a favorite maj7
x 8 6 8 6 x .. a handy min7 ... gives me the simple sus in a ii-V ... and a whole room full of butterflies to chase -LOL ..that's another topic.

Nice thread guys !
Cheers,
-Mike

[fep]

Some basic melody grips... (Forgot to mention in addition to many of the Am chords working for D dominant and C major, they also can work for F major, for example that first chord could also be considered a rootless F69). And, of course, it all could be transposed to other keys.

[pamosmusic]

Some basic melody grips... (Forgot to mention in addition to many of the Am chords working for D dominant and C major, they also can work for F major, for example that first chord could also be considered a rootless F69). And, of course, it all could be transposed to other keys.

The drop police are banging on your door in the middle of the night again.

[murphybridget837]

It's fascinating how you discovered and mastered chords through trial and error before the internet became a primary resource. The 6/9 chord you mentioned, voiced as x32233, is indeed a versatile and satisfying one, often found in jazz and other genres. Its rich, open sound adds depth to chord progressions. Exploring chord voicings and their applications is like uncovering treasures in the musical landscape. What other "basic B guitar player chords" do you find essential in your repertoire?

[Ukena]

Title says it all...add your favorites.

I'll start with a story...

I was rather lucky to start my "jazz journey" before the internet was a big thing. Or at least, before I knew that guitar playing communities existed on it.

So I learned chords kind of by trial and error. [...]

My story: I started out as a folk music guitarist and singer, in the late '60's. Started off learning to fingerpick. Then a banjo-playing friend asked me to replace the guitar player in his bluegrass band, so I had to learn to flat-pick immediately with gigs coming up. Since the band consisted of banjo, mandolin, and guitar, I was also providing the bass, so I played chords with all 6 strings whenever possible.

Never had a guitar lesson, picked it all up by ear, using my terrible left hand gripping technique. The barred F chord frustrated me so much in the beginning, I just used my thumb wrapped around the low E string; that became an indispensible part of my "technique."

When I got interested in the Great American Songbook, I had to figure out those fabulous chords, or at least chords that sounded right. The first one I learned was x2323x, as a Bm7b5 (unbekownst to me), which naturally fed into E7 – 022130. I started using that Bm7b5 in all kinds of places to precede an E7.

Later, in working out Drop Me Off in Harlem in G, I found a number of grips that have stood me in good stead. G7aug5 – 3x3443, and then, of course, the C9 – x32333, sometimes with middle finger barring the bottom two strings (332333). A lightbulb went off when I found the Bm7b5 at the start of the second phrase of the chorus (had to figure out what chord was under the melody note) – 686656. Usually play it without the first and 5th strings, though: 6x665x – that's where that thumb wrap comes in.

Another great grip that works for me (with the thumb wrap) is the 7sharp11, which I discovered figuring out Ipanema. To go to the final F in the chorus from the Gm7, I liked both the Gb7 and the C7, so I decided to combine them: 232310, only to discover later that this is a Gb7#11, and the grip works up the staff (without the open E string, of course). I also found out that, enharmonically, a Gb7#11 can also be played as a C7#11 with the same grip: 89897x (although the open E still "works").

I never thought of them as grips; I always thought of them as chords (I called the Gb7#11 a C7/Gb, for example). It's only lately that I have encountered the "grip" nomenclature. I also realized that many of these chords, without the bass notes, can be used as other chords (as noted in other posts).

[Tal_175]

The voicings in "Joe Pass Guitar Chords" should be considered the basic jazz guitar voicings. Unlike many chord dictionaries that include impractical or rarely used voicings, Joe Pass's book is truly the working jazz musicians' vocabulary. If you've been playing jazz for a while, you probably already know all the voicings in the book.

[mr. beaumont]

Yeah, Joe was always really practical about chords...though he definitely got the most out of them!

[Bosko]

Chord choice for solo, duo, trio, organ trio, big band, dixieland, bebop, latin jazz, modal, modern, free form, chord solo, comping for a singer, a pianist, pick something that sounds good with who & what you're playing.