The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
  1. #1

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    Hello. Do you guys use inversions when playing chord melody? The advantage is really in being able to move the chords to different root notes I imagine?

    Do you guys also use drop 2,3 etc and removing the 5th from it to add the melody? Does this become a sort of drop 2,3 shell chord?

    Also ive been struggling finding inversions for the regular shell chords, are they rarely used I can't find them? Seems a bit odd. Inverted regular shell chord seems perfect in my head for chord melody

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazzpazz
    Hello. Do you guys use inversions when playing chord melody? The advantage is really in being able to move the chords to different root notes
    The advantage is putting the melody in the top voice. See the most recent instalment of Things I Learned From Barry Harris on YouTube for a chord melody example using three-note voicings in inversions.

  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazzpazz
    Hello. Do you guys use inversions when playing chord melody? The advantage is really in being able to move the chords to different root notes I imagine?

    Do you guys also use drop 2,3 etc and removing the 5th from it to add the melody? Does this become a sort of drop 2,3 shell chord?

    Also ive been struggling finding inversions for the regular shell chords, are they rarely used I can't find them? Seems a bit odd. Inverted regular shell chord seems perfect in my head for chord melody
    “Inversions” for shell voicings aren’t going to be actual true inversions of the chords. You just need four voicings with the four bass notes and four melody notes.

    I usually end up playing the Drop 2s with the tenor note left out. Two of them are great and two sound a little dull but they work great for moving around a lot.

  5. #4

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    i didn’t methodically go through
    the inversions , I tried but
    found it a bit boring

    I found it most helpful to take a tune and find voicings that have the melody playable on the top and I
    futzed around with those grips till I got something I liked

    originally
    I copied Barney on a couple of his
    solo tunes a while ago cos i liked
    his style

    after you’ve copied a few tunes from
    a player you like , you can strike out
    and take on a new tune on your own
    which is very satisfying and rewarding to do

    there are only so many ways to play
    Ebmaj chords on the guitar anyway ….
    (ie it’s not an infinite challenge
    and only a few of them are useful/practical)

    you will automatically find them yourself on your journey as you go through different tunes
    The tunes themselves teach you which is more fun

    xx876x

    is it Bb ?
    is it Gm ?
    is it Ebmaj9 ?
    is it C11 ?

    Yes !

    I hope this helped , it worked
    for me anyway