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Mastering Drop 3 Chords for Jazz Guitar

Drop 3 chords are popular jazz guitar voicings that are well-suited for solo guitar playing. They feature a strong bass note separated from the rest of the chord. Practicing all inversions of drop 3 chords across different chord types will expand a player's comping, chord soloing, and melody skills. Effective practice involves learning all inversions of each chord type on different string sets and across major, dominant, minor, half-diminished, and diminished chords.

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42 views4 pages

Mastering Drop 3 Chords for Jazz Guitar

Drop 3 chords are popular jazz guitar voicings that are well-suited for solo guitar playing. They feature a strong bass note separated from the rest of the chord. Practicing all inversions of drop 3 chords across different chord types will expand a player's comping, chord soloing, and melody skills. Effective practice involves learning all inversions of each chord type on different string sets and across major, dominant, minor, half-diminished, and diminished chords.

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Drop 3 Chords & Inversions

In Chords on July 28, 2015 at 10:04 am

A favorite of jazz guitarists such as Joe Pass, who used these shapes to perfection in his solo
guitar performances, drop 3 chords are ideal to use when playing in a solo or duo setting.

While they might take a bit of time to get under your fingers, having a strong understanding of
drop 3 chords will greatly expand your Jazz guitar comping, chord soloing, and chord melody
playing. Experiment with the fingerings for these chords as different hand sizes will use
different fingerings
Here’s why drop 3 chords are so popular:

• With a strong sense of bass in each chord (the lowest notes are always on the 6 th or 5th
strings), drop 3 chords will give you that fat-bottom sound when covering the low end in a
bassless duo or trio setting.
• Because there is a string skip in every shape, drop 3 chords are ideal for solo guitar playing,
as they keep the bass notes involved in your voicings, but separate them from the rest of
the chord, allowing the melody line to stand out at the same time.
When practicing drop 3 chords, there are two main ways to get these chords under your fingers,
before taking them to your favorite Jazz standard and applying them to tunes in your studies:
1. The first way to practice drop 3 chords is to learn all four inversions on one string set for
a chord type:
• Take Gmaj7 on the 6432-string set and play all four inversions of that chord from
memory.
• Move on to Gmaj7 on the 5321-string set and play all four inversions of that chord
from memory.
• From there, play all 8 Gmaj7 Drop 3 chords to cover the entire fretboard.
1. The second effective way to practice drop 3 chords is to work on inversions across all chord
types:
• Play the root position, 6432 string set, for Gmaj7, G7, Gm7, Gm7b5, and Gdim7
chords.
• From there, play the 1st inversion, 6432 string set, for Gmaj7, G7, Gm7, Gm7b5, and
Gdim7 chords.
• When you can do the 1st inversion, move onto the 2nd, and 3rd inversions for the
6432-string set, before repeating the exercise on the 5321-string set.

So grab you favorite guitar, set it to a warm, jazzy tone, and dig into these essential and fun to
play jazz guitar chords…

Drop 3 chords & Inversions ([Link]) page 1/4


Drop 3 chords & Inversions
Drop 3 chords are usually the first voicings beginning jazz guitarists learn and are ideal to
use in a solo or duo situation.
Drop 3 chords are build by dropping the Third Highest note of a Four-way close chord to the
bass.

Major chords - Drop 3 chords & Inversions

Drop 3 chords & Inversions ([Link]) page 2/4


Dominant chords - Drop 3 chords & Inversions

Minor chords - Drop 3 chords & Inversions

Drop 3 chords & Inversions ([Link]) page 3/4


Half Diminished chords - Drop 3 chords & Inversions

Diminished chords - Drop 3 chords & Inversions

Drop 3 chords & Inversions ([Link]) page 4/4

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