Introduction
Hi, this time I will be a little shorter than usual. I’ll talk about drop 2 chords, in particular – Drop 2 seventh chords. Most of the lesson is meant for people playing in Perfect Fourths Tuning, all fourths tuning, whatever you wish to call it. I call it P4. In the previous lesson I talked about how perfect fourths tuning eases the learning of all those shapes and their inversion by diminishing the number of shapes to learn by two thirds. Now I’ll show that to you in practice by giving you 15 of the most important seventh chords in their drop 2 form, along with all three inversion – on three sheets of paper :) Those are the same sheets with diagrams I still use, to learn the shapes of those most important chords.
Why are these chords important?
Well, for starters, you’ll be able to play any chord anywhere on the neck, and know which one it is, only by it’s fingering. You will also begin to connect the visual shape and the sound you get, as the same fingering will always produce the same sounding, as opposed to the standard tuning. This kind of chord is mostly used as a comping *accompaniment* chord I can never stress enough that knowledge of these chords is one of the essentials of a complete guitarist. Also, it’s a full chord, in every shape you have all 4 chord tones, 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th. Feel free to omit the fifth in some cases(where a chord has a perfect fifth) as it’s common practice of some jazz guitarists.
How it’s made
Drop 2 shapes are really handy for guitarists because the shapes are all possible to finger, and are visually consistent. They are made from basic seventh chord piano voicings by taking the second note from the top and lowering it one octave down. That also applies for all the inversions. And when you make all four drop 2 chords, you sort them by the note they start from, never mind the original root.
Here is a simple example of how the root inversion of C7 is converted to a drop 2 chord. Note how it becomes the 2nd inversion after the change, since now the root note is G, the fifth of the chord.
I separated the drop-note from the chord and colored it, just for easier reference. I hope it’s not so confusing :)
The Chords
Here are 15 most important seventh chords for you to know. Note that you can use the same shape on every string set if you’re using all fourths tuning, if not, you’ll have to wait until I decide to scan over 15 pages of diagrams used for the same thing for the standard tuning.
Since the shapes are movable, you must use the outlined circle that signifies the root note of the chord to find your way. It’s really easy. As for the inversions, they start from the 3rd, 5th, and 7th of the chord desired, so if you want C7’s first inversion, the root of the inversion is E, the third of C7, which is located on several positions over the neck, you choose. The shape stays the same on all string sets.
People with guitars in standard tuning can also use these diagrams, but they will have to make two more variations of every fingering, as this will work only on the bottom 4 string all tuned in fourths.
Conclusion
I think this is a pretty valuable and useful resource, since there is hardly any P4 resources out there, and the only thing we can do is adapting the standard tuning resources, and that’s a pain. But someone has to do it :) Have fun, learn some chords, and don’t mind my sloppiness. Also, I’d really like you to leave an impression, comment, suggestion. I know that only few people will ever read this, but I’d like to get feedback anyway.
Have Fun!
