So in this blog post i want to look at some condensed voicings for the chords we learned earlier. When playing a tune at a fast clip with two chord changes per measure those finger voicings can be tough. Alot of players will use three note voicings that are much easier when switching fast. Especially if you are playing with another guitarist or a bass player, these chords will sound fine.
When learning how to voice these chords there are certain notes of the chord that are not totally necessary. The third degree of the chord is usually needed, as it determines if the tonality of the chord is major or minor. Likewise if you want to play a 7th chord the 7th degree is necessary for that sound. Roots and fifths however, are not always needed, as we will see later. If its a three note chord you are trying to play usually the root or fifth is left out, though usually not both. Lets look at some three note voicings for Dominant 7 and Minor 7th chords.
This Dominant 7 voicing uses the root on the 6th string and includes the root, 7th, and 3rd notes of the chord. The example i have is a G7, so those notes are G, F, and B. As you can see there is no fifth.
This three finger voicing works nicely, and is easy to slide up and down the neck depending on what chord you need. Note the muted strings, make sure not to strum those.
Next up is a three note minor chord voicing that again contains the root, third, and seventh. Its the same shape is the Dominant 7th voicing above, just shit your fingers down one string.
Its really easy to switch from the Dom7 on the sixth string to the minor 7 on the fifth string, which is handy for fast tunes.
Last up for this blog post we have a three note chord that can be used in a variety of ways, here is it below.
Treating the sixth string as the root its a G minor six. G is the root, the Bb note makes it a minor chord, and E is the sixth. This is a common chord for gypsy jazz, and is moved alot up and down the neck.
But this chord can also function is a dominant seven chord, though there is no root. Recall this shape below, Cdom7, with the root on the 2nd string.
If you notice the top three strings are the same voicing as the Gm6, so this shape will also function as a Cdom7 chord, containing the 5th, 3rd, and 7th scale degrees, which G, E, and Bb respectively. So this is one of those chords that does not have a root. This is handy thing to know in a tune with fast and quick chord changes.
So there we have a few three note voicings that can be moved up and down the neck. Give them a shot, and for the next blog post i will look at a few more.
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