Jazz Guitar Voicings
In the first part of 2007, I published four articles where I described the most common chord voicings I use when playing jazz. I’m publishing this page to tie them all together and provide an index.
The four articles are organized into the following categories:
Chord Family
- Major Scale Harmony, for example, the interchangeable chords sets for Am7 and C∆
- Melodic Minor Scale Harmony, a fully interchangeable series of jazz chords based on the melodic minor (or jazz minor) scale.
String Family
- Top Four (”t4″) voicings, using only the highest four strings (d, g, b, e).
- Drop-2 voicings, generally voiced on the middle four strings (a, d, g, b).
The articles themselves can be found at the locations given below.
| t4 | drop-2 | |
| Major Scale | 5.07.07 | 5.19.07 |
| Melodic Minor | 5.12.07 | 6.22.07 |
Notice in all cases I have given the voicings in only one key. Guitar is a perfect instrument for transposing; by moving the voicings up or down a few frets, you can accommodate almost any chord you encounter. Which voicings work best in which keys? Well, that’s your decision. I have provided the palette; you can provide the art.
