Chord Fundamentals - Drop 2 and Drop 3 Voicings

[@AlekDarson]

Great stuff Juan! Pouring down the CONCRETE! Looking forward to the next lesson!

[@JuanDhas]

Thanks so much for the support, bro!!

[@pauls_guitartrip]

Wow impressive intro! ❤

[@JuanDhas]

@@pauls_guitartrip Thank you!

[@seanmiller7889]

Wow that intro is amazing! Thanks for the lesson.

[@JuanDhas]

Thanks for taking the time to check out the lesson! Please do feel free to check out some of the others I have on here

[@seanmiller7889]

@@JuanDhas Thanks I will.

[@barrysebastian9584]

As always, Juan - beautiful intro playing (some of those stretches!). It’s funny how a 13 minute lesson can provide months of material to work on😉. Great job!

[@JuanDhas]

Thanks so much, Barry!

[@alejandroamado3050]

Un honor haber aprendido este enorme concepto de vos, maestro! Que belleza el intro!

[@JuanDhas]

Gracias Alejo! Un abrazo!

[@dudemcdudeman5274]

Very good video I'll be revisiting this and your other videos to help broaden my knowledge of the fretboard for sure you are a natural teacher and you explain with great clarity. I'm recently studying the melodic/harmonic minor scales and their modes which lead me to discovering drop voicings, can you please help clarify a couple things; so instead of just inverting the chords, I drop the 2nd/3rd/4th an octave, and will invert from there, and subsequently ideally will/can do the same for major/minor/diminished/augmented/half-dim which ever chords it may be? So essentially each chord from each scale will have its own 'dropped' chord 'CAGED' system? Also can you please elaborate on which 'different options' which will eventually be branched out to that you mention at 6:45 just so I can add it to my mental to-do list. Thanks again

[@JuanDhas]

Thanks for checking out the video, and I'm glad the lesson was helpful for you! To clarify, the dropping of the octave is just how you arrive at a Drop voicing (when you're starting with a close-voiced chord). If you're coming at it from this angle, yes, you'll change the inversion from there. Usually, I'd have a student just start from a Drop 2 or Drop 3, and then build the inversions from that starting point for the sake of brevity. When I refer to different options, I refer to other realms of harmonic playing. Triadic work (close and spread), clusters, quartal voicings etc. I have a few videos on here on just Harmony in general that should cover some of the other stuff to learn outside of Drop voicings. Hope this helps!

[@dudemcdudeman5274]

@@JuanDhas I'll be sure to check them out thanks for your help!

[@jonathanngwenya8762]

Beautiful

[@JuanDhas]

Thanks, Jonathan! Hope this was helpful!

[@antoinepav]

Thank you ! ... but do you have a secret for hand stretching ?

[@JuanDhas]

Hahaha no...no secrets! Just try playing some voicings. Do be aware of your hand's natural limits, and don't be afraid to stop if there's too much tension. You may also want to check out my video on how to get around big stretches!

[@antoinepav]

@@JuanDhas thank you

[@Foxymus]

I know this is 3 years ago, but where should I go to learn all of these inversions and the theory? And wow man you're playing is great! Your calm, relaxed approach in this video is really nice too. I wish I had long fingers like yours cuz some voicings are practically impossible to play. Does anyone have recommendations on how to overcome this? Obv, some of it is just working up toward it and stretching exercises, but others I have to take my other hand to physically stretch in order to make it possible. A shorter scale length guitar would help but still. I know there are compromises in playing easy chords with my small hands but I don't want want to settle. If there's a guitar out there to help along with stretches to make it possible, I want that.

[@JuanDhas]

Thank you! Many of the chords improve your flexibility the more you try to play them (just don't push yourself to the point of straining). The other thing you can do if this still persists is just break the chord apart into two or three note voicings. Hope that helps!

[@Foxymus]

@@JuanDhas thank you for the quick reply! if i could take a moment of your time, what scale length is that guitar? mine is 25 i think, I'd really not like to compromise playing a different chord if having a shorter length would help me play the chord. do you think it would improve it all that much? thank you sir!

[@JuanDhas]

@@Foxymus I use a 25.5" on both my 6 and my 7. A 25" or a Gibson scale length could do just fine. That said, a lot of it is just building flexibility and working on thumb positioning, even on shorter scales.

[@Foxymus]

@@JuanDhas well, haha your fingers are very long compared to my baby hands. It's only feasible for me to use my thumb at a few spots on the neck and it's very uncomfortable. would a 24.5" be better then, that way when im practicing and stretching im not straining too hard? 🙏

[@JuanDhas]

@@Foxymus By thumb position, I mean the vertical positioning behind the neck. The lower your thumb is, the more you can reach. Same goes for if you have the guitar at a slight angle to your body. Little tricks here and there that you pick up along the way. Either way, I've had students and seen musicians with fairly average hands be able to put together most drop 2/3 voicings (which will have you well on your way to playing great music). If absolutely necessary, then I'd recommend a shorter scale, but that's usually only on a case by case basis.

[@rodolfoamaralguitar]

Hello, Juan! Do you use drop voicings as basis for single note lines? I mean, most guitarists tends to think in ´´solo mode´´ and ´´comping mode´´ as two different things. Piano players do not have this problem because the voicings they use to comp can instantly be applied for single note lines. How do you tend to solve this problem?

[@JuanDhas]

Hi. Rodolfo! Absolutely, for me Harmony becomes a basis for my linear concept. I've spoken about it a few times (such as the interview with Streetwise Guitar), and a few videos here on the channel with regards to Harmony/Arpeggios or some of the soloing videos. To give a simple answer though, I usually think of chords as a potential extended arpeggio, or a melodic cell that can give me a different sound. Hope this helps!

[@rodolfoamaralguitar]

@@JuanDhas Thank you! I will check it out

[@jimwynton6698]

do you recommend any books that have exercises for drop 2 drop3 nd drop 2+4 voicings? i'm just now learning about these different types of voicings and need more chord exercises. thanks in advance

[@JuanDhas]

Hi Jim, thanks for checking out the video! Bret Willmott's books got me started with this stuff, and are extremely comprehensive. That said, I mostly went through piecing it together over standards to get it running in a more applied manner. Hope this helps!

[@jimwynton6698]

@@JuanDhas is there one of Brett's books specifically that you recommend which provides chordal exercises for drop 2, 3 and 2+4 voicings? thanks for the speedy reply Juan!

[@JuanDhas]

@@jimwynton6698 "The Complete Book of Harmony, Theory and Voicing" should cover most of the drop 2 and 3 stuff. I can't remember off the top of my head if it contained drop 2+4 though. Either way, that book is an invaluable resource!

[@jimwynton6698]

@@JuanDhas perfect, noted Juan! Thanks alot for the recommendation. I'll keep it in mind