major and minor 7th inversions

[cLeVeLaNdStEaM]

I have an audition for berklee coming up. I have been practicing a lot but for some reason I cant grasp the minor and major 7th chord inversions. I dont know if my teacher is explaining it wrong or if I am just not getting it. If somebody could help I would greatly appreciate it.

 

thanks

[c+t in b]

use drop 2 and drop 3 voicings. thats what they are looking for at the very least

 

say you have a Cmaj 7 chord spelled (FROM LOW TO HIGH)

 

B

G

E

C

 

for a drop 2, you would drop the second note from the top of the voicing down one octave. you would then get

 

B

E

C

G

 

which is a second inversion C maj7th chord. All of you inversions will look like this

 

B C E G

E G B C

C E G B

G B C E

23 R 1

 

same concept for drop three voicings. you drop the third voice from the top. for drop 2's, you can typically perform the inversions on three strings sets. with drop 3's, you can do them on two string sets

[cLeVeLaNdStEaM]

thanks a bunch that really helped out a lot. hopefully I can have this down pact asap.

[JonR]

Just to expand on c+t in b's nicely explained post:

 

An inversion is simply a chord with a note other than the root (3rd 5th or 7th) on the bottom.

Drop voicings are a different thing, but 7th chords on guitar tend to be drop voicings of some kind because close voicings are usually too difficult. (Close voicings are where the chord tones run in order, with no chord tone missing - eg, R-3-5-7, 3-5-7-R, etc. - the most compact way of arranging the voices.)

Eg, this is a close-voiced Dm7, in root position:

 

---

-1-

-2-

-3-

-5-

---

 

So guitarists' shapes are usually drop voicings without them knowing! Eg, this:

 

-1-

-1-

-2-

-0-

---

---

 

- is a 2nd inversion Dm7 in drop 2 voicing. Who'd a thought it?

IOW, a close-voiced 2nd inversion would be A C D F (5-7-R-3). I don't know about any of you guys, but my fingers can't manage that anywhere. So we take the D and drop it an octave, to get D A C F - easy (as above).

 

2nd inversion drop 3 would be C A D F (A C D F with the C lowered):

 

-1-

-3-

-2-

---

-3-

---

 

Now, the weird thing, obviously, is that that looks and sounds like a 3rd inversion (7th on the bottom) - just as the "2nd inversion drop 2" looks and sounds like a normal root position chord. "The root's on the bottom, surely that's root position?" Nope...

(Personally I always thought this was crazy, but it's how it is. I keep checking )

 

Open voicings complicate things more. These are chords where the voicing skips chord tones, placing them in higher or lower octaves. Eg, this:

 

-3-

-1-

---

-2-

---

---

 

Is an open-voiced C major triad in 1st inversion. It is also a root position C triad in drop 2! - which is a more precise way of describing it, even if (to me) it's counter-intuitive.

 

IOW - a way through the craziness, possibly - drop voicings are ways of describing how a chord is constructed, not how it sounds. (Drop voicings do of course have different sounds from close-voiced ones, but the names don't refer to the sounds.)

[jonfinn]

Drop 2 Theory:

Once you learn all the inversions of a 7th chord, re-learn them in "drop 2" by taking the 2nd voice from the top and "dropping" it an octave.

 

why: easier to play.

 

Drop 3 Theory:

Once you learn all the inversions of a 7th chord, re-learn them in "drop 3" by taking the 3rd voice from the top and "dropping" it an octave.

 

why: same reason

 

Drop 2 for guitarists:

Drop 2 voicings are usually placed on "adjacent" 4-string sets: 6543, 5432, 4321

 

Drop 3 for guitarists:

Drop 3 voicings are usually placed on "split" 4-string sets: 6432, 5321

 

make sense yet?

 

Good luck w/that Berklee audition!