Drop Voicings

[pinkflamingo199]

hey guys,
so at a jazz camp i was at earlier in the summer a guitarist attempted to teach me drop voicings so i could apply them on my 6string bass. the way i understood it is it seemed like just inversions on a 7th chord but after further research it appears there is more to it. im still not too sure what the difference between drop voicings and inversions. anyone care to elaborate?

[derekd]

Originally Posted by pinkflamingo199

hey guys,
so at a jazz camp i was at earlier in the summer a guitarist attempted to teach me drop voicings so i could apply them on my 6string bass. the way i understood it is it seemed like just inversions on a 7th chord but after further research it appears there is more to it. im still not too sure what the difference between drop voicings and inversions. anyone care to elaborate?

Yes a bit more to it than just inversions. Here is a decent site that explains it and has a couple of free pdf ebooks on the topic. I use them for guitar personally, but never thought to use them on bass. There are also drop 3 voicings.

http://www.free-guitar-chords.com/dr...d-voicings.htm

[Hoover]

In a loose sense, drop voicings are inversions; in a stricter sense, they are not just inversions, they are also registral expansions.

Because in the strictest sense, inversions are linear rotations of the order of chord tones from low to high, whereas the drop voicing very specifically implies a non-linear re-arrangement of the chord tones from low to high.

Example: C7 chord (all pitch classes listed from lowest to highest)

root position: C E G Bb
1st inversion: E G Bb C
2nd inversion: G Bb C E
3rd inversion: Bb C E G

See how the order of chord tones is simply being rotated? Yet the interval vector never changes, and more importantly, the span of the voicing never exceeds an octave.

Now, in a Drop-n Voicing (where n = some number between 2 & 4 inclusive) you take the nth chord tone (counting up from the bottom) and Drop It (i.e., lower it) by one octave.

so if our root position C7 (now listed w/ registrations) was originally spelled C3 E3 G3 Bb3, the drop-2 spelling low to high would be E2 C3 G3 Bb3
the drop-3 spelling would be G2 C3 E3 Bb3
and the drop-3 spelling would be Bb2 C3 E3 G3

(Note that the drop-3 spelling is for all practical purposes identical to a 3rd inversion.)

And of course you can apply these drop-n expansions to the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd inversions also.

[JTE]

Hmmm... A bit of Hoover's post goes contrary to what I learned. "Inversion" simply means what note is on the bottom, without regard to the VOICING above that bass note. So, E C G is 1st inversion, but so is E C C E G C and E E E E C G G G.

jte

[20db pad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BDKJK2F-zY

[Audiophage]

I've been playing chords like this for years without knowing what they're called. They seem to basically work on the principle that the seventh is the fifth to the third. On an instrument tuned in fourths or fifths, this makes for fairly easy switches between chords.

[EADG mx]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Because in the strictest sense, inversions are linear rotations of the order of chord tones from low to high, whereas the drop voicing very specifically implies a non-linear re-arrangement of the chord tones from low to high.

Example: C7 chord (all pitch classes listed from lowest to highest)

root position: C E G Bb
1st inversion: E G Bb C
2nd inversion: G Bb C E
3rd inversion: Bb C E G

See how the order of chord tones is simply being rotated? Yet the interval vector never changes, and more importantly, the span of the voicing never exceeds an octave.

Inversions will usually be done this way in basic music theory pedagogy (as the simplest way to break the concept down), but they are rarely done this way in actual music.

Once you move up to counterpoint and 4-part writing, this notion goes out the window. Especially the part about range.

In the real world, whether it be comping or orchestration, you will have to deal with what chord tones are available to you in considering the physical limitations (range) of the instrument(s).

[pinkflamingo199]

so pretty much drop voicings are taking the nth highest note in a chord and dropping that note down an octave while keeping the remaining chord tones in the original register? wow that seems so much easier than what the guitarist attempted to explain. (figures )

and EADG mx, are you saying this is typically a composition concept as opposed to a actual playable concept due to the schematics of the bass?

[onlyclave]

Originally Posted by pinkflamingo199

so pretty much drop voicings are taking the nth highest note in a chord and dropping that note down an octave while keeping the remaining chord tones in the original register? wow that seems so much easier than what the guitarist attempted to explain. (figures )

and EADG mx, are you saying this is typically a composition concept as opposed to a actual playable concept due to the schematics of the bass?

I think EADGmx is talking about classical orchestration and counterpoint instead of jazz arranging which is what I think you're talking about.

Supersax (http://www.last.fm/music/Supersax/+v...+1-n5M3o3b9MDo) used drop-2 voicings to pretty much make their entire career like this, AFAIK.

[EADG mx]

Well, not necessarily classical. The term orchestration can really mean any ensemble, although it's associated with the classical orchestra. Maybe just "arranging" would have been a better term.

Anyway the point I was trying to make is that no matter what you're doing in music, the notion that inversion is simply "taking the bass note and putting it on top" is misleading and limiting.

Like I said, inversions are taught this way because it's the easiest way to understand. It's one way to do it, but far from the only (or a lot of the time, most logical) way.

[onlyclave]

But an inversion really is as simple as changing the note in the bass. The voicing of the chord, open or close, is not determined by inversion.

[EADG mx]

Originally Posted by onlyclave

But an inversion really is as simple as changing the note in the bass.

You're right - but specifically inversion is changing the bass to a different chord tone. C/D is not an inversion.