Drop Voicings Explained
I have had a lot of trouble just getting my head around this concept. I think that as a guitar player it's not really explained, since most of our voicings are dro-2 by default, but it's one of those things that I feel like if I really get it I'll be able to help my playing a lot.
Drop Voicings Vs. Inversions
Fundamentally speaking, drop voicings are inversinos, but where inversions care predominantly about the bass of the chord, drop voicings are concerned with the arrangement of notes within a chord.
The bass note may change, but the drop voicing doesn't necessarily have to.
Maybe one way to think of it is that they'e sort of opposites; bass note vs. inner voices.
Drop voicings became popular with jazz players because they create more
"open" sounds when compared to traditional close position voicings.
Drop Voicings and Their Rules
Drop 2
Think of the specified note as being "plucked out" of the chord before being placed in the bass
These are really common, especially on guitar. It's sort of the default type of voicing that we use.
The name is a little misleading; you aren't "dropping 2" notes from the chord or anything. Instead, you're dropping the second highest note in the chord by an octave. For example, using C as an example. The highlighted note in the first column is the bass note for the next column:
| Inversion | Drop 2 |
|---|---|
| (R) C E G B | G C E B |
| (1st) E G B C | B C E G |
| (2nd) G B C E | C G B E |
| (3rd) B C E G | E B C G |
It's easy to get it mixed up, but we are dropping the second highest note in the chord, not the second note in close position order. In other words, it's the "third lowest."
Notably, the bass note doesn't change. At least it doesn't have to change; depending on voicing etc. other notes might look a little differently. I think that what's most important are the outer voices (though that might not be true).
Drop 3
Like with drop 2, you're not "dropping" 3 of the notes, rather you're dropping the third highest note in a chord. Here's a corresponding table:
| Inversion | Drop 3 |
|---|---|
| (R) C E G B | E C G B |
| (1st) E G B C | G E B C |
| (2nd) G B C E | B G C E |
| (3rd) B C E G | C E G B |
On the guitar, the only way to play these is by skipping a string.[1] These sound a lot more "tense" to my ear, and they're a little hard to play (probably because we don't use them that much.)
Drop 4
These are essentially the same as their inversions (the "4th highest" note in a chord is the bass note) but the note in question is dropped an octave. So It still creates an "open" sort of sound, but it's just octave transposition
Double Drops
These combine the two ideas of drop 2 + drop 3, as well as drop 2 + drop 4
| Inversion | Drop 2 & 3 |
|---|---|
| (R) C E G B | E G C B |
| (1st) E G B C | **G B ** E C |
| (2nd) G B C E | B C G E |
| (3rd) B C E G | C E B G |
These aren't as friendly on the guitar, since they're still keeping some of those close intervals (the B and C are never split up.) But, there are some useful omissions we can make:
| Inversion | Drop 2 & 3 | With omitted note |
|---|---|---|
| (R) C E G B | E G C B | E B C (no5) |
| (1st) E G B C | **G B ** E C | G E C (no7) |
| (2nd) G B C E | B C G E | B C E (no5) |
| (3rd) B C E G | C E B G | (playable) C E B |
| Inversion | Drop 2 & 4 |
|---|---|
| (R) C E G B | C G E B |
| (1st) E G B C | E B G C |
| (2nd) G B C E | G C B E |
| (3rd) B C E G | B E C G |
These have a much more open sound, since they're essentially two fifths or two fourths mixed together.
Drop 3 + drop 4 also exists, but I don't think that most of them are viable for playing, at least in an improvisational setting; they're just a little too clunky.
Crossings
I'm pretty sure, anyway… ↩︎