When working with guitarsts who are new to Jazz, I find that many are not accustomed to using chord voicings which "fit" well in a larger ensemble setting. By eliminating unnecessary clutter, which doubled pitches can create, these chords will sound more true to the style than those common to rock and pop styles. It is my experience that students are very familiar with the basic open chords, and most students are aware of the "Barre Chord" concept and how it, in effect, moves these open chords up the neck. Some students know the concept, but dont realize they know it! If students can get some of these chords into their jazz vocabulary, without too much kicking and screaming, Your ensemble should benefit.

The next logical step beyond this study would be to recycle some of the shapes as upper structures of 9th chords.

!

Open chords converted to movable barre chord

shapes.

When you take the Most common E Major chord <--------up the neck, you get the Major barre chord feared by all. -------->

You Can do the samewith the 5th string rooted A major.

...and D major rooted on the fourth string.

The concept illustrated below assumes a knowledge of very basic open chords, and uses a square to represent the root of each.

the D major shape only requires the first finger to fret one note, so the concept is the same as the E and A chords, but not actully barred.

!Major Barre Chord Form - 6th String Root

M7

Full Barre 7th chord voicings - The six string m7b5 voicing is not playable, but it is included here to illustrate the concept.

Dom 7 (7) m7 m7 b5

M7 Dom 7 (7) m7 m7 b5

The 6 note Barre chord and its derivatives:!

R 5 7 3 5 R R 5 b7 3 5 R R 5 b7 b3 5 R R b5 b7 b3 b5 R

The 7th chord voicings on strings 6, 5, 4, 3 (illustrated below) eliminate doubled pitches.

R 5 7 3 R 5 b7 3 R 5 b7 b3 R b5 b7 b3

R 5 R 3 5 R

Note: The "anatomy" of these chords is listed below each grid, and each tone is labeled with the relationship to a major scale having the same root as the chord.

R 7 3 5 R b7 3 5 R b7 b3 5 R b7 b3 b5

Commonly used 7th chord voicings on strings 6, 4, 3, 2 also eliminate doubled pitches.

These shapes can also be played even more simply by omitting the 5th, reducing the number of shapes to 3. (Minor 7 and minor 7b5 will be the same shape, due to omitting the 5 or b5) This is another good starting point for studying "root/guide tone" or "shell voicings" to which altered 5ths or extesions might be added with very playable results.

37 R b7 3R b7 b3R

! M7! ! 7 m7/m7b5

The Barre chord and its derivatives!

Major Barre Chord Form 5th string root

M7

Full Barre 7th chord voicings - *m7b5 voicing may not be playable

Dom 7 (7) m7 m7 b5

m7 b5 m7Dom 7 (7) M7

The following commonly used 7th chord voicings on strings 5, 4, 3, 2 eliminate doublings

R 5 R 3 5

R 5 7 3 5 R 5 b7 3 5 R 5 b7 b3 5 R b5 b7 b3 b5

R 5 7 3 R 5 b7 3 R 5 b7 b3 R b5 b7 b3

Commonly used 7th chord voicings on strings 5, 3, 2, 1 also eliminate doublings.

R 7 3 5 R b7 3 5 R b7 b3 5 R b7 b3 b5

These shapes may also be played omitting the 5th, again reducing the number of shapes to 3.

R 3 7 R 3 b7 R b3 b7

M7! !! 7 m7/m7b5

R 3 7 R b7 3 R b7 b3

M7! ! 7 m7/m7b5

The root/guide tone voicings below are are derived from the shapes above, but the 3rd of each structure has been lowered by one octave.

The Barre chord and its derivatives!

Major Barre Chord Form 4th string root

M7 Dom 7 (7) m7 m7 b5

R 5 7 3 R 5 b7 3 R 5 b7 b3 R b5 b7 b3

R 5 R 3