https://www.guitarworld.

com/lessons/jazz-guitar-corner-jazz-guitar-chord-exercises-tab-and-au
dio

One of the most common questions I get from my students and readers is, “I know what
jazz chords to study, but how to I practice them in a practical, musical way?”

To help answer this question, I’ve put together an exercise that uses all the inversions of
any chords you are learning, while playing them in a common chord progression at the
same time.

In this lesson, you will learn how to practice Drop 2 and Drop 3 chords in all inversions,
applied to a major ii-V-I chord progression to keep these shapes practical and musical in
your woodshedding.

I’ve provided examples for one string set of each chord shape, Drop 2 and 3, but feel
free to apply this exercise to any string set your are working on in your jazz guitar
studies.

I’ve also written out each example in the key of C, so to take this exercise further, make
sure to work these shapes together in all 12 keys around the fretboard in order to get an
in-depth understanding of how they lay on the neck of the guitar.

The Jazz Guitar Chord Exercise

The exercise is a fairly straightforward concept, but applying it to the fretboard can take
some time and effort in the practice room.

Here is the exercise:

● 01.Pick a chord shape such as Drop 2

That’s it. Pretty simple, but playing and memorizing these shapes in four areas on the
neck can take some time in the woodshed. So, let’s take this exercise and see how it
lays on the fretboard in the next section of this lesson.

Drop 2 Chord Exercises

Now that you understand what the exercise is, let’s take it to the fretboard, beginning
with Drop 2 chords on the top four strings. You will begin with a root position Dm7
chord, moving to the closest G7 chord, and finally landing on the closest Cmaj7 chord
from there.

I’ve written the inversion under each chord so you can memorize that movement as
well, which will make it easier to transfer this exercise to other string sets and keys in
your practicing.

Now, you’ll move on to the first inversion Dm7 chord, with the other chords being as
close to that initial chord as possible.
Next, you are playing a second inversion Dm7 chord and following on to the closest G7
and Cmaj7 chords from that initial shape on the fretboard.

Lastly, here is a third inversion Dm7 chord that then leads to the closest G7 and Cmaj7
chords from there.

Drop 3 Chord Exercises

To help you take this exercise to another common jazz chord shape, here are four
examples of applying this idea to Drop 3 chords on the 6th-string root groupings.

Again, you can take these shapes to other keys on the sixth-string root, as well as apply
them to other string sets for Drop 3 chords as you expand on them in your studies.
To begin, here is a root-position Dm7 chord that then moves to the closest G7 and
Cmaj7 chords from there.

Then, you can move on to a first inversion Dm7 chord, which moves to the closest G7
and Cmaj7 from that initial shape.

Following our pattern, the next example uses a second inversion Drop 3 Dm7 chord,
which moves to the closest G7 and Cmaj7 chords from there.

And finally, you can start with a third inversion Dm7 chord that moves to the closest G7
and Cmaj7 shapes from that starting point
https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/jazz-guitar-corner-four-ways-practice-drop-2-chord
s-through-cycle-4ths

Learning to play dominant 7th chords and Drop 2 chord voicings is essential in the
development of any jazz guitarist.

While both of these concepts are important to have under your fingers, running them
through exercises such as inversions or chromatically across the neck, although
productive exercises, can sometimes lead to boredom in the practice room. Because of
this, one of the ways I like to practice and teach these chords is to run them through all
12 keys by using the cycle of 4ths.

With this approach, you not only get all of these chords under your fingers, but you see
them used in a progression that moves across the entire neck, you learn to alternate
inversions within the context of multiple keys, and you begin to see how these
inversions relate to each other when applied to a multi-key cycle.

In this article, we’ll explore four ways that you can practice Drop 2 chords through the
cycle of 4ths, learning all four inversions of these chords in 12 keys along the way.

For the sake of space, I have only written these exercises on the middle four strings, so
make sure to take them to the top and bottom four-string sets as well when you explore
these exercises further in your practice room.

Cycle of 4ths
The cycle used in this exercise to move through all of the 12 keys is called the cycle of
4ths. For those that are familiar with the cycle of 5ths, this is just that cycle but moving
in reverse. As the name suggests, each interval between two different chords in the
cycle is a Perfect 4th, which continues through all of the keys until you return to your
starting note.

Here is how the cycle looks starting on the note G. G – C – F – Bb – Eb – Ab – Db – Gb

Notice that each chord moves down by the interval of a Perfect 4th, creating the Cycle
of 4ths mentioned above. This sequence is beneficial for practicing chord voicings, as
compared to simply playing them chromatically up or down the neck, because it forces
you to think about which chord is next in the sequence, as well as allowing you to move
between multiple inversions as you progress through all 12 keys in the cycle. Now that
you have a short background on the Cycle of 4ths, let’s take a look at how you can use
this cycle to learn and practice Drop 2 Dominant 7th chords.

Root Position and 2nd Inversion Drop 2 7th Chords

We are going to start these exercises with a root position G7 chord and work it through
all 12 keys using the cycle of 4ths as seen above. When doing so, a pattern starts to
emerge, which is the alteration of root position (tonic in the bass) and 2nd inversion (5th
in the bass) chords as you move down the neck. Knowing this can help you memorize
this exercise and quickly find the closest next chord in the sequence. Here is how this
exercise looks on paper. Once you have it down starting on G7, try starting this same
exercise on all the other 11 7th chords in the sequence and work your way around the
cycle of 4ths from all 12 possible root notes.
One of the cool side effects of alternating root position and 2nd inversion chords is that
you can do the reverse and it will also work out on the fretboard. So, you can start this
exercise on a 2nd inversion chord, such as C7 in the example below, and then alternate
2nd inversion and root position chords around the cycle of 4ths to cover all 12 keys on
the neck.

This means that you if you learn the root-2nd inversion alternating exercise, you have
already learned the 2nd inversion –root position alternating exercise at the same time,
effectively getting twice as much bang for your buck in the woodshed.

1st and 3rd Inversion Drop 2 7th Chords

You can also work on drop 2 chords through the cycle of 4ths by alternating 1st (3rd in
bass) and 3rd (7th in bass) voicings down the neck. In the following example you can
see that the first chord, F7, is in 1st inversion and the second chord, Bb7, is in 3rd
inversion, with this pattern continuing down the neck through all 12 keys in the cycle of
4ths.
In the same way that you double-dipped with the root position and 2nd inversion chords,
if you start this exercise on the 3rd inversion and alternate it with the 1st inversion you
can work your way through all 12 keys in the cycle of 4ths without having to learn
anything new. Here is how that would look starting with a Bb7 chord in 3rd inversion.

After you have explored these chords by starting in different keys, adding in rhythmic
variety and bringing them to a tune that has these changes, such as “Jordu” or the
bridge to “Rhythm Changes,” try applying these same exercises to Drop 2 chords on the
top and bottom four strings of the guitar.

Running 7th chords through the cycle of 4ths will not only help you get these drop 2
chords under your fingers, but they will help you to see your neck better and train your
ears to hear this commonly used bass movement, cycling in 4th intervals, all of which
can help you reach the next level in your development as a jazz guitarist.