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By learning these introductory Drop 3 chords on the guitar, youll be able to comp
common chord progressions and Jazz standards in the style of jazz guitar legends such
as Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery.
So, grab your guitar, turn up your amp and get ready to learn how to play Drop 3
chords for guitar.
Visit the Beginners Guide to Jazz Guitar Homepage to check out the other 9 Chapters in
this series.
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Take the 3rd note from the TOP of that chord and lower (drop) it by one octave
You now have a Drop 3 Chord in 1st inversion (3rd in the bass), compared to the
root position of the closed chord.
There are also inversions for Drop 3 Chords, which you wont learn right now in this
Beginners Guide, but that are good to explore for further study.
Heres the interval structure for each inversion of any Drop 3 chord, you simply flatten
or raise any given note to produce the chord quality you want to build, such as 7 or
m7.
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Now that you know how to build Drop 3 Chords, and the interval order for each
inversion, youre ready to take these chords onto the fretboard.
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Click to
Vm P .
Once you can play these two Drop 3 Chords from memory, practice playing root-position
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Maj7 Drop 3 shapes in all 12 keys as you explore them further on the fretboard.
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Click to hear
Vm P
When you have these 7th-chord shapes under your fingers, practice moving between
maj7 and 7th chords from the same root, playing Cmaj7-C7 for example, then moving
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m7 Drop 3 Chords
As was the case with Drop 3 7th chords, there are two ways that you can think about and
construct Drop 3 m7th Chords.
The first way to look at m7th Drop 3 Chords, is to look at the intervals used to build this
chord.
The interval construction for any Drop 3 m7th Chord is R-b7-b3-5, or C-Bb-Eb-G for
a Cm7 chord.
These notes are drawn from the Dorian Mode, as the m7th chord is built by stacking the
1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the Dorian Mode.
For a Cm7 chord, the Dorian mode contains the notes C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb, and that is
why the notes of the Cm7 chord are C-Eb-G-Bb.
The second way to think about Drop 3 m7th Chords is to compare them to the 7th
chord shapes you just learned.
Youll notice that the m7th and 7th chords are only one note different, the b3rd interval
in the m7th chord is different from the 3rd in the 7th chord shapes.
This means that you can take any Drop 3 7th Chord you know, lower the 3rd by one
fret, and you now have a Drop 3 m7th Chord shape on the guitar.
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Here are two Cm7 root-position Drop 3 Chords for you to explore in this, and all 12,
keys on the fretboard.
Click to hear
Vm P .
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Once you can play these Drop 3 m7 Chords from memory, play the following three
Drop 3 Chords, Dm7-G7-Cmaj7.
By doing so, youve now built your first ii-V-I chord progression, one of the most
important chord progressions in jazz, and one that you will explore further in Chapter
3 of this Guide.
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Click to
Vm P .
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Once you have these Drop 3 m7b5 chords under your fingers, practice moving
between Cm7 and Cm7b5 in both positions on the neck from memory.
Then, take this exercise into all 12 keys as you begin to explore these two important
chords further in the practice room.
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Click to
Vm P .
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As with any chord you learn, make sure to start in one key until you are comfortable
playing these two shapes from memory, before exploring them in all 12 keys around
the neck of the guitar.
Maj7-7-m7-m7b5-Dim7
Look familiar?
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Its the same order of the Beginner Drop 3 Chords that you learned in this Chapter.
Pretty cool right!
Heres an example of this Drop 3 chord exercise written out from a C root on the 6th
string.
Click to
Vm P
Again, as with any exercise in this Guide, you can start by memorizing these chords
in one key, C in this case, before moving it around to all 12 keys across the neck.
As well, its a good idea to use a metronome when practicing these chords, as itll force
you to move in time between each chord, helping you to develop a smooth shift
between each chord type as you work them out in the woodshed.
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Click to
Vm P
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Once you have this exercise under your fingers, try mixing together both exercises,
6th and 5th-string root shapes, in all 12 keys as you begin to combine different string
sets for these Drop 3 Chords in the woodshed.
Click to
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Vm P
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This right-hand exercise is not only good for Drop 3 Chords, but for any chord shapes
or chord progression youre learning or working on.
So, feel free to bring this bonus exercise into any chord or chord progression exercise
youre working on in your jazz guitar practice routine.
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You dont have to master all of these items before moving on to the next Chapter in this
Guide.
But, being able to play 2-3 of these items from memory with a metronome at a slow to
medium tempo is a good litmus test to see when you are ready to move on to the next
Chapter.
Play Maj7, 7, m7, m7b5, and dim7 Drop 3 Chords in all 12 keys.
Say the interval names for each shape as you play it.
Drop 3 Chord Exercise 1 and 2 in all 12 keys.
Drop 3 Chord Exercise 1 and 2 in all 12 keys with the Bonus Exercise picking.
For a bigger challenge, say the note names for each Drop 3 Chord in these
exercises.
Further Reading
To continue your exploration of Drop 3 Chords for Jazz Guitar, here are several
articles that you can check out.
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Read the next chapter Beginner Drop 2 Chords for Jazz Guitar.
Return to the Beginners Guide to Jazz Guitar Homepage.
If you liked this lesson, you might also enjoy the free 30 Days to Better Jazz Guitar
series of lesson.
Do you have a question or comment about Beginner Drop 3 Chords? Post your
thoughts in the comments section below.
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13 Comments
1. Simen, August 20, 2013:
Hi Matt,
Thanks for Your interesting lessons.
These drop-3 chords are quite difficult to master i the beginning.
Should the exercises be carried out without using bar?
Simen
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tunes. Something like Summertime would be a good place to start. If you just work
theory and technique then you might know how to play scales, but you wont have
any tunes under your fingers. So try working on technique like scales and chords
but over a tune, and work out the melody as well so you can play along with a
backing track or jam with other players when you get a chance. Hope this helps!
http://www.mattwarnockguitar.com/summertime-anatomy-of-a-tune
6. Paul Faulkner, October 31, 2013:
Thank you Matt, I will do
7. Rich Gire, October 15, 2014:
Hi Matt,
I hope you are doing well. I hope to have my traveling settle down next year and
return to lessons with you. In the meantime, I am working through your Beginners
Guide to Jazz Guitar course. Im taking it slow and have a question about
inversions for Drop 3 Chords in Chapter 1. Does the order of the chords in your
inversion formula have any significance? Here is what I mean: You list the Root
Position as R-7-3-5. I guess I expected it to be R-3-5-7. Then your 1st Inversion is
3-R-5-7 while I would expect it to be, following your Drop 3 Inversion rule, 3-R-7-5,
sinc ethe 7th note of the chord is above the 5th. Same question for the 2nd and
3rd Inversion. What am I missing? Am I trying to make this too difficult?
Thanks
Rich
8. Matt Warnock, October 15, 2014:
Hey Rich, hope you are doing well! Youre on the right track, hope this helps.
when you take a root closed position chord, R-3-5-7, and you drop the 3rd note
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from the top you get, 3-R-5-7. Thats a Drop 3 chord with the 3rd in the bass.
So, since it has the 3rd in the bass, if we go down one chord tone per note, you
get this for root position.
R-7-3-5
Check out this layout of the four inversions, notice that they are all in order going
down the page, so we start with the root position and then just go in order to the
next chord tone to build the next inversion.
R-7-3-5
3-R-5-7
5-3-7-R
7-5-R-3
Hope that helps!
9. alexguemez, October 22, 2014:
Hey Matt, thank you again!
I try to understand the inversion for Drop 3 but I dont get it.
if I have the closed position:
R357
Down the 3rd:
3R57
So, I was thinking that the root position would be:
R573
3R57
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573R
73R5
What is the best way to understand?
10. Matt Warnock, October 22, 2014:
Hey. Youre a bit off on your thinking. If you have 3-R-5-7 you have to move to the
next chord tone in each voice of the chord so:
3-R-5-7 moves to
5-3-7-R
See how the 3 goes to 5, R to 3, 5 to 7 and 7 to R?
Just continue that to get all four inversions. Hope that helps.
11. Isaiah, December 18, 2014:
Hi Matt, I really enjoy your lesson, Ive been reading a lot about jazz guitar, I think
this is a better place for me to start. pls kindly suggest songs you think I cld use to
get myself in tune. thankskeep up the good job.
12. Isaiah, December 19, 2014:
Hi Matt, please I want to know if all these chords are movable. 10qs..
13. Matt Warnock, December 19, 2014:
Hi Isaiah, yes all of these chords are moveable.
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Hi Matt and everyone else
hello from virginia
Chord Changes
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