GUITARISTS ONLY! - Rootless Jazz Guitar Voicings

[Jeff Brent]

Rootless ii-V-I Sequences (iim9 - V13 - Imaj7|69)
The Evans-Style closed rootless ii-V-I chord voicing system for piano - revoiced open for jazz guitar.

These rootless open jazz voicings presented here for guitar are the exact same pitch sets as used in the Bill Evans rootless system for jazz piano chords.

To the best of my knowledge, this kind of presentation has never been done before (if it had been, I would have spared myself the time and trouble of figuring all this stuff out myself and simply bought the book).

This article covers the following sequences:

page 2
iim9 - V13 - Imaj9 or I69
(iim9 - bII7#5#9 - Imaj9 or I69)

page 8
iim9 - V13b9 - Imaj9 or I69
(iim9 - bII7#9 - Imaj9 or I69)

page 14
iim9 - V7#9#5 - Imaj9 or I69
(iim9 - bII13 - Imaj9 or I69)

page 19
iim9 - V7b5b9 - Imaj9 or I69
(iim9 - bII7 - Imaj9 or I69)

page 25
iim9 - V7#5b9 - Imaj9 or I69
(iim9 - bII9 - Imaj9 or I69)

page 30
iim9 - V7b5#9 - Imaj9 or I69
(iim9 - bII13[no5, no9] - Imaj9 or I69)

page 36
iim9 - V7#9 - Imaj9 or I69
(iim9 - bII13b5 - Imaj9 or I69)

This has taken quite a few months to complete, but now that it's (finally) done, I thought I'd share it with you all. There are some very interesting and finger-friendly voicings in here!

I hope you find them useful.


I'd like to thank randalljazz for kindly proofreading the first couple of sections for me and also for some very nice rootless voicings of 7b5#9 chords.

And I'd also like to thank jazz oud for even more cool 7b5#9 guitar voicings.


Next up will be an article on rootless iiØ-V-im guitar voicings (I'll keep you posted).

[princeplanet]

Wow, awesome effort guys! Much appreciated!

[randalljazz]

nice work, jeff. muchisimas gracias for such a useful project, and for your generosity in making it available. aces!

[page]

Hey Jeff,
just wanted to congratulate you on your achievement. Good for you! I hope this article will bring you success!

[pele_trane]

Thank you, good sir, for your excellent work. I've bookmarked that page and will read it with great delight and attention.

[andy-uk]

cheers Jeff!

[DJ Soupalognon]

Great work!

[sounds212001]

Wow! I will also check this out in great detail. Thanks for taking the time to do this and sharing it with us.

[jazz oud]

Originally Posted by Jeff Brent

And I'd also like to thank jazz oud for even more cool 7b5#9 guitar voicings.


Next up will be an article on rootless iiØ-V-im guitar voicings (I'll keep you posted).

You're welcome, Jeff . . . I didn't even know I was contributing! Thank you for putting this together, clearly it was a lot of work. Some interesting stuff here for sure. I like that you've covered spread voicings that skip a string. I'll have to spend some time exploring these.

I worked out a lot of the 'Bill Evans' voicings myself a while back, but tried to keep the voice leading as tight as possible and mostly voiced them close or drop-2. By broadening your focus, you've definitely hit on some interesting possibilities that I didn't.

One minor (no pun intended!) observation:
I find that I don't much care for voicing the 9th a b9 below the 3rd in minor chords, or voicing the M7 a b9 below the root in a maj7 chord. Those work fine as m2nds or M7s, but to me the b9 is pretty harsh. Thoughts? I assume you were attempting to be as inclusive as possible . . .

[Jeff Brent]

Jazz Oud,

Minor 9th intervals suck.

I thought I had gotten rid of all of them!

Please let me know where you found m9 intervals in the voicings so that I can exterminate them.

I have played through every single one of these grips looking for the ones that sound the sweetest and fall the most easily under the fingers.

There were quite a few that sounded like shit or presented uncomfortable fingerings which got scrapped, so I have no problem whittling these down to be the crème de la crème.

Some of them also sound a bit strange when played without a root present (which I addressed in the foreword).

And some of them also sound muddy when voiced too close to the nut (which I also addressed in the foreword).

I'd also like to thank all of you who said nice things. It helps to know that somebody somewhere is going to use them.

[jazz oud]

Originally Posted by Jeff Brent

Jazz Oud,

Minor 9th intervals suck.

I thought I had gotten rid of all of them!

Please let me know where you found m9 intervals in the voicings so that I can exterminate them.

I have played through every single one of these grips looking for the ones that sound the sweetest and fall the most easily under the fingers.

There were quite a few that sounded like shit or presented uncomfortable fingerings which got scrapped, so I have no problem whittling these down to be the crème de la crème.

Well, it took me a while to look through all 40(!) pages, but here are the ones I noticed:
P.2 Bbm9 and Eb13 both have m9 intervals between C and Db
P.8 Fm9 and Bb13 both have m9 intervals between G and Ab
p.12 Bbm9 and Eb13b9 have m9s between C and Db

Also:
p.17 seems to have a typo, I think it's Bbm9/Db? The chord diagram has a Gb, it should be on the 4th string instead of the 3rd.

P.22 has a typo, it should read Ebm9/Gb, the diagram is right, though.

p.34 has a typo, it should read Bbm9/Db

p.37 has a typo, it should read F#m9/C#

p.40 has a typo, it should read Bbm9/Db

Interestingly, some of the ones I use most often are missing entirely . . . I guess those will have to stay secret for now.

[Jeff Brent]

Originally Posted by jazz oud

keep the voice leading as tight as possible

RE: Voice Leading in Brent’s Rootless Chord Voicings For Guitar

Here are just a few examples of voice leading in these shape sequences:

The iim7-V13 change requires one of the notes to descend chromatically one fret, while the other three voices stay put. See pages 2 thru 6.

The iim7-V13b9 change moves two of the voices parallel chromatically downwards a fret, while the other two voices remain stationary. See pages 9 thru 11.

The iim7-V7#5b9 change moves three of the voices parallel chromatically downwards a fret, while the remaining one doesn’t move. See pages 26 thru 28.

Useful (and hip).


JO: I will check on those typos. Thank you SO MUCH for proof reading!

[jazz oud]

Originally Posted by Jeff Brent

RE: Voice Leading in Brent’s Rootless Chord Voicings For Guitar

Here are just a few examples of voice leading in these shape sequences:

The iim7-V13 change requires one of the notes to descend chromatically one fret, while the other three voices stay put. See pages 2 thru 6.

The iim7-V13b9 change moves two of the voices parallel chromatically downwards a fret, while the other two voices remain stationary. See pages 9 thru 11.

The iim7-V7#5b9 change moves three of the voices parallel chromatically downwards a fret, while the remaining one doesn’t move. See pages 26 thru 28.

Useful (and hip).


JO: I will check on those typos. Thank you SO MUCH for proof reading!

Glad to help. Re: voice leading: I was mainly observing that on the V-I part of the ii-V-I, a lot of your voicings involve large leaps.

[randalljazz]

it has its use, like any pungent spice!

[pele_trane]

Jeff,

Began working through your stuff--on page 2, the AbM9/Bb chord has the root in the chord--from L to R the notes are Bb Eb Ab C G or 9-5-R-3-7. Did you intend to skip the 3rd string or keep the R? I assume you want the Root in that chord, then??