hi  

been a while since i posted but now i have another question!

i guess many of you play some kind of block chords and make use of the drop 2 technique. i have to say i find it hard to incorporate this technique into playing standards - it is one thing playing exercises but actually applying this nice voicing to tunes is tricky!

any advice would be welcome or suggestions of standards where you use the technique.

cheers

chris
There are 7 comments, leave a comment.
perfect tune is "there will never be another you"
norm

thank you for the suggestion. that is not a tune that i am familiar with but i will give it a listen. perhaps that will become my drop-2 showcase tune!

cheers
norm

i do have that song in my collection.

i guess it is a great one for drop-2 because :

"primarily scale-wise in both directions; few skips and only one upward leap in the entire piece"
drop 2 also works well in non scale-wise passages, for instance when the melody features a quarter-note arpeggio following the notes of a chord, like 1, 3, 5, 7. instead of playing block chords based on close-position inversions of the chord, substitute drop two and it will take on a new life!

in ballads this can happen even if the melody is in eighth-notes, such as in bar 5 of duke's in a sentimental mood, where the melody over the dm7 chord is f - a - c. instead of the rh playing adcf - dcfa - dfac (inversions with the melody note on top), it will play adf - dca - dfc. the missing note is in the left hand, an octave lower.
dr jazz

thank you for that advice!

i do like the sound of the drop-2 and it is time i learnt another duke tune.

feeling inspired now!

cheers
you can use it also on the improvisation. i like to make some interesting sounds moving between drop2 invension but playing instead of block chords...arpegios in a "random" order of notes....

i used to have that same question but actually you can use it almost for everything... trial and error will let you recognize the sound and will let you decide when to use it and when not....

my advice right now is use it a lot.... for comping, for improvisation, harmonizing melodies....... that will help you master the drop 2 on your hands and will train your ears to identify the sound of the drop2.... the same applies for drop3 and drop 2-4
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