"Bill Evans"-derived Rootless voicings for guitar, part 2

Here are more rootless voicings for guitar, based on the "Bill Evans" left-hand style voicings.

These are mostly drop-2 chords, so unlike Evans's close voicings, these are open voicings. This does change the character of the sonority considerably; if the aspect of Evans's voicings that you want to imitate is the crunch of the 2nd, then the close voicings in the previous post or 3-note voicings would be more appropriate.  That consideration aside, these are very useful and hip-sounding voicings.

Perhaps I'll deal with a 3-note voicing approach in some future post.

Again, I've arranged these in the context of a II V I progression to clarify the voice leading and usage.
See my notes from the previous post for more details.

These are all on the 1234 string set, but most of these can be translated to the 2345 string set.  You can do this yourself (it's a great way to learn), or wait a few days and I'll post the 2345 voicings.

Bill Evans Rootless Guitar voicings, 1234 string set, page1

Bill Evans Rootless Guitar voicings, 1234 string set, page 2

Bill Evans Rootless Guitar voicings, 1234 string set, page 3

     At this point, you may be wondering about the directive that the voicings must have either the 3rd or 7th (or 6th) on the bottom.

 The main reason for this is that without the root motion, the 3rds and 7ths provide the clearest definition of the chord sound; having them on the bottom just makes it sound stronger.  However, the reality is that you may sometimes prefer to voice another note on the bottom; the alternatives obviously are 1 (or 9) and 5 (or 6).

Interestingly, if you alternate all 3rds and 7ths, or all roots and 5ths, you end up with smooth descending voice leading through circle of 5ths progressions.
If instead, you mix them, you can create interesting contours, some ascending and others descending.
For instance, 3579 to 1367 to 5793 to 3579 creates a general upward movement instead of downward.

Also, when comping, the general downward trend of tonal voice-leading means you eventually either run out of fretboard (or keyboard), or you have to break the voice-leading by leaping upward occasionally.  There are a few ways to smooth this out.

One is to make the leaps after cadences, where they are less disruptive (e.g., ii7 V7 I VI7, you leap to the VI7, not to the V7 or I, so that the cadence has smooth voice-leading).

The other is to make judicious use of inversions that lead upward once in a while—for this, the voicings with the 1, 9 or 5 on the bottom are most useful.

I suggest mastering a substantial portion of the voicings with the 3rd and 7th on the bottom before messing with the others.

Added-Note Triad Applications

The uses of triads for an improviser are nearly limitless. As I hinted at in my previous post on digital patterns, adding a note to a triad to create a four-note group can create a lot of possibilities.  The standard digital patterns 1235, 1345, and 1356 are all examples of a triad with an added note (1356 and 1357 can also be considered arpeggios). 

I'm working on putting a whole book together of various ways of incorporating triads into your playing.  Here's an excerpt from the section on added-note triads.  I indicate the scales in which the pattern can be found, as well as the main harmonies over which it can be used.  Of course, these can be used with substitutions as well, and with more 'outside' playing to break out of the strict harmony.

I indicate the pattern with either a capital or small "m" for major or minor triad, "A" for augmented, "d" for diminished, with the interval from the root of the triad (using +/- to indicate a sharpened or flattened degree.  For example, M-2 = Major, with added b2.

There are a lot of ways to practice incorporating these ideas.  The first thing I would suggest is getting familiar with all the inversions and permutations.  Then pick a simple chord progression like "Autumn Leaves" and figure out all the places where various transpositions can be used.

For example: M4
Cm7: BbM4, FM4, EbM4
F7: FM4, DbM4, GM4, AbM4, BM4(Tritone sub)
Bbmaj7: FM4, BbM4, CM4, AM4, DM4
Ebmaj7: BbM4, FM4, EbM4, DM4, GM4
Aø7: FM4, GM4, EbM4(Tritone sub)
D7: DM4, BbM4, FM4, AbM4 (Tritone sub), EM4, BM4
Gm6: DM4, CM4, FM4

Have fun! 

"Bill Evans"-Style Rootless close voicings for guitar — II V I

Here is a set of rootless voicings for guitar that I adapted from the stock "Bill Evans" style left-hand voicings.  I show them in a II V I context to illustrate the voice leading, but they can of course be adapted to fit any chord progression.

Close voicings tend to be difficult on the guitar, as they contain smaller intervals.  Many of these involve challenging, but not impractical stretches: they should be usable by most guitarists, unless you have rather small hands.  When practicing these, make sure you are warmed up first, well-hydrated, and take frequent breaks, as it is easy to overdo it when practicing these kinds of stretches and you want to avoid injury.

For those unfamiliar with the principles of the "Bill Evans" style voicings, here are the main principles:

• They are generally voiced with either the 3rd or 7th on the bottom

• The basic structures are 3715 or 7135—note that the chord can contain the root, they are just "rootless" in the sense that the root is not in the bass

• On m7 chords, the root may be replaced with the 9th, and the 5th may be replaced with the 11th

• On 7 chords, the root may be replaced with the 9th, and the 5th may be replaced with the 13th or #11 if appropriate

• On Maj7 chords, the root may be replaced with the 9th, the 5th or 7th may be replaced with the 6th

• One m(maj7) chords, the root may be replaced by the 9th, the 5th or 7th may be replaced with the 6th

• In circle of 5ths motion, alternating voicings with 3 and 7 on the bottom will create smooth voice leading.

Here are the resulting possible combinations (not voicings, just note choices):

m7 (1 3 5 7), m9 (9 3 5 7), m11 (1 3 4 7), m11 (9 3 4 7)
7 (1 3 5 7), 9 (9 3 5 7), 13 (1 3 6 7), 13 (9 3 6 7),  #11 (1 3 #4 7), #11 (9 3 #4 7)
Maj7 (1 3 5 7), Maj9 (9 3 5 7), Maj13 (1 3 6 7), Maj 13 (9 3 6 7)
6 (1 3 5 6), 6/9 (9 3 5 6)
m6 (1 3 5 6), m6/9 (9 3 5 6)
m(maj7) (1 3 5 7), m9(maj7) (9 3 5 7), m13(maj7) (1 3 6 7), m13(maj7) (9 3 6 7)

Of course, the 9ths on the 7 chords can be altered as well, and #11s can replace 5ths in the maj7 chords also when appropriate. I also bent the "rules" in a couple of cases because of guitar limitations.


On the following pages, the chords are presented in columns.  Any chord in the II column can lead to any chord in the V column, which can in turn lead to any chord in the I column.

This isn't to say that all combinations work equally well or in all cases. 
For example, using a m13(maj7) chord when the chord in the tune is Maj7 will probably not work so great (but don't let me stop you!).

Here are the voicings where the II chord has the 3rd on the bottom.  Because of the 2nd between 7-1 and 9-3 that occurs on the II and I chord when you start with the 7th on the bottom, there are not many practical voicings on guitar that way.  There are some, however, and I'll post them soon along with the drop-2 versions of the chords and some tips on how to get creative with them while comping.

Digital Patterns

Okay, I haven't posted in a year. Here's a little worksheet of common patterns that are often used by modern improvisers. John Coltrane was probably the first to make notable use of these kinds of patterns, which he did on the record "Giant Steps".

I took the basic patterns and explored the possibilities for reordering the notes and for octave displacement.

There are 24 different ways to order four notes, these are all listed for each type.
If you add in octave displacement of various notes, you end up a lot more variations. I just did the first example from each chord type . . . you can work out the rest.

You can use these starting on different chord degrees, the first page lists some possibilities:
  •  Use the major pattern from the root or 5th of a maj7 chord, or from the 3rd or 7th of a min7 chord
  •  Use the minor pattern from the 3rd or 6th of a maj7 chord, or from the root or 5th of a min7 chord

There are other possibilities for half-diminished, diminished, or dominant chords:
Dominant: Major from root or 6th, dim. from 3rd, minor from 5th
Diminished: Dim. from root, b3, b5, or 6 (bb7)
Half-diminished (min7b5): Dim. from root, minor from b3 or 4, aug. from b5, major from 7.

By altering these, you can get a bunch of patterns that are useful over dominant and diminished.
You can also substitute and extend these, for example:
 •  Playing the patterns for Db7 will give you altered sounds when applied to G7
 •  Playing the patterns for Em7 will give you Lydian sounds when applied to Cmaj7
 •  The patterns for min7b5 work for a min6 chord a m3rd up (use Amin7b5 for Cmin6)

Which brings up another idea, these patterns are all a triad with one added note, a useful concept.  Could be another post to come . . .

PDF here