Hey Friend,
Last week, we talked about the chromatic scale - just one of the many useful patterns you can learn to incorporate into your playing.
We looked at using a chromatic riff in a guitar solo to help “spice” it up a bit and give it movement.
Did you know you can do the same thing with chord progression? I’ll bet you did - but you may not have realized it!
This type of progression is called a minor drop, and it’s used all the time in Rock, Pop and Jazz music. I’m going to point you to yet another Guitar World article that explains it quite well.
I really like this technique because it’s an interesting way to create movement in the song. Because you’re staring with a minor chord, there’s already a bit of melancholy.
The minor drop allows you to lead the listener to a resolution in the phrase without necessarily changing the general mood.
They're not difficult to play. The Cliff Notes version: start with a minor chord and drop the root note a half step for each chord change, keeping the three and five notes from the chord the same.
The only potential difficulty is reconfiguring your fingers on the frets.
For example, if you were to start with an A minor chord, the notes are A, C and E. Dropping the root note for each successive chord gives you: - Am(maj7) - A, G#, C, E
- Am7 - A, G, C, E
- Am6 - A, F#, C, E (you can also use a D7 chord in this instance, which might be a little easier to play)
Take a look at some songs that use this technique successfully.
- “Michelle” by the Beatles
- “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin
- “Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce
- and a lot more...
See, I told you you already knew about this!
Damn, it’s that time again… I’m running late for the j.o.b.
Over the weekend, I’ll put together a couple exercises for you so you can try your hand at playing the minor drop.
Hope you have a great FRIDAY!
Peace~
Dave
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