Jeff Brent's Rootless iim7b5-V7alt-im Jazz Chord Sequences
(iim7b5 - V7alt - im9 or im69)

This section on minor ii-V-i progressions is a continuation of my lesson here at WholeNote on Rootless Major ii-V-I Progression Fingerings.

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.

There are a great number of ways to scramble the four notes of each "Evans Chord", but only a certain percentage of them are even possible to finger on guitar.

Consequently, these are MY FAVORITE ROOTLESS VOICINGS FOR GUITAR for the V7b5#9, V7#5#9, V9#5, m9 and m69 chords displayed here in ii-V-i progression format.

(The iim7b5 chords are not rootless here. They are expressed as permutations of the m7b5 tetrad.)

On the following pages are found only the most comfortable positions and those that I found most pleasing to the ear. This is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of all possibilities, it is simply a compendium of those rootless guitar voicings which I have found to be the most useful in the real world.

Some of these positions at the bottom of the fretboard near the nut are a bit of a stretch, but you'll find that they are quite comfortable when transposed up the neck.

To avoid muddiness on piano, the lowest note in the voicing is rarely lower than an octave below middle C. This is also a good idea on the guitar.

While I voiced these grips close to the nut for notation convenience, any that have a bottom note an octave (or more) lower than middle C will sound more clearly when transposed higher up on the fretboard.

I would strongly suggest that you find some way to add a low bass root into the mix, in order to hear how these voicings sound in an ensemble situation.

Get your friendly neighborhood bass player to play each root for you, or put an organ sound on a synth and hold down the pedal while playing the low roots, or program Band-in-a-Box, whatever ...

This will "flesh out" the sound and you'll be able to hear just how lovely these voicings really are.

I hope you get some good use out of them!

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Table of Contents



page 2
iim7b5 - V7#5b9 - im9 or im69
(iim7b5 - bII9 - im9 or im69)



page 10
iim7b5 - V7#5#9 - im9 or im69
(iim7b5 - bII13 - im9 or im69)



page 16
iim7b5 - V9#5 - im9 or im69
(iim7b5 - bII9#5 - im9 or im69)



For a PRINTABLE PDF of all these minor rootless chord fingerings
formatted in Standard Music Notation and Guitar Tablature
CLICK HERE (4 pages).
Special thanks to Gerhard Ersdal for taking the time to put this notation/tab together.



To go to my WholeNote lesson (#12035) on the
Major ii - V - I Rootless Jazz Chord Sequences,
click here.



www.Guitar-Lessons-Riverside-CA.com
Jeff Brent 2009