Drop 2 chords are very used and appreciated by guitarists of all styles, they are formed by dropping the second highest note of a four-note chord in close position down an octave.
This guitar theory lesson with diagrams and charts explains how drop 2 chords are built and how to play them.
Voicing is the practice of regarding the individual notes of a chord as voices. There are several voicing techniques that can be used to rearrange the notes of a chord as drop 2-4 or drop 3 voicings.
How Drop 2 Chords Are Built?
Drop 2 chords are basically made by dropping the second voice down to the bottom of the chord. They are used more frequently than close voiced chords because they are less stretchy and hard to play.
For example, a C major 7 chord is made up of C E G B. To make a drop 2 chord, just take G, that is the second highest note, and drop it to the bottom. So the voicing would be G C E B.
Drop 2 Major 7 Chords
Now that we have dropped the 2nd voice of the closed voicing we get four drop 2 major seventh chord. The formulas are :
R 5 7 3
3 7 R 5
5 R 3 7
7 3 5 R
Here are twelve Drop 2 major 7 chord positions on the guitar neck. You can see the root position (R 5 7 3) in black, the first inversion (3 7 R 5) in blue, the second inversion (5 R 3 7) in pink and the third inversion (7 3 5 R) in green.
The chords in the first guitar diagram have the bass note on the sixth string. In the second diagram the bass notes are on the fifth string and in the third diagram they are on the fourth string.
Drop 2 Minor 7 Chords
The following guitar diagrams show how drop 2 minor seventh chord look like on the guitar freatboard. The interval structure is :
R 5 b7 b3
b3 b7 R 5
5 R b3 b7
b7 b3 5 R
Drop 2 Dominant 7th Chords
Drop 2 Dominant seventh chord formulas are :
R 5 b7 3
3 b7 R 5
5 R 3 b7
b7 3 5 R
Here are 12 drop 2 dominant chord guitar shapes.
Drop 2 Half-Diminished Chords
Drop 2 m7b5 (half-diminished) chords have the following interval structure :
R b5 b7 3
3 b7 R b5
b5 R 3 b7
b7 3 b5 R
Drop 2 Diminished 7th Chords
The interval formulas for Drop 2 diminished seventh chords are :
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