can somebody help me out with jazz chords?

[betweentheburie]

Hey, i just started looking at some jazz stuff cause im very interested in learning. Now I looked at these chords but im not sure if i am fingering them right. id hate to get a bad habit and do it completely wrong... could you help me out and maybe label which fret which finger would go..? these are the chords.. thanks alot.

|---------------------|
|---3-------9--------|
|---4-------8--------|
|---3-------10------|
|------------8-------|
|---3----------------|

and also, if you have time.. maybe you could steer me a good direction to start off with... some other stuff i could do maybe?
thanks.

[SillyCone]

Hello,

I don't know about jazz specifically, but these kinds of chords also exist in bossa nova (1 bass line + 3 strings for melody). Now there is no defined fingerings for those type of chords. You can use many different ones, depending on the previous and next chords in the music. Check out the general fingerings you can use for the whole music, and then study which fingerings you can use to minimize movement of fingers.

An example :

|-----------|
|--3-----3--|
|--3-----3--|
|--3-----4--|
|-----------|
|--3-----3--|


If you have the first chord isolated, you may want to play it with a barre. But if you have to play the second chord after the first one, it's better to use all 4 fingers because then the change from chord 1 to chord 2 will force you to move only 2 fingers.

But remember there is no perfect way for everybody, guitar playing is not a science :)
Depending on your finger configuration (thick, long, straight, etc) you may love a fingering that I'll be totally unable to do...
For me, it's a combination of easy finger placement and easy position shifting. For the moment, I'm also considering finger strength as I'm only playing a few month and still building muscles.

Cheers,
SillyCone.

[betweentheburie]

thank you very much for your help

[stratmanx]

This is how I would play it (although you'll have to decide for yourself what is easiest for you (or more convenient) :)):

First Chord

- for the 3rd fret use your first (index) finger
* OPTIONAL * you can fret the G on the E string with the thumb of your fretting hand instead of your index finger
- for the 4th fret use your middle finger

You could also play the chord by fretting the G on the E string with your index finger, the F on the D string with your middle finger, the B on the G string with your pinkie finger, and the D on the B string with your ring finger.

Second Chord

- for the eighth fret use your index finger
- for the ninth fret use your middle finger
- for the 10th fret use you ring finger

[mjo]

"Stratmanx" (hope I got that right) , outlined the way I was taught to play them.
The 1st chord (G7) is a "drop three" voicing (I think) , but I don't remember why it's called that. Anyone know that ?
The 2nd chord (F-7), ..........is that a "drop two" ??????
Anyway , if your interested in "jazz chord forms" those 2 voicings are a good place to start. Learn the inversions as well.
Was that any help ?

[betweentheburie]

hey.. yeah that did help.. thank you all.

im a fool though i mustve read that second chord wrong thats actually very easy the first one just gave me trouble but i got it now. thanks again

[DanF]

Drop 2 has to do with inversions of chords. You could say that for any chord you have the root form and then all of it's inversions (moving the various chord tones into the melody). To get a Drop 2 voicing you transpose the 2nd chord tone down an octave.

-Dan