Little Chords and Scales

I was at a jam session at Guitar Solutions Saturday, and got in a conversation about chord shapes and voicings.  Specifically we were talking about a major chord with the third on the sixth string. For instance--if you put a barre at the seventh fret and then put what looks like an open “C” chord underneath it you would have a G major chord. The note on the sixth string would be a “b” which is the third of the chord. . The notes of the chord, low to high, would be b (3), g (R), b(3), d(5), g ( R), g (3).

While I occasionally play all six strings of this chord , I much more  frequently use the shape to develop triads on the 2,3 and 4 strings.

Like this--Key of G--Chords G (I)          C (IV)               D (V)
                                                          ------------------------------------------------
                                                          --8--------------8---------------------7-------
                                                          --7--------------9---------------------7-------
                                                           -9--------------10--------------------7-------
                                                           ------------------------------------------------
                                                            -----------------------------------------------
                               

This is an example of what I think of as “little chords”.  Little chords only have two, three, or occasionally four notes.  Sometimes They  don’t have a root.  Freddie Green often used little chords when playing with Count Basie.

These shapes lend themselves to lead and melodic applications.  There are a lot of licks available in the immediate vicinity using the G major diatonic,  G major pentatonic  and “D” mixolydian scales. The D Mixolydian  is especially cool because it is a great all purpose scale for jamming over jazz changes such as the IIm7, V7, and I.

Here are the fingerings for those three scales

G Major Diatonic            G Major Pentatonic (Starting on 5)      D Mixolydian

----------------------------------------------------7-----------------------------------------7-8--10----
------------------------7--8--------------8---10--------------------------------7--8--10----------------
-------------------7-9-------------7--9---------------------------------7--9-----------------------------
-------7--9--10-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--10-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Note that they all use the notes of the G major scale.  The main difference is the starting note.

Of course these chords and scales are all moveable and can be played in any key.