Useful Voicings

Paul Bollenback teaches how to get maximum mileage from just a few chord shapes on the guitar — voicings that can each be "more than one thing" depending on the root. Using Victor Young's "Stella By Starlight", the major blues, and stock 2-5-1 and 3-6-2-5-1 progressions as vehicles, this class boils down years of Paul's harmonic exploration into a practical starting place.

What's covered

• Three-note voicings on the middle string sets, with string-set conversions for playing the same shape across the neck
• Shell voicings and rootless voicings that stay out of the bass player's way
• The tritone plus perfect fourth voicing reused as Dominant 13, Minor 6/9, Dominant 7#9, and minor 11 flat 5 — all depending on the root
• Moving that shape chromatically down a 3-6-2-5-1 turnaround, and voicings for tritone substitutions
• Four-note voicings primarily on the B, G, D, and A strings
• Practicing through the cycle of fourths, plus practice routine suggestions
• Applications in major and minor 2-5-1s, 3-6-2-5-1s, and the blues — for comping, chord melody, and chord soloing

A straightforward, no-nonsense study in doing a lot with a small amount of information, for intermediate-to-advanced players. Paul ends with the greatest words of wisdom: go practice! Running time: 90 minutes. 5 pages of written material in standard notation and TAB.