The Power of the Drop-2 Voicing

Skill Building Guitar Course from Horace Bray

This course was designed to teach you how to master the art of the drop-2 voicings. Horace reviews all the different ways to play these voicings all over the neck, for major, minor, dominant, and half-diminished chords. Then we’ll work on how to use these new shapes in a few common (and not so common) chord progressions and wrap it all up with some fun licks and etudes that use these concepts!

30 Lessons

Complete course with step-by-step lessons and practice examples.

Multi-Camera

Course filmed with 6 cameras for the perfect angles.

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Full Course Breakdown

Fresh, creative chord voicings can be the difference between a good musical idea and a great musical idea. They can inspire not only different chord progressions, but also melodic ideas that can turn into songs or solos. Join Horace Bray as he helps you get more mileage out of your chords, draw out new colors, and overcome that stale feeling that may be accompanying your chord progressions!

1

Series Introduction

Horace Bray discusses his new series "The Power of Drop 2 Voicings." As an addition to his previous series on triads, this series is all about helping you add color and depth to your playing!

2:44 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

2

Major Drop 2 Shapes Part 1 - From the E String

In this lesson, Horace starts us out by explaining exactly what a drop 2 voicing is, and then proceeds to show us our first set of voicings: major shapes from the E string.

15:51 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

3

Major Drop 2 Shapes Part 2 - From the A String

Colors of the voices change slightly now, as we move to basing our major drop 2 shapes from the A string.

12:01 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

4

Major Drop 2 Shapes Part 3 - From the D String

Now Horace looks at the major drop 2 shapes on the high set of strings - from the D string. As in the first two lessons, we'll play the shapes up and down the neck.

12:00 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

5

Minor Drop 2 Shapes Part 1 - From the E String

As you might guess, the drop two voicing can be applied to minor chords also. In this lesson, Horace looks at the low string set for our minor drop 2 shapes.

12:52 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

6

Minor Drop 2 Shapes Part 2 - From the A String

Moving to the shapes based from the A string, or middle string set, we find more minor chords with character!

12:21 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

7

Minor Drop 2 Shapes Part 3 - From the D String

The high set of drop 2 minor shapes based from the D string evoke a certain type of rhythm guitar, and a wealth of options in your own playing!

12:20 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

8

Dominant Drop 2 Shapes Part 1 - From the E String

Dominant chords carry a certain amount of tension with them, and depending on the voicing, that tension can vary a bit. Horace starts us out with these drop 2 shapes based from the E string

12:14 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

9

Dominant Drop 2 Shapes Part 2 - From the A String

Now on to the middle set of dominant drop 2 shapes, based from the A string.

12:02 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

10

Dominant Drop 2 Shapes Part 3 - From the D String

In this lesson, Horace takes a look at the high string set of dominant drop 2 shapes.

12:06 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

11

Half Diminished Drop 2 Shapes Part 1 - From the E String

Learning the best way to use diminished chords can be tricky, but no doubt it starts with learning the shapes inside and out, all up and down the neck. Horace starts us out on the shapes based from the E string.

12:33 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

12

Half Diminished Drop 2 Shapes Part 2 - From the A String

Drop 2 shapes are usually out of the ordinary as far as what we are used to playing. The best way of learning these diminished shapes is to take them to the 'woodshed' and get them flawlessly under our fingers. Here, Horace gives us the baseline for practicing these shapes from the A string.

12:23 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

13

Half Diminished Drop 2 Shapes Part 3 - From the D String

Now we move the high set of drop 2 diminished shapes, starting from the D string.

12:02 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

14

Diatonic Movement - Root Position

In this lesson, Horace shows us how to play the scale diatonically using the root position drop 2 shapes.

16:54 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

15

Diatonic Movement - First Inversion

Here, we incorporate the variety and versatility of the drop 2 shapes by playing the diatonic chord scales using first inversion drop 2 shapes.

17:20 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

16

Diatonic Movement - Second Inversion

Using second inversion drop shapes, the diatonic chord scales becomes even more colored and diverse!

17:07 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

17

Ascending Motion, Descending Harmony

Voice leading allows us to not only keep our voicings close, but to also economize our motion around the neck and fretboard. Horace shows us a tricky but useful exercise where we voice lead our way by ascending our motion while descending our harmony.

12:23 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

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18

Descending Motion, Ascending Harmony

Now the opposite! We'll descend our motion across the neck, while ascending our harmony. Sort of a brain teaser, but will only help solidify our drop 2 voicings!

11:11 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

19

ii-V-I Progressions Part 1 - From the E String

The ii-V-I progression is a cornerstone of jazz, soul/R&B and many other genres. In this lesson, Horace shows us how to incorporate the drop 2 shapes we've learned so far into this classic progression, starting from shapes based from the E string.

19:57 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

20

ii-V-I Progressions Part 2 - From the A String

Now on to our ii-V-I drop 2 shapes based from the A string.

19:15 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

21

ii-V-I Progressions Part 3 - From the D String

In this lesson we'll look at the high set of strings and how to play our ii-V-I progression.

19:25 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

22

Tri-Tone Substitution Overview

What is a tri-tone substitution, why do I need it, and how do I use it? Answers to these and other burning questions can be found in this lesson!

21:58 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

23

Minor ii-bv-i Progressions Part 1 - From the E String

Yet another classic progression to practice our drop 2 shapes with. This lesson starts with the shapes based from the E string.

21:22 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

24

Minor ii-bv-i Progressions Part 2 - From the A String

Now Horace looks at the middle set of strings for this progression.

19:02 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

25

Minor ii-bv-i Progressions Part 3 - From the D String

Lastly, the progression is played on the high set of strings, offering even more colors to play with!

19:07 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

26

Neo Soul Drop 2 Licks

Now it's time to apply some of the things we've learned in the series to real life situations. In this lesson, Horace shows us some cool Neo Soul drop 2 licks.

19:28 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

27

Diminished Jazz Drop 2 Licks

Diminished drop 2 licks in Jazz can be the basis for great rhythm playing or even chord solos. Horace shows us some great usage for these in this lesson.

17:25 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

28

Rock Blues Drop 2 Lick

Although not as common, drop 2 licks can be used in rock and blues. Here Horace shows us a couple of examples of this.

13:48 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

29

Drop 2 Etude 1

Now for something a little more challenging. This short Etude can be used to expand your familiarity with drop 2 voicings, and see how they might be used in a song situation.

20:44 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

30

Drop 2 Etude 2

Lastly, one more Etude to challenge our knowledge and execution of the drop 2 voicings.

28:06 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

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  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Playing since 2005
  • 71 lessons at JamPlay
Born on December 24th , 1991 in Los Angeles, California, Horace Bray began playing drums at age 10 but later picked up guitar at age 14 when he was living in St. Louis, Missouri. His first guitar teacher was Corey Christiansen, who he studied with privately for a year. Bray cites Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck as his earliest guitar influences before discovering jazz through his lessons with Christiansen. “I was really into Grant Green and Wes Montgomery early on, then got deeply into Kurt Rosenwinkel in high school,” he recalls.

Born on December 24th , 1991 in Los Angeles, California, Horace Bray began playing drums at age 10 but later picked up guitar at age 14 when he was living in St. Louis, Missouri. His first guitar teacher was Corey Christiansen, who he studied with privately for a year. Bray cites Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck as his earliest guitar influences before discovering jazz through his lessons with Christiansen. “I was really into Grant Green and Wes Montgomery early on, then got deeply into Kurt Rosenwinkel in high school,” he recalls. Bray was involved in an after-school jazz program run by Jazz St. Louis and was a part of their top group taught by guitarist Rick Hayden. “I chose to leave Missouri for college because I needed a change in my life and a kick in the ass to push me to get better,” Bray says. In 2010, he enrolled at the University of North Texas, where he played with the UNT Jazz Singers, the Four O’Clock Lab Band, the Two O’Clock Lab Band and the One O’clock Lab Band (as the first undergrad guitarist in 15 years to hold the guitar chair in that prestigious group) before graduating in 2015. “My time at UNT was good and I met a lot of great musicians and people there,” says Bray. “Being around people like professors Ed Soph and Stefan Karlsson was really inspiring.”
Reviews & Feedback 100/100 with 30 ratings
evan.321

Horace Bray is excellent at explaining things and getting his point across.