Friday, May 4, 2018

COTD 13: E♭7♭5 again (more of the Joe Pass ii-V-I)

Joe Pass recommended that you learn everything you know in all 12 keys. So I'll give the ii-V-I progression I've named for him in a few more forms, which you can move around the neck all you need in order to follow his advice. These will be named according to the "drop" form and inversion of that final major seventh chord. We already did the drop-3 root form, #2 on the list below. I've grouped them two at a time so that the highest note will be consistent within each pairing, and you can switch between drop-2 and drop-3 voicings while preserving the voice-leading in the top voice.

I hope Virgie likes the spooky colors!

Inversion
Drop form
ii (B-11)
V (E75)
I (A♭Δ7)
1st
2
X4634X
X4524X
X3514X
Root
3
6X664X
5X564X
4X554X
2nd
2
X6869X
X6768X
X6658X
1st
3
9X889X
9X788X
8X688X
3rd
2
X(10)(12)(9)(11)X
X(10)(11)(8)(10)X
X(10)(10)(8)(9)X
2nd
3
(11)X(11)(13)(11)X
(11)X(11)(12)(10)X
(11)X(10)(12)(9)X
Root
2
X(13)(13)(13)(14)X
X(12)(13)(12)(14)X
X(11)(13)(12)(13)X
3rd
3
(16)X(13)(15)(14)X
(15)X(13)(14)(14)X
(15)X(13)(13)(13)X

Note that you're only seeing four distinct fingerings for the V chord, E♭7♭5. Like the rootless 13#9 chord, the dominant 7♭5 chord type, with the root, has tritone symmetry. So if you take one voicing and slide it up 6 frets, you get the same notes in a different order. The diminished 7th chord is the only other four-note chord with this property, but it is perfectly symmetric and repeats every three frets.

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