Glossary
Shell Chords
Glossary
A shell chord refers to a three-note voicing of a seventh chord, used in jazz to play clean voicings, for the purposes of rhythm accompaniment, or “comping.” The main note to leave out is the fifth, since the third and seventh reveal the most information about the chord’s quality.
Examples of shell chords include Maj 7 no 5, Dom 7 no 5, and min 7 no 5. Finally, we have dim 7 no 5 and min 6 no 5, which share identical voicings but have different formulas and hence different function. Specifically, diminished chords function as viiº chords (weak dominant), and minor sixth chords function as i chords (minor tonic).
See this YouTube video, The Best 5 Minutes You’ll Spend Learning Guitar, where Rotem Sivan and Paul Davids carefully explain and demonstrate these voicings and chord changes on guitar, even showing a wonderful arrangement of the jazz standard Summertime.
A shell chord refers to a three-note voicing of a seventh chord, used in jazz to play clean voicings, for the purposes of rhythm accompaniment, or “comping.” The main note to leave out is the fifth, since the third and seventh reveal the most information about the chord’s quality.
Examples of shell chords include Maj 7 no 5, Dom 7 no 5, and min 7 no 5. Finally, we have dim 7 no 5 and min 6 no 5, which share identical voicings but have different formulas and hence different function. Specifically, diminished chords function as viiº chords (weak dominant), and minor sixth chords function as i chords (minor tonic).
See this YouTube video, The Best 5 Minutes You’ll Spend Learning Guitar, where Rotem Sivan and Paul Davids carefully explain and demonstrate these voicings and chord changes on guitar, even showing a wonderful arrangement of the jazz standard Summertime.