POLYPHONIC TWINS - Volume 1 (3 Note Voicings) + backing track

POLYPHONIC TWINS - Volume 1 (3 Note Voicings)

In this chordal study I will be exploring a very fun way to look at harmony on the guitar from a geometrical and pattern oriented perspective. The basic concept behind this way of harmonic navigation is to find unique physical shapes (patterns) for certain voicings of your choice and then try to move the same finger pattern up and down the fretboard as well as reposition it on different string groups to find out the many different chord qualities that can share the same geometry (physical layout of your fingers) in all ranges of the instrument.

The most important thing to remember when you move these shapes around is that you are not transposing their intervallic skeleton but rather just moving around the shape itself. Obviously the same finger pattern would contain different intervals when moved across the different string groups of the guitar while its physical shape stays constant.

That is because of the difference in tuning between the 3rd and 2nd string which brakes away the constant interval of a 4th which exists between all other strings in their open tuning. This very same discrepancy is what makes it possible for us to take a voicing pattern for a minor chord and when we reposition it on different string groups and ranges of the fretboard to be able to produce all kinds of varying chord types with the same finger shape. Such voicings I call “Polyphonic Twins.”

Here I concentrate on showcasing how we can find multiple chord applications for each one of these twins over a ii-V7-I-VI7 chord progression but there are so many other possible options for the usage of these harmonic clones that I invite all of you to continue exploring the concept past this simple progression.

Materials Included:

"Polyphonic Twins Volume 1" chordal study (PDF file - TAB and Standard Notation).

"HD Video" of all examples and harmonic phrases.

Backing track.

For more info please e-mail: hristo@hristovitchev.com