Open for Business
BY ANDY ELLIS
A veteran guitar journalist and senior
editor at PG, Andy is based in Nashville,
where he backs singer-songwriters on the
baritone guitar. He also hosts The Guitar
Show, a weekly on-air and online broad-
cast. For the schedule and links to audio
streams and archived audio interviews with
inspiring players, visit theguitarshow.com.
We’re in the process of exploring ways to make triads sound bigger than typical
three-note voicings. The trick, as we’ve learned,
is to turn close-voiced triads into open-voiced
forms. This simple technique converts a triad
that occupies a single octave (close-voiced)
to one that spans more than an octave
(open-voiced).
In the first installment of our series
(“Hybrid-Picking Pals,” January 2011 PG),
we expanded a root–3rd–5th triad by drop-
ping its middle note by an octave. Then we
saw what happens when we raised that mid-
dle note an octave (“Going Up?,” February
2011 PG). In both lessons, we generated a
fistful of major and minor forms that sound
bigger—and arguably more intriguing—than
standard-issue triads. If you missed either of
these lessons or want to refresh yourself on
the two voicing techniques, check them out
online at premierguitar.com.
;
D
Fig. 1
;;
5
4
2
5
4
3
Dm
G
Gm
5
3
2
5
4
3
5
4
3
5
3
3
5
3
3
Fig. 2
D
3fr
D‹
G
3fr
G‹
D
G
3fr
3fr
4fr
4fr
321
311
321
311
2 14
2 14
Fig. 3
;;
D
;;;
G
C
;;;
G
D
;;;
G
C
Gsus4
let ring
;;
;
;
;
7
5
7
8
5
9
7
5
7
7
5
7
7
5
7
7
5
7
5
4
7
7
5
7
7
5
7
3
2
5
3
2
5
;
;
;
45
5
3
Dadd9
A6
Emaj7
; ;
Fig. 4
;;
let ring
;
;
;
; let ring
; let ring
7
9
9
4
7
6
;
;
;
6
898
5
9
7
7
Fig. 5
;;
Em11
Asus2
Gadd2
D
;
;
;;
let ring
let ring
let ring
;
;2
3
; let ring
5
7
;
5
5
5
3
4
6
7
;
5
5
4
4
;
;
