Mike's Master Classes

Bailey's Boot Camp Basics - Part III

Sheryl Bailey·
5.0 (1 review)·BEGINNER·Chord Voicings·1 lesson
$7.95
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Master the essential voicings that define modern jazz guitar with Sheryl Bailey in this comprehensive exploration of drop 2 chord voicings and their applications. Building on the fundamentals from her previous Boot Camp sessions, Bailey reveals the professional techniques that shaped the sounds of Wes Montgomery and continue to distinguish today's working jazz guitarists. This systematic approach to drop 2 voicings breaks the fretboard into manageable sections, teaching you to navigate all three string sets—high, middle, and low—with confidence. You'll learn to transform basic ii-V-I progressions into sophisticated harmonic statements by adding extensions like 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths, while discovering how to use passing diminished chords to create seamless voice leading between inversions. Bailey demonstrates practical comping patterns that work in real performance situations, from supporting horn players to crafting compelling chord solos. Beyond the mechanics, you'll develop crucial skills for personalizing your sound through strategic use of tensions and alterations on dominant chords. The course emphasizes the bebop tradition while showing how these voicings remain relevant in contemporary jazz contexts. Bailey's methodical approach includes left-hand conditioning exercises and melodic chord studies that build both technique and musical understanding. Whether you're looking to enhance your comping vocabulary, develop chord-melody arrangements, or simply understand the harmonic foundations that professional jazz guitarists rely on, these drop 2 concepts provide the framework for years of musical exploration and growth.

Course Content

Lessons

  • Bailey's Boot Camp Basics - Part III4200

Reviews & Ratings

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George Cole
5/9/2013

This is a really good look into drop 2's and how to use them and from there starting down the road to learning chord tones and extensions. First how to develop your own voicing's from the basic drop 2's and then how they relate to songs. As a study really good for your ear and your knowledge of the fret board and harmony. Then as an added bonus Sheryl goes into diminished chord families and how to use them...very cool. Some really interesting and useful sounds. I've watched this class 7 or 8 times and I always come away inspired to go deeper into my chords. Thx

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About the instructor

Sheryl Bailey →
"A modernist burner with an abundance of Pat Martino-style chops, Bailey sails up and down the fretboard with fluid abandon." (Bill Milkowksi, JazzTimes Magazine) is rated among the foremost bopbased guitarists to have emerged in the 1990’s. Her classes are unique and full of material you will not find anywhere else. She is also in demand as an educator. Sheryl is The Assistant Chair of Guitar at the esteemed Berklee College of Music where she has taught since 2000, and has been a popular clinician at the National Guitar Summer workshop, The Stanford Jazz Workshop, The Duquesne Jazz Guitar Seminar, Uarts in Philadelphia, and at Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia.