Welcome back! Last month I talked about how songwriters and session musicians often use a sort of "musical shorthand" - special fingerings and chord progressions that create rich textures that enhance lyrics, fatten up live performances, and punch through multi-ple tracks on a record.

This month I'll address something I call the, "Super-Secret Songwriter or Nashville Drone Chords." To help understand the function of drone chords, first play a conven-tional I-IV-V-I progression in G (G-C-D-G) striking each chord just once, listening in par-ticular to the role of the notes on the high E string.

When you hear a chord, the ear is usually drawn to the highest pitch in the voicing. No-tice how the notes on the E string create a four-note melody pattern (G, E, F#, G). All of these notes are perfectly correct, that is, they are legit components of their respective chords- but when I add my vocal melody, there are now two conflicting melodies for the brain to process.

Now let's try the same progression with Nashville Drone Chords:

This chord combination has several advantages:

1. MELODY! MELODY! MELODY! - As mentioned above, the mutual notes and subtle coloring of these chords draw less attention to the chord changes and "frame" the mel-ody. Lyrics are easier to process in cleaner, simpler changes.
2. ERGONOMICS - Notice the shapes - the 3rd and 4th fingers stay down on the E and B strings on all four chords and 2nd and 3rd finger movements are minimal. These fin-gerings are very easy to play; less jumping around on the fingerboard brings smoother, faster changes.
3. DRONE - The top three notes of the drone chords (G, D and G) produce a twangy, modal sounding effect; the tighter voicings sustain, overlap and cut through more than the plain vanilla chords we're accustomed to. Playing the bass note (tonic) and upper 3 strings, omitting the midrange notes, provides more punch.
4. TENSION & RELEASE - a powerful musical tool. The slight dissonance of the C(add)9 [C with an added D] and Dsus4 [D with a suspended 4th- G] chords ratchets-up the tension, which is then resolved when the progression returns to the solid G chord. Another cool thing is the smooth, seamless transition between major and minor chords.

Try playing a standard G to Em change:

There's a definite, on-off feeling as you shift from the major to the minor chord. That might be perfect in many situations, but try it this way:

The notes of both chords are identical, but the inversion creates a very subtle shift be-tween the major/minor colors. Try singing a melody like the 1st few bars of Stephen Bishop's "On and On" both ways; with the drone chords, the lyrics are more defined by lines and phrases, rather than chopped up by the chord changes themselves.

Now, let's play the classic hymn, "Amazing Grace." Here's the traditional progression in 3/4 time:

Now let's try drone chord changes. Play the bass notes with your thumb on the "1" or first beat, and the treble strings on the "2" & "3" [2nd and 3rd beats] with down-brushstrokes with your fingernails.

The chords have more of a church-y, Appalachian sound. The Thumb-Brush-Brush stoke gives it a light, James Taylor feeling- particularly the moving bass lines (G/B on the 5th string, thumb over the 6th string for D/F#).

Mix and match drone chords, moving bass lines and thumb-brush strokes to play a boatload of your favorite classic rock, folk, and country songs. Better yet - use these al-tered chords to write a few of your own son!

To learn more about Denny, songwriting, guitar performance, and "LICK*TIONARY - The Songwriter's Guide to GREAT Guitar!" or to get 2 free chapters from his upcoming book, "20/20 Songsight - The Common Sense of Songwriting"
Please visit: www.dennysarokin.com
contact: info@licktionary.com

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