VARIATION1 3rd/7th ‘Magic’ Voicings

We begin with an exploration of what Danny Gatton refers to as the ‘magic’ 3rd and 7th voicings, literally defining each event in the sequence principally with these two notes alone. The intriguing connection is that the I7 connects to the IV7 by dropping just a semitone, with the b7th of I (F) moving to the 3rd of IV7 (E) and vice versa with the 3rd (B) connecting to b7th (Bb). The same movement is echoed upwards from I7 to V7, along with other sneaky IIm V movements such as the added Dm7 to G7 in bar 4. As we progress, these voicing take on additional interest as we add a third note into the mix, although the same connection applies. Don’t just gloss over this: see if you can learn it well enough to take a 12-bar solo using this concept!