Shell Voicings are shortened four-note chords. If you are not certain what a four note chord is or how basic guitar chords look like you can update your knowledge in the Introduction to Bossa Nova chords.
To create a Shell Voicing, a note is removed from the four note chord. This results in fairly easy chord types that are ideal for accompanying Jazz and Bossa Nova songs. Watch me play along with Tom Jobims One Note Samba:
Shell Voicings How are they Constructed?
As you can see in the notation below, the construction of a shell voicing for guitar is quite simple. We take a basic four note chord that consists of Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th.
The fifth is removed from the four note chord as it is not relevant to the quality of the basic seventh chords (Major7, Dominant7 and Minor7). The fingering is then adapted to be useful all around the neck.
The Six Common Shell Voicings
Familiarize yourself with the six most common Shell Voicings. The fingerings indicated next to the chord diagrams are only a suggestion and may not always be the best solution.
Root Note on the E-String
Root Note on the A-String
Shell Voicings How To Practice?
Here are some common exercises to familiarize yourself with these chords and to train your muscle memory:
1. The Chord Scale Exercise
Play the chords as if they were a scale, up and down the neck. Here is the C-Major Scale in Shell Voicings with the Root Note on the A-String:
2. The Turnaround
A very common chord progression in Jazz and Bossa Nova songs is The Turnaround (or the I-VI-II-V).
In C-Major this chord progression is: C (I) – Am (VI) – Dm (II) – G (V). Here is how it looks with Shell Voicings:
You may have noticed that the Am7 chord is substituted with an A7 chord in the above example. This is common practice in jazz music. You will find this example as well as the basic exercises and more variations in the PDF linked below.
Shell VOICINGS How To uSE?
You can apply these voicings to any common Bossa Nova song or Jazz standard. They work best with more traditional style songs though, as their strength lies in outlining the basic voice leading.
I have created several examples to give yo an idea on how to work with these chords:
1. One Note Samba
“One Note Samba” by Tom Jobim is often times played at a faster tempo. The simple Shell Voicings are ideal to outline the chromatic voice leading and still keep up with the tempo. Also, little details like the AbMaj7 in bar 3-4 are easily integrated. You will find the whole song in the PDF at the end of the page.
2. Água De Beber
Here is another Bossa Nova classic with Shell Voicings. The Verse consists of two common chord progressions: in the first line is an II7-V7-Im cadence in A-Minor. In the second line you have another II-V-cadence, this time resolving to the parallel key of C-Major. The Shell Voicings fit perfectly!
3. Summertime
If you want to play George Gershwins “Summertime” in the style of the famous Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recording, you will find Shell Voicings very useful:
