Minor sixth shapesm6

It sounds bittersweet — minor underneath, major on top. The major sixth over a minor triad comes from the melodic minor, and it is the classic jazz minor tonic.

9 moveable shapes, 3 of them drop 2. None has an open string in it, so each one plays every root there is; the dots are degrees, and R is the root.

One shape, twelve chords

Pick a root and every diagram below moves to it. Nothing about any of the grips changes — only the fret they start on, and each one starts somewhere different because they are rooted on different strings.

Showing Cm6. Every voicing of it, open strings included, is on its own chord page.

Root on the low E string

The lowest root available, so these are the fullest-sounding shapes and the ones that carry a band. F at the first fret, G at the third, A at the fifth: the shape is the same and the fret is the whole of the difference.

8frR5R♭36R

8-10-10-8-10-8

6 notes · 3 frets

7frR6♭35R

8x7888

5 notes · 2 frets

Root on the A string

The other half of the pair. Almost every progression is played by alternating these with the low E shapes, because a root a fourth up the neck is a root two frets along the string below — the hand barely moves.

3frR5♭36

x35x45

4 notes · 3 frets

2frR56♭3

x3524x

4 notes · 4 frets

Root on the D string

No bass note under it, which is the point rather than a shortcoming: these sit above a bass player instead of competing with one, and they reach the extensions the lower shapes have no fingers left for.

10frR56♭3

x-x-10-12-10-11

4 notes · 3 frets

Inversions

The same chord with something other than the root underneath. You reach for one of these because of what the bass is doing, not because of what the chord is — a bass line that walks while the harmony stays put is made of these.

1st inversion

♭3 in the bass.

♭3 on the A string, root on the G string

5fr♭36R5

x6758x

4 notes · 4 frets

2nd inversion

5 in the bass.

5 on the D string, root on the G string

4fr5R♭36

xx5545

4 notes · 2 frets

Drop 2

Close position — R–3–5–7 and its rotations — puts four notes inside an octave, which will not fit under a hand on adjacent strings. Drop the second voice from the top down an octave and it does. That is the whole operation, and it is why these exist: four notes, four adjacent strings, no gap to reach over, and the grip slides.

The base voicing only, one per string set. The same drop applied to the chord's other close voicings gives more grips, but those are inversions of a drop 2 rather than of the chord, and that is a distinction worth more than it costs to explain.

strings 6–5–4–3
5–R–♭3–6

1fr5R♭36

3312xx

4 notes · 3 frets

strings 5–4–3–2
5–R–♭3–6

8fr5R♭36

x-10-10-8-10-x

4 notes · 3 frets

strings 4–3–2–1
5–R–♭3–6

4fr5R♭36

xx5545

4 notes · 2 frets

The other minor shapes

Every voicing of one particular m6 chord — including the open-string ones that do not move — is on that chord's own page, linked under each shape above. All the moveable shapes for every quality are on the shapes index, and the minor chords as a family are on their own page.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode