Drop 2&3 Chords Chart
Hi. This is Hub Guitar.
We're going to take a look at some drop 2&3 chords. These are chords that began as closed-position chord, and then the second and third notes from the top were dropped by an octave.
Take note that this pattern spans 5 strings, so it can be played either with the bass note on the 6th string, or with the bass note on the 5th strings
Here's the root position chord:
Here's the first inversion of chord:
Now for the second inversion, I'm going to go down to the open position.
And for the third inversion, I'm going to move up a little bit to get B in the bass.
So practice these voicings on both string sets: 6542 and 5431. Notice that if I take any of these chords and put them on the fifth string, the shape is exactly the same. That's because the top note had already passed over the B string boundary in the first voicing, so no adjustment is needed to play it on the 5th string.
Once you've done that, you can convert them to dominant 7, minor 7 and minor7b5 versions.
Drop2&3 are simply a combination of Drop 2 and Drop 3 chords. They are a closed structure (1357) where the third note from the top, as well as the second note are both lowered an octave, resulting in 3517.
These chords can be played on strings 654x2x as well as strings x543x1. They are most commonly played with the root on the 6th string, so that’s how they are presented here.
The Chord Configuration
Note that this is the same configuration, no matter what string set is used and no matter what chord type (major7, minor7, dominant7, min7b5, dimished7...)
| Strings | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Root Position | R | 3 | 7 | x | 5 | x |
| 1st Inv | 3 | 5 | R | x | 7 | x |
| 2nd Inv | 5 | 7 | 3 | x | R | x |
| 3rd Inv | 7 | R | 5 | x | 3 | x |
Root Position Drop2&3 Chord
First Inversion Drop2&3 Chord
Second Inversion Drop2&3 Chord
Third Inversion Drop2&3 Chord
Key Tasks
- Memorize all inversions of the drop 2&3 structure.
- Convert the root position chord to dominant 7th, minor 7th and minor 7♭5 forms.
- Practice all inversions with all chord forms.
As the creator of Hub Guitar, Grey has compiled hundreds of guitar lessons, written several books, and filmed hundreds of video lessons. He teaches private lessons in his Boston studio, as well as via video chat through TakeLessons.