Giant Steps is one of the most harmonically demanding tunes in the jazz repertoire, which makes it an ideal workout for shell voicings. Navigating its rapid key changes through shells forces you to internalise the third and seventh on every chord, building a fretboard fluency that transfers directly to simpler tunes.
What you’ll get out of this lesson
A structured layered approach to applying shell voicings to a seven-bar excerpt from Giant Steps, working from single roots up to rootless shell voicings and beyond.
The Chord Sequence
Here is the seven-bar excerpt to work with:
[ Bmaj7 | Fmin7 Bb7 | EbMaj7 | Amin7 D7 | Gmaj7 | C#Min7 F#7 | BMaj7 ]
The Layered Approach
Set up a metronome and work through the following layers in sequence. Each layer adds a small amount of information, so take as much time as you need on each one before moving to the next:
- Root on the 6th String
- Root on the 5th String
- Root on 6th string plus 7th
- Root on 5th string plus 7
- Root on 6th string plus 3rd
- Root on 5th string plus 3rd
- Root on 6th string plus 3rd and 7th
- Root on 5th string plus 3rd + 7th
- Root on 6th string plus 3rd and 7th without Root
- Root on 5th string plus 3rd + 7th Without Root
- Playing any 3rd + 7th voicing and transition to the next nearest one
Why So Many Layers?
These layers might seem excessive at first glance, but each one internalises a different piece of knowledge: where the root sits, where the third sits in relation to it, where the seventh sits, and finally how to navigate between voicings without jumping unnecessarily around the neck. Work through them patiently and you will find your knowledge of the fretboard and your ear’s knowledge of the sounds deepens significantly.
Taking it further
Once you can move through all eleven layers on this excerpt, apply the same process to other tunes you know. ii-V-I progressions in all twelve keys are the natural next step after Giant Steps, as the harmonic movement is more predictable and gives the shell voicings room to breathe.
Your homework
This week, work through the first four layers of this exercise at a slow, comfortable metronome tempo. Aim to be able to move through the full seven-bar sequence on each layer without hesitation before you add the next layer. Quality over quantity at every step.