Off Topic Building your chord vocabulary

[whitestrat]

I know we got some good instructors/teachers here. I'd like to find out, if I want to expand my chord vobaulary, how should I go about doing it? I seem to be stuck to majors, minors, 7ths, 5ths, Maj7s and Min7s. Latest I sumbled across is the add9 chord structure, but mainly for minors.

How can I get ouf of this rut?

 

[robelinda2]

Eric Johnson has some amazing chords in his tunes.

Mostly you have to know a little chord theory so you know what notes you can add, and the shapes are easy to come across.

 

[whitestrat]

Mostly you have to know a little chord theory so you know what notes you can add

and how do I go about gaining that?

 

[robelinda2]

get some theory books! Look up some online stuff, you dont know any theory?? Really?

 

[Astrofreq]

Before you start expanding your chord vocabulary, take ALL of the chord shapes/types you already know and pinpoint where in each chord the chord tones are: For instance: When you play an open G chord, do you know which notes are the Roots, the 3rds and the 5ths? Do that with every chord you know. The reason I say do this first is because it will only get more complicated if you don't work with what you already can play.



Then, move onto in intervals. All intervals convert to chord tones, so to speak.

Try picking a note on the low string (say, G) and learn where these notes are in relation to the Root (G)



interval size in half steps---name---Description

0---unison --- strongly consonant
1---minor second --- strongly dissonant
2---second --- less dissonant
3---minor third --- strongly consonant
4---major third --- strongly consonant
5---perfect fourth --- mildly dissonant
6---tritone --- dissonant
7---perfect fifth --- strongly consonant
8---minor sixth --- mildly dissonant
9---major sixth --- consonant
10---minor seventh --- mildly dissonant
11---major seventh --- dissonant
12---octave --- strongly consonant


Here are some basic chord formulas. Now remember that you can arrange these notes in any way and you will still have the same chord. Some of these will get more confusing because we haven't mentioned how 9th, 13ths, etc, even come about. If all the stuff so far makes sense, I can get into that.

Major I - III - V
Major 6 I - III - V - VI
Major 6 add 9 I - III - V - VI - IX
Major 7 I - III - V - VII
Major 9 I - III - V - VII - IX
Dominant 7 I - III - V - bVII
Dominant 7b10 I - III - V - bVII - bX
Dominant 7 aug 5 I - III - #V - bVII
Dominant 7 sus 4 I - IV - V - bVII
Dominant 9 I - III - V - bVII - IX
Dominant 9 sus 4 I - IV - V - bVII - IX
Dominant 11 I – III - V - bVII - IX - XI
Dominant 13 I – III - V - bVII - IX - XI - XIII
Augmented I – III - #V
Minor I – bIII - V
Minor 6 I – bIII - V – VI
Minor 7 I – bIII - V – bVII
Minor 7 Flat 5 I – bIII - bV – bVII
Diminished I – bIII – bV
Diminished 7 I – bIII - bV – VI
Suspended 4 I – IV – V
Suspended 2 I – II – V
Add 9 I – III - V – IX

 

[robelinda2]

 

[Astrofreq]

I seem to be stuck to majors, minors, 7ths, 5ths, Maj7s and Min7s.

Just as another note since these are the chords you know:

major has 1,3rd,5th from root
minor has 1, flat 3rd, 5th
7th has 1, 3rd, 5th, flat 7th
maj7 has 1, 3rd, 5th, major 7th
min 7 has 1, flat 3rd (or minor), 5th, flat 7

Good rules to know:

1. “min” (or “m”) always means to flat the 3rd
2. “maj” in the chord name means that the 7th is not flatted (i.e. maj7, maj9, etc)3. Dominant chords means the 7this flatted, (C7, C9, C11, C13, etc)
4. The 5th is natural unless you're told otherwise by the chord symbol


Shoot me a pm with your email and I'll email you a bunch of sheets I've made to give students. Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[paranoid70]

Reading stuff that rad posts just makes me feel incredibly lame. I just haven't taken the time to learn any theory, and it is unlikely I will do so in the near future. Eh one of these days maybe.

 

[wolfbone07]

Lately I've been working on m7b5 chords (enharmonically equivalent to m6 chords, so you'll see the same shapes if you go through the inversions). I've been using it to substitute for the vi chord (both the chord and the arpeggio) to great effect. Give it a try, especially if you like playing bluesy stuff.

 

[whitestrat]

get some theory books! Look up some online stuff, you dont know any theory?? Really?

I have VERY basic theory knowledge. Mainly scales. I learnt that when I was 12, and was in a concert band playing saxophone. Beyond that, I can barely read tabs. I trained myself to pick up stuff by ear, and nothing much else.

Thng is, do I need to go thru Music Rudimentary Theory before I move onto chords? or can I dive straight in and buy a "Chord Theory" book?

 

[whitestrat]

When you play an open G chord, do you know which notes are the Roots, the 3rds and the 5ths? Do that with every chord you know.

Thanks for that long and illustrative post! That's good info from there. I'm able to identify the notes slowly, but mainly I use the piano keyboard as a reference point. (I took piano for a while after the Saxophone). But I don't really know how to apply that to the guitar. I can identify notes slowly, but it's not at my fingertips. I have to pause and think.

1. “min” (or “m”) always means to flat the 3rd
2. “maj” in the chord name means that the 7th is not flatted (i.e. maj7, maj9, etc)3. Dominant chords means the 7this flatted, (C7, C9, C11, C13, etc)
4. The 5th is natural unless you're told otherwise by the chord symbol

AHA!!!!!!! That's what I'm talking about! That's the common chord theory I'm missing! Thanks for this! This is the kind of stuff I need to find an instructional book on.

 

[robelinda2]

Yeah just get a basic theory book, chord theory is all part of it the basics.

 

[whitestrat]

Yeah just get a basic theory book, chord theory is all part of it the basics.

oh God... Meaning I have to rehash all those things about notation and demi-semi quavers etc etc? Oh well... If I gotta do that, I gotta do that then...

 

[brownpants69]

The approach that worked for me when I was a teenager was Jazz! I hated jazz, but I hated a b*****d of a tutor who got me plaing standards and I was in 2 youth jazz groups. I ended up being able to get several inversions of every chord perfectly.

I gave upon the jazz when I thought I knew enough- as I wasn't really a fan. Until a couple of years ago, when I started looking at Freddie Green style big band guitar and gypsy jazz- there are so really big and aggressive sound inversions in that stuff.

Knowing all of these shapes (and indeed, the formulae etc) has eally opened up the fret board. From the chord shapes you can work out arpeggios, which makes lead playing more interesting and melodic.

You can also look at the caged system- but I find this more useful for scales and arpeggios than chords.

I try to teach all of these approches to my students- but I'm not as evil in my approach as my tutor!

What I don't tend to recommend is going out and buying a huge chord dictionary with thousands of shapes- it's like getting a dictionary to learn individual words for a foreign language- it doesn't work. Learn songs- lots of songs!

 

[nickowatson]

if you want to learn some new chords look up Robben Fords "Aint Got Nuthin But The Blus" and learn it. He uses great jazzy chord voicings in this one. You can pick up a DVD where he talks you through the theory of this song and others. From a technical side check out Tomo Fujitas' DVD "Accelerate Your Guitar Playing" its absolutely excellent.

 

[candid_x]

I've always struggled to grasp music theory concepts and just flat gave up on it. However, early on I was turned on to this book by Mickey Baker, and picked up lots of chords, which are hugely usable in all sorts of music, not just jazz. What I liked about his method was that he shows a number of replacement or alternative chords to the basics. One version may show a standard 1-4-5 progression, and then it will show a few alternatives, while never leaving the progression. So you could play those chords right along with basic barre chords, or just use them for accents or such.

This is the one I used, which a fine jazz player friend strongly recommended to me. Of course it's only vol one.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Mickey-Bakers-Complete-Course-Guitar/dp/0825652804/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b]Amazon.com: Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar: A Modern How-to-Play Jazz and Hot Guitar, Book 1 (9780825652806): Mickey Baker: Books[/ame]

 

[walleye]

I know we got some good instructors/teachers here. I'd like to find out, if I want to expand my chord vobaulary, how should I go about doing it? I seem to be stuck to majors, minors, 7ths, 5ths, Maj7s and Min7s. Latest I sumbled across is the add9 chord structure, but mainly for minors.

How can I get ouf of this rut?

case closed

the real book is a dictionary of jazz favourites, very simply written with the chord structure and melody. its fantastic for just flipping open a page, going through the chords, going through the melody (good practice if youre a tab-only kind of guy - its in standard musical notation)

it comes in 2 options, lyrics or no lyrics

aside from the book, a book way to build your chords if to pick a chord, any chord, write down the notes on a piece of paper. por ejemplo: D min 7, D F A C

then go up and down the neck, find every playable combination of DFAC you can find, and write them all down in tab or whatever. then the next day get the piece of paper and go through them all again. remember that its not essential to have the D as the lowest note, its still a D min 7 if you choose C to be the lowest note, its just called an inversion. my apologies if you knew this and are offended

then start to collaborate a folder full of chords all over the neck. youll start to get super creative with chord voicings and whatnot, provided that you have the capacity to dedicate yourself to it all.

good luck yo

~~~~~~~~~~
sorry i should add. for the chords that youre not familiar with
for example if you dont know how to structure a maj 6 chord etc. there are actually some good sites/books programs whatever that will help you to understand the theory behind building chords.

 

[SteveB]

I had 4 years of music theory and composition classes in high school, but I never really put in the time to apply most of it to the guitar. Decades later I happened to pick up some books by Wilbur Savidge and I learned things that I sort of already knew but never quite pieced together for myself!

I highly recommend all of this books: Everything About Guitar Chords, Everything About Guitar Scales, and Scales over Chords.

Here's a link to the chord book at Amazon:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Guitar-Chords-Wilbur-Savidge/dp/1884848001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252670300&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Everything About Guitar Chords (0752187702931): Wilbur M. Savidge: Books[/ame]

Rad, I'm going to email you for those sheets if you don't mind.. I learn something new from everyone.

 

[nobozos]

Get into a church band. I've been playing guitar with our church one Sunday a month for Youth Mass. Most of the music was written around piano, so there are some pretty odd chords and progressions. Most of the music I've been provided with has a Tab key that shows the finger positioning of the chords.

 

[Astrofreq]

No prob. Believe me, I don't know that much at all. My second teacher shows me a couple of cool chords when I was seventeen and I wanted to learn why they were called "9ths" and "major 7ths". He just gave me a few shapes and I figured out (very slowly) what it meant.

I still can't read notation at all and I always cringed at playing standards. It's only because Vernon Reid was using killer chords and ROCKING that made me interested.