Off Topic Building your chord vocabulary

[homerj742]

There's another book called "Music Theory for Guitarists" published by Hal Leonard. It seemed pretty helpful for me: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/063406651X/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p14_t2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0JBD2YC2D4FC6N44G88H&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846]Amazon.com: Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method) (9780634066511): Tom Kolb: Books[/ame]

I'm actually starting to look up some of these other recommendations!

 

[whitestrat]

Get into a church band. I've been playing guitar with our church one Sunday a month for Youth Mass.

Ah... that brings back fond memories...

I used to play in a church band where my pianist was a fantastic fellow-musician. She was able to play songs completely by ear, no matter how complex, and jazz them up whenever necessary. She had great feel, and she could definately fill a room with her sound. I used to spend so much of the church sessions just playing improvised instrumentals with her ala JP/JR style. Her hubby was one of the church leaders, and her son picked up the guitar too.

She succumbed to Cancer sometime back and I never went back to playing there. It just wasn't the same without her...

RIP Lois... Know that wherever you are up there, you're sorely missed.

 

[Gerones]

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

Good explanation........................