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Chord Shapes
3, 4 and 5 String Guitar Chords
Cutting down the full barre chord shapes
This lesson is intended to accompany the barre/movable guitar chord
series, as we're going to be referring to those 5 main chord shapes, so do make sure you're familiar with them!
In the barre chord series, we learned the 5 full chord shapes and their variations. Think of these as our
foundation chord shapes. This lesson is about cutting them down
for quick fingering, which in turn allows you to really free up your
chord movements across the fretboard.
This lesson is also useful if you struggle to finger the more
awkward shapes (e.g. the full G shape barre chord). See, you don't
always have to use the full voicing. You can cut it down to a more
efficient size, which is an option you'll be glad you have when you
become more fluid and expressive with your chord movements.
OK, let's begin...
Cutting chord shapes down to 3, 4, 5 strings
Up to this point, we've been building chords from root notes on the E,
A and D strings. However, this was more just for visual
reference, as you don't need to include the low root note to identify
the chord.
Take the basic major E-shape for example:
One of the most common ways of cutting this down is as follows:
So we've cut out the low E string root note and the high E string (a higher root note), leaving us with a
4 string version of the chord. The chord is essentially the
same, but it's a tighter voicing. Rhythm guitarists often like to use
cut-down chords when punchier rhythms are needed (e.g. in funk!). It
just has a different sound... subtle, but different.
We could also cut down the full chord shape and chop off the bottom section,
giving us a higher voiced chord that descends from the higher D string
root note...
One of my "favourites" is the add6 chord shape using the top
part of the E-shape...
Here's another example of cutting a full E-shape chord down:
That's the full, 6 string maj7 fingering. We can cut it down to make the fingering more "economical" in the following way:
So, just like before, the full 6 string shape becomes a tighter 4 string
shell chord.
That particular cut down shape above requires you to block out the A
string, which you will naturally do with your index finger - just make
your index finger slightly touch it. That will mute the A string.
You've probably guessed we can also apply this technique to minor chords, so have a play around with cutting down the standard
minor barre shapes.
Notice how you can use different "portions" of the full shape
depending on whether you want a lower voicing, or a higher voicing. If
you want a higher voicing, you'd use the top portion of the shape (e.g.
the top 4 strings from the full shape).
And what about that awkward G-shape fingering? Cut it down!
That cut down 5 string major chord now starts on the 3rd interval,
rather than the low root note (more on note intervals in the chord
theory section).
You could even cut out the 3rd finger and start a 4 string chord on the
D string
(5th interval).
We know from the barre chord lessons that the G-shape overlaps with the A shape (represented by the
D, G and B strings in a vertical line. If we
really wanted to cut it down, we could just play those 3 notes, as they
make up the major triad. Ah, now we're into slightly more complex
theory...
| As
long as the main "ingredient" notes are included in the chord you're
playing, the cut-down chords will work fine. However, you shouldn't cut
chords down so much that they lose their "flavour". For example,
cutting down a 7th chord too much might leave out the 7th
altogether, and the chord would lose its character. If you really want
to understand chord tones, I recommend you take the chord theory lessons
here. |
So try the cut-down technique with different alterations of the full
chord shapes - for example with the
extended 7th, 6th and 9th chords. The same technique can be used to cut
the full shapes down to more accessible 3, 4 or 5 string shapes. Each
of the barre/movable chord lessons
(E, A, C, D and G) had a chord chart showing you the full shapes, so go
back through those lessons an experiment with cutting down the full
shapes:
I'm aware that the number of avenues these lessons open up can seem
overwhelming. As soon as you think you understand a topic, it branches
out into a whole new area of guitar theory! I myself struggle to
condense these lessons when there's so much to teach. Therefore, I want
to make it clear that there is no rush - you should take one step at a
time and don't move onto something else until you are 100% confident
with the current lesson you're on.
Enjoy experimenting with cut-down chord fingerings, but listen carefully to your creations!
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