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Guitar Chord Lesson
Don't Just Use Chord Charts!
When you first learn guitar, a typical guitar chord lesson would be to
teach you 5 open position chords followed by minors, 7ths and then
movable barre shapes. However, you can use these shapes in other ways,
not just as stationary chords.
It's all about experimenting - using your ears to pick out the right
sound for what you want to create. If you've been playing for some
time, you know how the familiar open position/barre chords sound by now
so you want to create something fresh. If you're a beginner, you'll get
a huge head start if you nail this stuff early on.
Here's a guitar chord lesson in how to really loosen up your creativity by using more than just a chord chart...
Guitar Chord Lesson 1 - Floating Shapes
Each chord creates a shape on the fretboard which can more often than
not be barred and moved up and down (a moveable shape). Some, however,
can be moved without adding that barre and sound good depending on what mood you're trying to create.
The good thing about those open position chords you learn as a beginner (the 5 shapes of E, A, C, D and G) is they all involve open strings, so you can float the strings you do fret around the neck in key with the open strings...
The example below is of a simple moving of the normal Am7 shape down at
frets 2 and 3. All I do is slide it up two frets and it creates a
subtle kind of tension that helps build a chord progression.
Through this guitar chord lesson, you can click on the tab diagram to hear it played...
Because it starts on the open Am7 chord, the root note of
A is grounded as you move the fretted strings around. As long as you
move around in key (use your ears to spot any unharmonious or "bum" notes), you'll have quite a lot of freedom.
Moving parts of the familiar chord shapes around the fretboard is a simple but great way to open up your songwriting and get new ideas.
Below is another example of a simple movement of a chord shape. This time it's the E major shape...
Again, click the tab diagram to hear it!
So instead of barring to create the full chords up the fretboard, we're leaving the top two strings open
which gives a distinctively different sound. It almost makes each chord
blend into the next because you're keeping those two top strings/notes
open and stationary through the progression.
That's the basis of this lesson, so let's look at more complex floating movements and see what sounds we can create...
Guitar Chord Lesson 2 - Embedded Harmonies
A harmony in music can be anything that relates to
melody, but an embedded harmony to me is something you hear, whether
it's amidst a chord progression or not, that creates a musical "phrase"
or pattern. When a song's referred to as "catchy" it often has this
embedded harmony thing (like Snow Patrol's Spitting Games with that
annoying "do-doooo do-doooo").
Listen below to how a harmony fits into a chord
progression (variation 1 tab) by using the floating technique in the
first example...
I could then use that initial harmony as a lead guitar line over the chord progression.
This is a very commonly used songwriting secret to give
a song real character and an identifiable "hook". Try one of your own
by picking out a harmony line in one of your chord progressions and
building on it using these floating techniques.
Remember, you can tune your strings differently
such as EADGAD instead of the usual EADGBE. This will create different
sounds and opportunities for floating.
You can also add notes to the chord shapes in your progressions to hear the difference they make. E.g...
See how this progression has been built up from that first
simple harmony phrasing? By not strictly using regular barre chords
(all the time anyway) we can create very unique sounds and moods. By floating
2, 3 or 4 strings up and down the fretboard, adding strings/notes and
moving strings/notes around in the shape you instantly open up your
songwriting potential.
Try the exercise below as another variation/addition to that initial harmony we've been building on...
Guitar Chord Lesson 3 - More complex Floating
The shapes and patterns we've looked at above are
relatively simple, but you don't just have to limit yourself to slides
and fixed shapes. You should also experiment with irregular chord
shapes up the fretboard.
All I tend to do is pick a shape at random and see
how it sounds! Once I find a nice sounding chord I move it around, swap
strings, change the shape etc. - just investigate the fretboard.
As always, click the tab to hear...
So there were 4 different chord shapes used in
that, but still not limiting your playing to regular soundin' barre
chords. You're floating around the fretboard creating new voicings for
what would be the same old barre chords.
That's the main point of this guitar chord lesson, to look for alternative fingerings and chord shapes...
This is how you find new sounds on your guitar -
for example, let a couple of strings ring out as open and see if they
work with your chord shapes. I know, I keep saying "see", listen with
your eyes? :S
More on floating in the guitar
chord lessons section.
Guitar Chord Lesson 4 - Mixing Barre and Open String
Of all my barre chord bashing, it's still often appropriate to use
them, after all, they might be the sound you want, and that's
great....!!!
What can work well is if you mix it up a little. Take a look and listen to the example below...
Those first two chords in that progression are barre chord
shapes (Cmaj7 and E7sus2). By the way, for reference, you can learn all
about barre chords here.
This is definately something to mess around with - mix barre chord
shapes with open shapes like the example above to get those unique,
interesting chord progressions.
I like it when I hear a song and I can't figure
out what chords are being played because it means the songwriter has
really tried to create their own personal interpretation.
Guitar Chord Lesson 5 - Hidden Harmonies
Finally, let's look at how to build on this harmony hook thing we
looked at earlier because I think this is really important in finding
your own voicing in your music.
You can play any sequence of chords and pick out a
particular harmony, single notes that weave through the progression to
create the voicing.
Before you listen and try the following example, I
want you to first hear the note harmony and keep it in your mind when
the chords start playing - THIS is what really knowing music is about,
hearing the nuances that make a song your song and building on them.
Example (click on the tab):
If you kept that harmony line in your head, you should have heard it in the chord progression afterwards.
All chord progressions carry many of these "hidden"
harmony lines and harmony lines carry many potential chord
progressions, you just have to weave together the one that sounds right
for you.
Guitar Chord Lesson 6 - Using Chord Modifications
Below are some modified chords to try out, if you haven't already of
course. In the same way the chords below have been modified (adding
just one note, the 9th), whenever you play a chord think about whether
adding, taking away or modifying particular notes/strings in that chord
shape make it sound more suitable for the mood you're trying to create.
E.g. in basic terms, an Em7 might sound better placed than a basic Em. It makes a big difference to the sound.
Click on the chord diagrams to hear.
Enjoy experimenting!
Modified C Chord (Cadd9) 
Modified D Chord (Dadd6)
Modified E Chord (Eadd6)
Modified G Chord (Gadd9)
Modified A Chord (Aadd9)
More on altering those familiar open chord shapes on this page.
I hope this quite different guitar chord lesson has been of some use! If it hasn't, this site definitely will be.
Bottom line - don't be afraid to mess around a bit with chords away
from the caged barre shapes. Once you've mastered this, not only will
you be able to create your own songs by the bucket load, you'll be able
to play your favourite band's stuff in new and inventive ways.
You can learn the bigger picture of constructing your own interesting
chords (and not relying so much on a chord chart) over in the theory section.
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