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Building Chords - Part 2
Building Chords - from the Ground UpBuilding Chords Part 2 follows directly on from Building Chords Part 1. If you haven't gone through Part 1 then the contents, terms and concepts in Part 2 might not make much sense. Root + 3rd + 5th ChordsNow you've got the Root + 5th chords happening we are going to add the 3rd to each chord. Continuing on using the Root + 5th chords you learnt in Building Chords Part 1 adding the 3rd to each chords gives us the following: Root + 3rd + 5th chords built off each degree of the E Major Scale: Right Hand Technique Regardless of if you are using fingerstyle or hybrid picking technique; use your thumb on the 6th (low E) string, middle finger on the G (3rd string) and ring finger on the B (2nd string). Left Hand Technique As with the Root + 5th chords; play the chords using two different ways/fingers: 1. Use your index finger on the 6th string and middle finger on the 2nd string. Major Chord shape for the I chord: Fret the 1st fret of the 3rd string (G string) with your middle finger. The 6th string (Root note) and 2nd string (5th) you are playing the open strings (as per the Guitar Tab above). Remember: for ALL the chords we are playing on this page you are playing the Root note on the 6th (low E) string. The 3rd (Major or minor) on the 3rd string and the 5th on the 2nd string. Shifting PositionsI to the ii chord: When you move to the ii chord you want your middle finger to remain on the 3rd string as you shift position from the I chord to the ii chord. You want to do this because it stabilizes your hand making the shift more efficient. If you instead take your finger off the string and make the shift then you have to find the string again. Doing this on the guitar now then you should be able to see the benefit of keeping your finger on the string while you shift straight away. If you aren't doing this on guitar now then you need to pick up your guitar and try it otherwise you'll end up with a PhD in theoretical position shifting but you won't actually be able to do it. So you are moving your middle finger up 1 fret for the shift while you simultaneously fret the 6th string with your index finger and the 2nd string with your ring finger. This gives you a GREAT chord shape for a minor chord that uses the Root, minor 3rd and 5th notes of the chord only. Use this shape for the ii chord and the vi chord. ii to the iii chord: To shift from the ii chord to the iii chord you want to shift the position up 2 frets from the 2nd fret to the 4th fret. With this position shift you should keep your middle and ring fingers on the 3rd and 2nd strings when you make the shift but take your index finger (just) off the 6th string. If you keep your index finger on the 6th string you are going to hear it when you shift. i.e. even if your playing an electric guitar that isn't plugged in then you'll hear the scraping sound the 6th string makes as you shift up the string. Now go plug the electric into an amp, turn it up and put it on distortion and you'll REALLY hear the noise from the 6th string as you shift up the string. Same goes for an acoustic guitar - you'll hear it even if your acoustic isn't plugged in - but plug an acoustic into an amp or PA and it'll really start to stand out. Hot tip: Keeping your fingers on the 6th, 5th and 4th strings when shifting positions create noise. It might not seem like much of a big deal if you are just mucking around in your bedroom but if you ever go to record guitar, or even playing with others or live - everyone will hear noises coming from your guitar that get in the way of the notes sounding/music. Sometimes the noises are fine and you want them - what I'm really telling you is - you want to learn to have control over if the noises sound or not. If you don't think about things like this from the beginning then you might find you have to re-learn how to play later on, which is a lot harder to do if you haven't learnt how to control your playing. So each time you make a position shift with the chords in this lesson - keep in mind that you want to lift your index finger off the string as you change from one chord to the next. iii to the IV chord: (I'm going to contradict what I said in the hot tip above here - breaking rules is the way I roll). To move to the IV chord you need to switch your middle and ring fingers around so that your middle finger moves from the 4th fret on the 3rd string to the 5th fret on the 2nd string. And your ring finger is moving from the 4th fret on the 2nd string to the 6th fret on the 3rd string. So you kind of have a little acrobatic move happening between your middle and ring fingers. Now I'm going to contradict my hot tip above (as promised) - because you have to take your middle and ring fingers off the strings, you're going to find it easier to make the shift if you keep your index finger on the 6th string. You're only moving up 1 fret so it's not going to make as much noise on the string when you shift as it did if you kept your index finger on the string when you shifted from the 2nd to the 4th fret. Practice both ways of making the shift. Firstly with your index finger on the 6th string and as you start to get comfortable with making the shift from the iii to the IV chord, take your index finger off the 6th string as well. That's really the bottom line with the hot tip above. You want to be able to do make position shifts without keeping fingers on the 6th, 5th and 4th strings. It doesn't mean that you always will - but if you practice it your playing will be clean and you'll be in full control of your guitar. So it'll be a choice rather than a noise that you just don't want to hear. Especially if you are recording. IV to the V chord: This is a similar shift as we did from the ii to the iii chord. You are playing the exact same shape so just move it up 2 frets. Take your index finger off the 6th string and leave your middle and ring fingers on the 3rd and 2nd strings. V to the vi chord: Here you are going back to the chord shape you used for the ii and the iii minor chords. It's a 2 fret shift with your index finger moving from the 7th to the 9th fret. Again you want to be able to make the shift with and without having your index finger on the 6th string. vi to the vii chord: ok, I'm giving you my secret chord shape for the vii chord here. This chord shape to me is what the recipe of coke is to coca-cola and the 11 secret herbs and spices is to KFC. Instead of keeping it under lock and key I'm giving it to you for free, you don't even have to pay for shipping and handling (lower 48 only). Use the same concept for shifting from the vi to the vii chord as you did with the I to the ii chord. i.e. keep your middle finger on the 3rd string as you make the shift. Take your index finger off the 6th string (as per the hot tip) and your ring finger moves up 3 frets in a not-so-acrobatic move to the 12 fret of the 2nd string. This is a really nice way to play a vii chord. As I mentioned in Part 1, it's not a Root + 5th chord. We are playing the b6th (flat 6th) on the 2nd string. So the chord is the Root + minor 3rd + flat 6th. Not only is this shape a lot easier to play than if you played it using the b5th, but it sounds better and you can get better sounds out of this shape which we'll look at in Part 3 (when we start getting greedy and play extended and more advanced chords). vii to the I chord: Now you can complete the run of chords and play the I chord up 1 octave from where you started. To do this you make a little acrobatic move with your middle and ring fingers switching strings to play the Major shape that you used for the IV and V chords. 2. Use your middle finger on the 6th string and ring finger on the 2nd string. To do this you use the same concepts for the chords and shifting positions as you did with your index finger on the 6th string except you are using your middle finger on the 6th string for each Root note and your ring and little fingers on the 3rd and 2nd strings. It's not as comfortable to play the chords with your middle finger on the 6th string as it is with your index finger. The difference (reason why you'd bother to do it) is that it frees up your index finger to be available to the frets before the fret that the Root note is on. As opposed to when you play the chords with the Root note on the 6th string you have a spare finger(s) to play frets that are above the fret that the Root note is on. The above (like everything on this page) may seem really pedantic and there is a reason for that - because it is! The point of it all is this: you can add 1 note to a chord making it go from being a basic Major or minor chord to an extended chord that sounds out of this world. This is a huge part of what made Jimi Hendrix's guitar playing so unique and so beautiful. Specifically with his use of chords. Play Play Play Play PlayCool - do you realize what you can now do? You are now able to play Major and minor chords off each and every degree of the E Major scale. Being able to do this not only allows you to use chords to play along with EVERY SONG EVERY WRITTEN, but it also gives you the foundation for being able to start playing (and pretty much creating) extended chords. Learn how to play the above chords cleaning going up and down the scale. Then start mixing it up and create your own chord progressions. Example Progressions: Make up some chord progressions using on the I, IV and V Major chords. Make up some progressions using the I, IV, VI and one of the minor chords (the ii, iii or vi chords). More chord progressions: I, IV, V, IV I, ii, IV, V I, vi, V, vii I, ii, iii, ii I, IV, iii, V Guess what? Do you see what you can do with this information/knowledge? You can REALLY start to explore chords, chord movement, chord progressions and start to make up your own songs. That's enough for this lesson. This isn't information you want to brush over. Unless of course your aim is to suck at playing guitar. Master the patterns, positions and music theory in Part 1 and Part 2 because in Part 3 you are going to start playing around with extended chords and get into some really advanced playing. Jam on! Guitar Lessons - Home Page
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