Rayzcane
5th July 2006, 9.07 pm
This subject sounds like something you read on the many "pay-per-view" guitar lessons sites. PLAY LIKE A PRO IN 30 DAYS!!! Well, I can't promise you that, but if you will learn only 5 basic shapes you can learn hundreds of chords. Since touch-style playing is a "closed-system", all of the chord arpeggios shown in the attached diagram are moveable all over the fretboard. The term closed-system means that we do not play any open strings.
Each of the 5 chord shapes in the diagram has the root of the chord on the bottom. You may be asking, how can we learn to play hundreds of chords with only 5 basic (but similar) shapes?
Refer to the diagrams in the Thread/Subject: G Major Scale. The second diagram shows how a G Major Chord and a C Major Chord can be played in 4 different places on the fretboard. Each of the 4 different places to play a G Major Chord use the same IDENTICAL fingering. You certainly don't have that great advantage in standard tuning. Remember, we are tuned to parallel 4ths. The notes for the tuning are shown at the top of each diagram.
We only have a total of 5 chord arpeggio shapes to learn today. Hey, take a few days if you like. So, if we have 5 moveable shapes times 4 positions per shape, that equals 20 chords. And, since each of the shapes/patterns is moveable either up or down the fretboard we can play each of these shapes in all 12 keys. Therefore, 12 keys times 20 chords = 240 chords. For instance, if we move the G Major 2 frets higher, we have an A Major Chord. If we move the G Major 2 frets lower, we have an F Major Chord.
We can get much more mileage out of these shapes. Notice that the G Major Chord has its' root on the 6th string. If we move this entire shape over one string to the right, we have a C Major Chord. The C Major Chord has its' root on the 5th string. If we move this entire shape over one more string to the right, we have an F Major Chord. The F Major Chord has its' root on the 4th string. We can move this entire shape over one more string to get a Bb Chord! This is a large part of the MAGIC of parallel 4ths tuning. We can take one simple chord shape and play it all over the fretboard in every key.
These 5 chord shapes are constructed by "altering" one or more notes of the basic G Major Chord. All major chords are comprised of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale. Here are the notes of the G Major Scale: G A B C D E F#. The first tone is G, the third tone is B, and the fifth tone is D. In each of the diagrams the red root is the first tone. The third and fifth tones are green. If you take this basic shape and plunk it down on any string, at any fret, the red root note will denote which major chord you are playing.
Any Major 7th Chord is: Root - 3 - 5 - 7.
Any Minor Chord is: Root - b3 - 5. In the diagram, the flatted third (b3) is blue. The clear white circle shows an alternate location to play the b3. For the minor chord use either the blue b3 or the alternate b3 (white circle). Play either one, but not both of them.
Any Minor 7th Chord is: Root - b3 - 5 - b7. Again, an alternate is shown for the flatted 3rd.
Any Dominant 7th Chord is: Root - 3 - 5 - b7
There you have it folks. There is a ton of useful information in this short post. For much more information on chord arpeggios, refer to Touch-Style Bassics (free) and Touch-Style Rhythm. Both of these books are available from www.megatar.com.
These books teach a different way to learn the chord arpeggios. They use a concept called "Folded Chords" which teaches the student how to play all of the chords in a particular key in a very small area on the fretboard. I am currently studying this system with the help of these two books. I guess I'll head out to the woodshed now..... Hope to see you all there.
Ray Langley
Each of the 5 chord shapes in the diagram has the root of the chord on the bottom. You may be asking, how can we learn to play hundreds of chords with only 5 basic (but similar) shapes?
Refer to the diagrams in the Thread/Subject: G Major Scale. The second diagram shows how a G Major Chord and a C Major Chord can be played in 4 different places on the fretboard. Each of the 4 different places to play a G Major Chord use the same IDENTICAL fingering. You certainly don't have that great advantage in standard tuning. Remember, we are tuned to parallel 4ths. The notes for the tuning are shown at the top of each diagram.
We only have a total of 5 chord arpeggio shapes to learn today. Hey, take a few days if you like. So, if we have 5 moveable shapes times 4 positions per shape, that equals 20 chords. And, since each of the shapes/patterns is moveable either up or down the fretboard we can play each of these shapes in all 12 keys. Therefore, 12 keys times 20 chords = 240 chords. For instance, if we move the G Major 2 frets higher, we have an A Major Chord. If we move the G Major 2 frets lower, we have an F Major Chord.
We can get much more mileage out of these shapes. Notice that the G Major Chord has its' root on the 6th string. If we move this entire shape over one string to the right, we have a C Major Chord. The C Major Chord has its' root on the 5th string. If we move this entire shape over one more string to the right, we have an F Major Chord. The F Major Chord has its' root on the 4th string. We can move this entire shape over one more string to get a Bb Chord! This is a large part of the MAGIC of parallel 4ths tuning. We can take one simple chord shape and play it all over the fretboard in every key.
These 5 chord shapes are constructed by "altering" one or more notes of the basic G Major Chord. All major chords are comprised of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale. Here are the notes of the G Major Scale: G A B C D E F#. The first tone is G, the third tone is B, and the fifth tone is D. In each of the diagrams the red root is the first tone. The third and fifth tones are green. If you take this basic shape and plunk it down on any string, at any fret, the red root note will denote which major chord you are playing.
Any Major 7th Chord is: Root - 3 - 5 - 7.
Any Minor Chord is: Root - b3 - 5. In the diagram, the flatted third (b3) is blue. The clear white circle shows an alternate location to play the b3. For the minor chord use either the blue b3 or the alternate b3 (white circle). Play either one, but not both of them.
Any Minor 7th Chord is: Root - b3 - 5 - b7. Again, an alternate is shown for the flatted 3rd.
Any Dominant 7th Chord is: Root - 3 - 5 - b7
There you have it folks. There is a ton of useful information in this short post. For much more information on chord arpeggios, refer to Touch-Style Bassics (free) and Touch-Style Rhythm. Both of these books are available from www.megatar.com.
These books teach a different way to learn the chord arpeggios. They use a concept called "Folded Chords" which teaches the student how to play all of the chords in a particular key in a very small area on the fretboard. I am currently studying this system with the help of these two books. I guess I'll head out to the woodshed now..... Hope to see you all there.
Ray Langley