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Guitar Chords Ain’t Sexy But The Results Rock, The Mighty Minor Chord

By Mike Hayes | January 3, 2010

The first type of chords most guitar players learn are major
chords and almost always these chords are played in the open
position, for many guitarists their knowledge of chords and the
fingerboard remains limited to these initial chord shapes.

What if there was an easy way to learn and remember all types of
chords over the entire fingerboard? The good news is there are
many ways to approach learning chords on the guitar; here is just
one of the ways to learn minor chords.

Learning minor chords:

Step 1. learn how to spell the chord

Step 2. divide the six strings of the guitar into various
combinations (string sets or grids) that contain the three notes
of the chord

Step 3. identify the keynote in each new shape you have created

The neat thing about learning to play chords this way is you
understand exactly how harmony works on the guitar fingerboard,
and as you know when you work something out yourself you remember
it, you own it!

Here’s how we would apply these three steps to the C minor chord.

Step 1. The spelling of the C minor chord: C-Eb-G

We arrived at this answer by applying the minor chord formula of
1-b3-5 to the C major scale.

C major scale = C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

minor chords formula 1-b3-5

To arrive at C-Eb-G = C minor

Step 2. create string grids

String grids are combinations of strings e.g., string grid one
would be strings 1,2 & 3; string grid two would be strings 2, 3 &
4 etc., here is a list of the common string grids used for minor
triads.

grid 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3

grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4

grid 3 = strings 3, 4 & 5

grid 4 = strings 4, 5 & 6

Since the minor chord consists of three notes and each of our
grids has three strings it stands to reason that there would be
three ways of playing the C minor chord on each string grid.
That’s twelve new ways to play the chord instantly.

Here is how it looks on the guitar:

String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 1)

Cm

—3——
—4——
–[5]—–
———-
———-
———-

Keynote or root note indicated [ ].

String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 2)

Cm

–[8]—-
—8—–
—8—–
———
———
———

Notice how the keynote has moved to the first string for this
shape.

String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 3)

Cm

—11—–
–[13]—-
—12—–
———-
———-
———-

Now the keynote has moved to string two!

The same C minor chord transferred to the second string grid
would convert to the following shapes.

String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 1)

Cm

———-
—4——
–[5]—–
—5——
———-
———-

String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 2)

Cm

——–
—8—-
—8—-
-[10]—
——–
——–

String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 3)

Cm

———-
–[13]—-
—12—–
—13—–
———-
———-

Depending on the style of guitar you are playing some of the
chord shapes played high on the fingerboard may be difficult to
play; an easy way to overcome difficult chord shapes while still
playing the correct chord on a specific string grid is to drop
the chord down one octave by subtracting the number twelve from
the problem shape.

The same shape as the last chord we played in string grid 2 only
dropped down one octave would be played like this …

String grid 2 = 2, 3 & 4 strings (chord 3) optional version

Cm

——–
—1—-
—0—-
—1—-
——–
——–

It’s fun discovering new ways to play chords on the guitar, and
remember three note chords are not just a simple shortcut way to
play chords on the guitar for beginners, that’s the secret to
playing professional sounding chords.

Now it’s time to start practicing your minor chords all over the
fingerboard of the guitar.

And now I’d like to invite you to get free access to my “How To
Remember 1,000 Songs” eCourse. You can download the course for
free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com

You’ll learn about hit song templates, easy chords, simple scales, red hot rhythms, and successful practice strategies in text, audio and video.

From Mike Hayes – The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar
System

Topics: Beginner Guitar Lesson, Guitar Chords, Guitar Fretboard, Guitar Tips | No Comments »

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