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Mariachi Guitar – Some Tips For Tricky Chord Progressions

By Mike Hayes | April 11, 2010

If you have ever played a guitar outdoors you will know that you
have to play with a great deal more energy in order to project
the sound of the guitar, also the action of the guitar has to be
set higher than usual so that the strings won’t buzz on the frets
when they are strummed and plucked harder than an acoustic guitar
played indoors.

With so much additional effort going into the playing the last
thing we want to have to cope with is difficult chord
progressions played at fast tempos. But what if there was an
easy way to handle these tricky progressions? Luckily there are
many different ways to overcome the difficult Mariachi chord
progressions here are just a few.

Tip #1: learn the basic 5 – 1 progression in the most common
Mariachi keys.

Key of A

E7 /// | A ///|

Key of G

D7 /// | G /// |

Key of Dm

A7 /// | Dm /// |

Key of C

G7 /// | C ///|

Key of Em

B7 /// | Em ///|

Key of Gm

D7 /// | Gm /// |

Key of F

C7 /// | F ///|

Tip #2: practice the 1 – 5 progression in the popular keys

Key of A

A /// | E7 ///|

Key of G

G /// | D7 /// |

Key of Dm

Dm /// | A7 /// |

Key of C

C /// | G7 ///|

Key of Em

Em /// | B7 ///|

Key of Gm

Gm /// | D7 /// |

important: practice each of these progressions s-l-o-w-l-y; as
you listen to the sound of each chord you will quickly develop a
sense of where the chords are going even if you have not played
the song before.

Tip #3: learn the relative minor – major chord progressions

Each major key has a relative minor key that represents the
opposite in sound and feel, they are the most closely related
chords but create the opposite musical effect.

As an example, if major represented “white” minor would be
“black”; if major were “male” the relative minor would be
“female”; if major represented “happy” minor would be “sad”.

Here is a list of major and relative minor chords, take your time
learning these chords knowing how these chord work together will
help you play Mariachi songs “by ear”.

major chord = C  | relative minor = Am

major chord = G  | relative minor = Em

major chord = D  | relative minor = Bm

major chord = A  | relative minor = F#m

Tip #4: study the 5 – 1 (relative minor) to 5 – 1 (major)
progressions.

Many Mariachi songs feature 5 – 1 progressions in the relative
minor that later change to a 5 – 1 progression in the major key,
these type of progressions work well because they have a familiar
sound about them (because of the 5 – 1 interval), yet produce a
different mood.

Here is an example:

A7 /// | A7 /// | Dm /// | Dm /// | C7 /// | C7 /// | F /// |
F ///  | etc

Tip #5: learn to recognize the semitone lower progression

A very popular sound is the semitone lower chord progression,
whereby the guitarist plays a chord one semitone lower than the
key chord.

Let’s say you are playing a song in the key of “F”, the guitar
player would firstly play the “F” chord then play the chord of
“E” (one semitone lower than F) then finally resolve the
progression by finishing on the chord of “F”.

Here is an example:

F /// | C7 /// | F / E / | F /// |

Important: always look for the minimum amount of finger movement
when changing chords on the guitar.

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

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