« | Home | »

What to do when you need more chords for a song on your guitar

By Mike Hayes | May 26, 2010

Have you ever listened to a recording of a great guitar player
and wonder if they have more chords on their guitar than you do?
How do they know how to add just the right chord at exactly the
right moment to set the mood of a song or if they are doing a
cover song or jazz standard how they seem to effortlessly
substitute chords to give you the feeling that you are hearing
the song for the first time?


What not to do:

1. Rush out and buy a new guitar – this might be very tempting
but ultimately the only thing that can really improve your guitar
playing is your musical skills, nothing can replace that and
nothing can save those who do not have those skills!

2. Sell your guitar and give up – the easiest thing in the world
to do is give up; this is a surefire way to make sure you never
achieve your musical goals; I know of several people who gave up
guitar playing for a number of years only to regret it and take
it up again later in life after many wasted years and missed
opportunities.

3. Buy more chord books and DVD’s – in many cases this only makes
matters worse, generally the player becomes even more confused
and discouraged than before, it’s the classic case of information
overload.

What to do:

1. Learn chord families – by learning chord families you
will be able to relate each chord and chord progression back to a
particular key which will make it easier for you to select
passing chords etc., from the same key.

Here is a sample of some chord families is popular keys:

Triadic (three note) versions

Key of C

C – Dm – Em – F – G – Am – Bdim – C

Key of G

G – Am – Bm – C – D – Em – F#dim – G

Key of D

D – Em – F#m – G – A – Bm – C#dim – D

Scaletone seventh (four note) versions

Key of C

CMaj7 – Dm7 – Em7 – FMaj7 – G7 – Am7 – Bm7b5 – CMaj7

Key of G

GMaj7 – Am7 – Bm7 – CMaj7 – D7 – Em7 – F#m7b5 – GMaj7

Key of D

DMaj7 – Em7 – F#m7 – GMaj7 – A7 – Bm7 – C#m7b5 – DMaj7

2. Study how to introduce chromatic bass notes into diatonic
chord families and build various types of chord structures on
these chromatic bass notes

By using chromatic bass notes in between the scaletone seventh
chords we can create a sense of movement and surprise in a chord
sequence because the new chords are not derived from the original
key.

Here is an example in the key of C; chromatic bass notes
indicated []

Key of C

CMaj7 -[C#] – Dm7 – [D#] – Em7 – FMaj7 – [F#] – G7 – [G#] – Am7 -
[A#] – Bm7b5 – CMaj7

* Diminished chord work well when creating ascending movement

CMaj7 -[C#dim] – Dm7 – [D#dim] – Em7 – FMaj7 – [F#dim] – G7 -
[G#dim] – Am7 – [A#dim] – Bm7b5 – CMaj7

* Dominant seventh chords work best when creating descending
movement.

CMaj7 – Bm7b5 – [Bb7] – Am7 – [Ab7] – G7 – [Gb7] – FMaj7 – Em7 -
[Eb7] – Dm7 – [Db7] – CMaj7

These are just a few ways you can use basic theoretical concepts
and apply them to the fretboard to help you develop your own
individual style on guitar.

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

Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.