I've got question about chords

[Music Is All]

Does anyone know anyplace where they show chord shapes? I'm not talking just like a chord dictionary, I mean that I want to know if there's anywhere that shows every chord shape of a specific type of chord.

 

So for example, sus 2 chords, but I'm not talking A sus 2, C sus, I mean a place that shows every chord FORM variation of a sus 2 chord, every variation of a maj 13 chord, maj 11, add9, etc. Not the note name, just the chord shape if that makes sense.

[BydoEmpire]

I'm not sure it's exaclty what you're asking for but Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry" does have sections that are similar.  In the middle of the book, there are pages of voicings for various chords using E and A as examples.  30 variations of Em6, 30 variations of Am6, 50 E7 voicings, 50 A7 voicings, etc...

It's a great book all around.

[Music Is All]

That isn't really what I mean, but dang that is a lot of voicings...

[Jeff1979]

 

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Music Is All wrote:

 

That isn't really what I mean, but dang that is a lot of voicings...

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You could use those voicings, just change the root of each shape....

[Virgman]

Check this out:

http://jguitar.com/chordhttp://

or this

http://jguitar.com/chorddictionary.jsphttp://

 

 

 

 

[Music Is All]

@Jeff1971, true, but if I did that it'd be pointless because I'd still have to go through, find the repeating patterns, and narrow it down to the few actual shapes, which, if I did that, they'd be no point to my question haha, I want to find a place or book where all that work is done already.

[Music Is All]

1979* there'd*

[Jeff1979]

 

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Music Is All wrote:

 

@Jeff1971, true, but if I did that it'd be pointless because I'd still have to go through, find the repeating patterns, and narrow it down to the few actual shapes, which, if I did that, they'd be no point to my question haha, I want to find a place or book where all that work is done already.

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Im not quite sure at your question then as all the patterns are repeating??

Are you asking for a book that shows just the shapes of for example a Major7 Chord on all strings?

Once you know it on the six string 1st fret its the same shape all along the six string, one shape one string.

 

[JonR]

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Music Is All wrote:

I want to find a place or book where all that work is done already.

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Wrong attitude. (Understandable, but wrong .)

If you're serious about learning guitar (and you don't have to be!), you'll learn the stuff much better - and quicker in the long run - if you work it all out for yourself.

Work out:

1. C major scale notes (ie ABCDEFG) on every string (up to fret 12).  (Just remember it's 1 fret between B-C and E-F, and 2 frets between every other pair of notes. You know the open strings, EADGBE; the rest is easy.)  Obviously the sharps and flats are between the natural notes, so no need to work those out separately.

2. Notes in every basic triad chord (majors and minors).  Take any chord and trace those 3 notes up the neck, on any strings you can find them. (Eg, a C chord can be made anywhere you can find the notes C, E and G within reach.) 

NB: this will actually make step #1  a lot easier, because chord shapes are easy things to remember. (With major chords, you'll find all the variations fall into one of 5 shapes, resembling the open position C A G E and D shapes. You may have heard of the "CAGED" system... )

3. Which notes in each shape are root, 3rd or 5th.

4. Work out how to find common extensions to the triads. (You can look up some standard shapes to get the idea of how they work.):

7ths - b7s and maj7s on maj triads, b7s on min triads.

sus4  (4th replaces 3rd)

sus2 (2nd replaces 3rd)

add9 (triad plus 2nd, usually octave up)

9ths (7th chord plus 9th)

 

Of course, there is more, but that's a big start. If you understand that, you'll have no problem finding shapes for  more advanced chords, if you ever need them. 

[Music Is All]

I understood yeah, and I agree normally, but that's how I've been doing it the whole time, the hard way, just wanted a break lol. I do however really like your idea to running chords up the neck, I've wanted to try that for a bit, but I've been forgetting to implement it into my practice, gonna try that now with sus 2 chords.

[JonR]

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Music Is All wrote:

I understood yeah, and I agree normally, but that's how I've been doing it the whole time, the hard way, just wanted a break lol. I do however really like your idea to running chords up the neck, I've wanted to try that for a bit, but I've been forgetting to implement it into my practice, gonna try that now with sus 2 chords.

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Yes it's hard, and I can understand wanting to take a break .  Which is why I meant to add....

Work with songs all the time - with real music - always trying to link your technical/theoretical study to actual songs. 

1.  Take the chords of any song you know, and see how many variants of shapes you can find, all over the neck.

 

2. Transpose it to a few other keys.  You can use a capo if you want, just keeping the same shapes but moving them further up the neck - but make sure you look at where the capo is, and know what actual key you are now in (sound, not shapes), and what new notes are in those old shapes.  (This is how I first started learning the neck, almost by accident: I used a capo a lot, and just started noticing what was happening..)

But also transpose in a way that means you need new shapes - eg staying in open position.  Eg, if the song is in G, how would it look played in E? Or in something more difficult, like F? (When you lower the key, by just a little, that makes it harder to cheat by using a capo )

The point here is that using real songs means it's more fun, so you're less likely to get bored, so you can practise for longer, and therefore learn more quickly.  The "work" is a fun game, it's not some dull technical exercise.