Members percyexpat Posted April 7, 2006 Members Share Posted April 7, 2006 where is best to go from there? the last few weeks ive just been practising the major, minor and 7th chords and ive got them comfortably committed to memory now. my technique is sloppy but practise will cure that. thing is, im not sure where to go from here. what chords should i learn next? im more interested in chords than scales for now, although that will come. i think i'll try and get my hands on 'chord chemistry' after having a read of what people say about it on here. any ideas? the playing style i hope to develop will hopefully be a something approximating my bloody valentine/mogwai as well as acoustic for pleasure. i.e. indie rock but full bodied, none of this twangy stuff many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lazaraga Posted April 7, 2006 Members Share Posted April 7, 2006 find all the inversions of the chords you just learned. learn some chord progressions and explore different ways of voice leading. learn chords built from other intervals, ie 4ths or 5ths add extensions and alterations to the chords you have learned. peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gennation Posted April 7, 2006 Members Share Posted April 7, 2006 It's time to look to the bible...the bible of chords that is...Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry. Less than $10 on Amazon...worth ton of money knowledge wise and for a having a clear grasp of chords under your fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlniec Posted April 7, 2006 Members Share Posted April 7, 2006 21? Does that mean A, B, C, D, E, F, G in major, minor, and dominant 7th forms? And predominantly open chords? If so, I'd suggest making the jump to barre chords. I would start with the E-form (Root on the 6th string) and A-form (Root on the A 5th string) major, minor, and dominant 7th. Why? Right now, you can play nearly every chord in the key of C major, but suppose you want to play a song in A (for example)? Unless you want to capo up, you'll need to learn to play chords like C#m and F#m. This is almost trivially easy once you've gotten barre chords down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members percyexpat Posted April 7, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 7, 2006 Originally posted by tlniec 21? Does that mean A, B, C, D, E, F, G in major, minor, and dominant 7th forms? And predominantly open chords?If so, I'd suggest making the jump to barre chords. I would start with the E-form (Root on the 6th string) and A-form (Root on the A 5th string) major, minor, and dominant 7th. Why? Right now, you can play nearly every chord in the key of C major, but suppose you want to play a song in A (for example)? Unless you want to capo up, you'll need to learn to play chords like C#m and F#m. This is almost trivially easy once you've gotten barre chords down. yes thats what i mean by 21. thankyou all for your suggestions, i will get that book asap. on the barre chord thing, ive been attempting them but they always just sound dead and muted. this is surely my technique but do you have any tips to let the strings ring out more? i think my hand position is alright and i play bass so hand strength is okay too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gennation Posted April 7, 2006 Members Share Posted April 7, 2006 Originally posted by percyexpat yes thats what i mean by 21.thankyou all for your suggestions, i will get that book asap.on the barre chord thing, ive been attempting them but they always just sound dead and muted. this is surely my technique but do you have any tips to let the strings ring out more? i think my hand position is alright and i play bass so hand strength is okay too. Hey, if you're still working on barre chords you might want to hold off on the Chord Chemistry book. It might be too much to chew off at this time. But, it would definitely get you moving in a positive direction. So, it's your call. It's indepth but it's mainly playing stuff more than understanding stuff. So, it would still be a postive thing for you I guess. You can look it up at Amazon and they let you look through a few pages of it. Here's another article Ted did for Guitar Player magazine that will clue you into what Ted does... http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=7&storycode=11345 His stuff is all chords in and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UFOScorpion Posted April 8, 2006 Members Share Posted April 8, 2006 The thing about learning barre chords - is that they are movable. So when you learn F, you've also learned F#, G, G# etc. And for that matter - Fmin, F#min, etc. Same with the A-string root chords. Then making the 7th is easy by altering the basic E-string and A-string root chords, etc. This increases the number of chords you can play drastically, so that you can learn other chords as needed per song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dastardlydrvish Posted April 8, 2006 Members Share Posted April 8, 2006 Originally posted by percyexpat yes thats what i mean by 21.thankyou all for your suggestions, i will get that book asap.on the barre chord thing, ive been attempting them but they always just sound dead and muted. this is surely my technique but do you have any tips to let the strings ring out more? i think my hand position is alright and i play bass so hand strength is okay too. This is a normal part of the process opf learning barre chords; just keep at it, and eventually you'll be able to get all the notes to sound. You can work on strengthening your finger by moving just the barre or half bar (bottom 4 strings only) shape up and down the neck and trying to get each note to sound cleanly. -dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cnumb44 Posted April 9, 2006 Members Share Posted April 9, 2006 A couple of things I've found for forming barre chords might help you. First, I kind of rotate fingering hand toward the headstock. That way you are rolling the index finger slightly to the edge and that makes it easier to fret along all the strings. Try it without any other fingers and look for a comfortable degree of roll where you get good tone and it feels natural. Most players try to push straight down and that puts the fattest part of your finger on the fret. Second, don't press too hard. You have to be firm, but dont' press any harder than you need to to get the notes fretted. Just like above, put your index finger on the fretboard and get a feel for how hard you need to press just to get good tone. Once you get pressure and rotation, then you can start to work on comfortable fingering. E and A modes are the easiest and most comfortable to start with. I would suggest that you start some scale work now. It will do a lot of good, but is a great way to build some strength and stretch your finger muscles. You'll find that scale exercises will improve your ability to finger chords. There are some great teachers on this web site who can get you started with scale exercises. Also, get a metronome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluesbeginner Posted April 9, 2006 Members Share Posted April 9, 2006 Originally posted by cnumb44 [snipped excellent remarks to emphasize even more excellent remarks below]I would suggest that you start some scale work now. It will do a lot of good, but is a great way to build some strength and stretch your finger muscles. You'll find that scale exercises will improve your ability to finger chords.There are some great teachers on this web site who can get you started with scale exercises. Also, get a metronome! cnumb44, Excellent post. percyexpat, Yeah, do scales now for the reasons cnumb mentions. A metronome is a must. As my teacher always told me (I'm on hiatus for now), of the three fundamental elements of music, rhythm is primary. Without good rhythm, you can't play well, regardless of how good your harmonizing and melody making are. A metronome is essential to develop and keep good rhythm skills. bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members percyexpat Posted April 10, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 10, 2006 thanks everyone! yes i already use a metronome or drum loops depending if im at my computer. i play bass already so my rhythm is okay although id feel unconfident in a band situation because i havnt played along with other musicians before.thanks cnumb44, the tip on hand position helped a lot. i guess im still in the bass playing mentality and my hand was too flat across the fretboard.as barre chords are movable i think ive got them in my head now, pretty simple brain-wise now to practise!thanks all.p.s. i suppose i should ask. are all scales born equal or are there any i should start on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.