Do chords go in and out of favor with you?

[Matt the Cat]

Be bold, Matt. Go for five! (actually, get down the C A G E and D shapes and you have the goods to span neck. Move a shape up a fret & you are voicing it a new key)

 

Five? Nobody knows five, that's just crazy talk and as for moving up the neck, well ..........

[onewilyfool]

This is all striking a familiar chord with me.....

[zombywoof]

I stopped playing barre chords years ago and use them now only sparingly.

 

I will always love the sound of an A7 on a guitar tuned down 1/2 to a whole step and have never gotten tired of a G-G7-C-E flat7- turnaround before heading to a D7.

 

I have found I rarely play an open D7 but rather use a C7 form two frets higher.

[sternfan]

Very much so! Some of my fav's at the moment:

 

"open" barres"

577600

799800

 

and this all time fav:

 

332000

 

which is in a beautiful chord sequence in Pink Floyd's "Breathe".

 

The 'open' A and B quoted above are ones I love from Son Volt's 'Ipecac'.

 

Thanks for bringing the topic up! I've learned much from this thread. My fav: x76870. I think it starts Mayer's 'Neon', it's in Duncan Sheik's 'She Runs Away', and several other tunes. Try it!

[Jack6849]

Karen,

 

(While we're on the subject....) Another interesting "open" variation of a common chord is this fingering for a G7 (323003). In this formation, instead of adding the 7 (F) note on the first fret of the 1st (E) string (320001), as is common for a G7, you're adding it on the third fret of the 4th (D) string, while leaving a G note at the third fret of the first (E) string. By adding the 7 (F) note on the lower 4th (D) string, the new chord formation (323003) is still open but its voicing is now changed completely. Since G7 is an often-used chord, you may find this variation useful. The lower timbre of the 7 (F) note on the third fret of the 4th (D) string instead of on the first fret of the high 1st (E) string changes the sound of the chord greatly.

 

This open G7 formation is used a lot in Brazilian Bossa Nova guitar, where open chord formations are common. For example, in the song "The Girl From Ipanema" (normally played in the key of F), the first chord in the song is an Fmaj7, played open at (003210), and the second chord is our new G7, also played open at (323003). The voicings of these two open formations (especially when played on an acoustic guitar) sound light, airy, and very Latin. Try it and see if you agree. (Jobim's "The Girl From Ipanema" is one of the great acoustic guitar songs ever. Not the easiest, with its complex bridge, but well worth the effort to learn.)

 

Your thread has obviously been of interest to a number of Forum players.

 

Keep up your good work,

Jack6849

[jaxson50]

Good topic...I am enjoying it.

[E-minor7]

Chords seem to come and go, rise or hide, but not really. The tunes certainly do and the different harmonies just follows. Oooh, forgot that one - "How lovely to see you again". 3 chords isn't enough; you gotta have the minor in there. At the other hand 1 string is enough - if we have to be minimalistic - isn't it. And why strum that attall.

My suggestion is to use the chords as you use the streets of your hometown. Know the most - take what you like and need, , , and sometimes find your way through the obscure.

 

the acouStic moNk

[jaxson50]

It depends on my arthritis, if it is flaring up it limits what cords and which guitar I play, if it's bad I can't play my 12 string, if it's real bad I stick to slide and easy cords = D & A shape cords and their derivatives rule the day when my wrist and hands hurt.

With those two forms I can play just about any song, just slide up and down the neck..play the top three strings, and the Minor's, 7th's etc. of the A and the D, add the melody with my pinky and I'm good. Plus when you throw in bass notes it increases dynamics..

[Rambler]

On some of Gary Davis stuff, he sneaks in that Am for a couple of beats into what are otherwise a 3 chord gospel tunes. Makes all the difference. Chords? Its all about the melody, really.

[fortyearspickn]

Jack6849 -Thanks - I agree Jobim's 'Girl From Ipanema' has always been in my top 5 songs. The chords are what makes it, though the melody and beat are hard to beat as well. Currently I've been messing with "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" using bar chords for the chorus and open chords for the rest. It's reminded me how very different a song will sound depending on type of chord.

[MissouriPicker]

I try to vary my chords, use a lot of different variations. I use a lot of G, A, C, D, and F chords by playing them all over the neck. There are a limited number of chord progressions, so we've got to try and use different tones, runs, riffs, patterns. . They've all been used before too, but not by us....I suspect we all tend to linger around the chords we've literally grown-up with.