Guitar chords.. just how many are there

[Rabs]

Hmm some interesting answers here...

 

I can believe its around the 450 or so number... As mentioned even though you could say theres 22 frets and 6 strings etc our fingers can only physically do so much and reach so far.. And Id say even though you can play the same chord in many places on the fretboard each one gives a slightly different tone which is why you may choose to use an open E or play it on the 7th (from the A string) or 12th fret as a barre or power chord.. So each has its place depending on what the song requires or simply what sounds better to you..

 

I guess in the end it doesnt really matter, we all play and learn what we are interested in. I was just wondering if there was an agreed number in the industry as such.

[stein]

There can't be a definitive answer...mainly because for different kinds of music, there are diferent definitions.

 

I'm gonna go the beatnik/jazzer route and say it depends on what the definition of "is" is. Thus, the answer could be infinity, or the answer could be a fixed amount but that amount could change according to your use and point of view.

 

Looking at it this way makes me feel smarter, and makes me feel more like "jazz", and thus makes me more open minded and cool at the same time.

 

For example, like L5LARRY pointed out, a chord could be the same chord played in a different key. So an A chord played at the 5th fret is the same chord as a B chord played at the 7th fret. In the key of A the l chord...or the v chord in the key of E. So A could be considered two chords in 2 different keys, OR playing 2 different chords could be considered the same chord if you change keys.

 

So...in the above example, a guy could take credit for knowing one chord, or could take credit for knowing 13 chords.

 

Now..dig...say you play a G Major chord barred at the 3rd fret, OR play an open G chord. They are both a MAjor G chord, using the same notes. But the open G has the notes aranged 1, 3, 5, 1 for the top 4 strings. The "E" style bar chord has the notes arranged 1,5,1,3 for the top 4 strings. Same chord, but different "voicings". Some cats would play it in a different position to get the order of the notes in a ceertain order for a different sound, and some cats would play it with a different fingering and position to get a different tone. Some would just play it to get the G major and find it the easiest way.

 

DIG...consider an Emin7th played at the 7th fret. Now throw your pinky on the 5th string on the 10th fret. The chord is now a G maj voiced 1,3,5. But if you don't play the 5th string it is still a G maj. Same chord you know and play is now either a Gmaj or Emin7th. If you can comprehend, take credit for knowing 2 chords. If you can grasp the idea a chord is still a chord without the root on bottom or top, you can claim to know 3 chords for every 3 note fingering or combo...4 for every 4 note combo, or "claim" to change the orders to say 16 for every 4 notes depending on which you call the root, the 3rd, etc.

 

So..if someone says play G, you better play G. But if someone wants to be all creative in what "is" is, a beatnik can say "call it whatever you want, man".

[DanvillRob]

There can't be a definitive answer...mainly because for different kinds of music, there are diferent definitions.

 

I'm gonna go the beatnik/jazzer route and say it depends on what the definition of "is" is. Thus, the answer could be infinity, or the answer could be a fixed amount but that amount could change according to your use and point of view.

 

Looking at it this way makes me feel smarter, and makes me feel more like "jazz", and thus makes me more open minded and cool at the same time.

 

For example, like L5LARRY pointed out, a chord could be the same chord played in a different key. So an A chord played at the 5th fret is the same chord as a B chord played at the 7th fret. In the key of A the l chord...or the v chord in the key of E. So A could be considered two chords in 2 different keys, OR playing 2 different chords could be considered the same chord if you change keys.

 

So...in the above example, a guy could take credit for knowing one chord, or could take credit for knowing 13 chords.

 

Now..dig...say you play a G Major chord barred at the 3rd fret, OR play an open G chord. They are both a MAjor G chord, using the same notes. But the open G has the notes aranged 1, 3, 5, 1 for the top 4 strings. The "E" style bar chord has the notes arranged 1,5,1,3 for the top 4 strings. Same chord, but different "voicings". Some cats would play it in a different position to get the order of the notes in a ceertain order for a different sound, and some cats would play it with a different fingering and position to get a different tone. Some would just play it to get the G major and find it the easiest way.

 

DIG...consider an Emin7th played at the 7th fret. Now throw your pinky on the 5th string on the 10th fret. The chord is now a G maj voiced 1,3,5. But if you don't play the 5th string it is still a G maj. Same chord you know and play is now either a Gmaj or Emin7th. If you can comprehend, take credit for knowing 2 chords. If you can grasp the idea a chord is still a chord without the root on bottom or top, you can claim to know 3 chords for every 3 note fingering or combo...4 for every 4 note combo, or "claim" to change the orders to say 16 for every 4 notes depending on which you call the root, the 3rd, etc.

 

So..if someone says play G, you better play G. But if someone wants to be all creative in what "is" is, a beatnik can say "call it whatever you want, man".

 

Groovy!

[jdgm]

Plenty to think about here...the guitar is a bit different; in standard tuning there are 5 shapes for the same major chord (CAGED).

Major chords are basically triads in thirds so can be voiced three ways - root chord, 1st and 2nd inversion.

Add another note and you have 4-note chords, usually defined as 7ths of some kind, which can therefore be voiced 4 ways...the only way to proceed is to understand it from the ground up, so next you would look at the major scale in diatonic chords (a chord on each of all seven major scale notes, constructed only from notes of that scale), triads - 4 types, and then extensions - adding another note or notes to the chord.

That's just the beginning; then there are chords in fourths...If you know how all these things are built and how they generally interact - it's beautifully logical - then you can understand all of it.

 

I'm currently engrossed in the diminished 4-note chord which can act as itself or any one of 4 altered dom 7th (7b9)chords...move any note down a fret and you get a dom 7th chord...move the note up and it becomes (obviously) a non-root dominant 9th OR a half-diminished (mi7b5) chord....I am not going to live long enough to really understand every possible harmonic movement but I'm tempted to post some chord sequences in chord box format in the 'tips and tricks' bit.

 

My guiding rule that I can't always strictly stick to is - 3 shapes for anything...

[T Bone]

Plenty to think about here...the guitar is a bit different; in standard tuning there are 5 shapes for the same major chord (CAGED).

Major chords are basically triads in thirds so can be voiced three ways - root chord, 1st and 2nd inversion.

Add another note and you have 4-note chords, usually defined as 7ths of some kind, which can therefore be voiced 4 ways...the only way to proceed is to understand it from the ground up, so next you would look at the major scale in diatonic chords (a chord on each of all seven major scale notes, constructed only from notes of that scale), triads - 4 types, and then extensions - adding another note or notes to the chord.

That's just the beginning; then there are chords in fourths...If you know how all these things are built and how they generally interact - it's beautifully logical - then you can understand all of it.

 

I'm currently engrossed in the diminished 4-note chord which can act as itself or any one of 4 altered dom 7th (7b9)chords...move any note down a fret and you get a dom 7th chord...move the note up and it becomes (obviously) a non-root dominant 9th OR a half-diminished (mi7b5) chord....I am not going to live long enough to really understand every possible harmonic movement but I'm tempted to post some chord sequences in chord box format in the 'tips and tricks' bit.

 

My guiding rule that I can't always strictly stick to is - 3 shapes for anything...

I'm just really at the very beginning of understanding this theory you've gotten into here. Bought the "Fretboard Logic Special Edition" (vols 1 & 2 combined) and am working through it. It covers the CAGED shapes as moveable (some of those are really difficult for me, going to take a lot of repetition, but then I recall many many years ago how difficult just basic open chords felt, and then my first barre chords...). I guess it's all awkward until you develop the muscle memory for it.

 

Interesting notes in the beginning of that course book on how the guitar is so different from any other instrument out there, and the intervals in standard tuning being completely unique to it.

[RaysEpiphone]

The OP question was, How many chords are there... Not what type of music do you play or positioning of the fret-board etc.

[badbluesplayer]

Always keep an extra power chord in your gig bag.

[capmaster]

... I guess it's all awkward until you develop the muscle memory for it. ...

Your words hit the nail on the head.

 

Doing a little research on the chords I play in the songs of my band, I found out that just in a simple rock'n'roll song of us there are 14 different chords. If you named one scientifically correct and told me to play it, for most of them I first would have to find out what you're talking about. In my belief, there may be many guitarists such as me who aren't even conscious about how many chords they are able to play.

 

The muscle memory seems to depend on a given musical context, too. At least to my experience, moving fingers from one chord to the next has a certain influence on how precisely I fret it. So my muscle memory obviously does not only depend on the chord's fret structure as itself but on the previously fretted chord, too.

 

Perhaps I remember more the moves of my fingers than the next position they should reach. That's especially the case when it goes around open chords on the 9th to the 15th fret. This probably could be another reason why there's no money to be found...

[milod]

I'd say that Larry is 100 percent correct - but there's a bit of a problem for some of us if we stick to three-note chords in that you could get several variations from the same six-string fingering.

 

And then there's the schtick that a three or even four-note G6 also could be a Cmaj7 if one uses just the dgbe strings.

 

As for country just using 3 chords... note that in the 1950s, especially, there were a lotta country songs that might easily be considered jazz/pop in terms of chord structure, but had the country "feel." "Crazy" is just one example. Then in the 1970s, for example, Glen Campbell had a batch of "hits" that were far more complex than 1, 4, 5 with Jimmy Webb tunes.

 

EDIT: I think there's also a bit of difference in how one perceives music. On guitar I somehow feel it to be a chord machine far more than a tune machine - the tunes coming on top of chords, not separate from them as in scales of various sorts. Others, I think, tend to think more in scales, or on whatever notes they see on the map (as in classical or a jazz player who reads music).

 

I don't think that's entirely a matter of "training," but more how your head works regardless of style you might play. For example, 90 percent of the time when I'm doing my own thing solo, it's almost as if I were on a keyboard in terms of how I think of it whether as an instrumental or a backing for vocal.

 

m

[zigzag]

According to "Mel Bay's Deluxe Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords" there are 27 standard chord extensions.

 

Sorry L5, but I'm too tired to count them right now. I am curious if Mel considers alterations extensions? If not, you could add at least 6 or 8 more.

[D-poland]

A chord is a set of 2 or more notes that make a harmonic quality, so 2 x 6 strings = 12. Then 12 seperate tones per string combining with the 12 tones of another string = 144 x 6 strings = 864. Add in a third note per strings = 2592 x 12 = 31,104 x 6 string = 186,624. Add a 4th note...etc

 

 

AND THEN DIVIDE BY HOW MANY PLACES YOU CAN PHYSICALLY POSITION YOUR FINGERS ON!

[damian]

The CAGED system........

[J.R.M.30!]

I like to be specific when talking about chords. If they leave out the 5th or 3rd I like to show that. I think books over do it with chords as the moving part(s) is just as important (if not more in my opinion) to overall tonality. Right now I'm dabbling in stripped down chords that are played out of order. If I play a C at the 3rd Fret on the G string then play a B string and finally a G at the 3rd fret on the E string it's a Cmaj7(No 3rd) in a different order. If you think a chord is to complicated, strip it down or arpeggiate it.

[jaxson50]

This is puzzling me a bit. I always thought that this saying originally comes from Tommy Tedesco.

 

 

Maybe they both said it... ......

[1998StandardSG]

It does seem endless but I've seen a lot of chord books that have chords in them that are impossible to play. Well I shouldn't say impossible but I doubt anybody would use them on the fly in a playing situation. I hear those chords get titled as "jazz chords" but in my experience watching jazz guitarists those chord shapes are seldom used (the stretched chords). Mostly jazz guitarist focus on economic playing but that's not saying that players never use them. I'm just saying that I don't see them used very often, if at all. But if you can get your hands to span six frets with your index on the second fret, you are awesome and I need a sit down with you on how to do that.

 

Here is a link to an instructional segment by Paul Mehling, a gypsy style guitarist. Notice how the chord changes are relatively close together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dduwd2aE_Mg

[L5Larry]

.... I hear those chords get titled as "jazz chords" but in my experience watching jazz guitarists those chord shapes are seldom used (the stretched chords). Mostly jazz guitarist focus on economic playing ...

 

When I had decided (in my 40's) that I wanted to be a jazz guitarist when I grew up, I asked a friend of mine, Jerry Byrd, who was Freddy Cole's touring guitarist at the time (Nat "King" Cole's brother), what single instructional book I should get. He said "Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar", c.1955. This book in based around the premise that you can play any jazz tune ever written if you know 26 specific fingerings. I'm not sure that I completely agree with this, but it was a very good place to start. I would say the actual number is around 40-45.

 

Another thing to know about jazz chords is that there are four different types of fingerings used for different purposes, "Inside" chords, "Rhythm" chords, "Melody" chords, and "Bottom 4 String" chords.

 

"Inside" and "Rhythm" chords are 3 and 4 tone chords used for accompaniment in large combos and big bands. Inside chords are played using only the middle four strings of the guitar. Rhythm chords will encompass a bass or low note on the 6th string, but is not necessarily the root note of the chord being played.

 

"Melody" chords are the big chords mentioned in a post above, where within the reachable spread of the chord voicing you can also find, and reach, the melody notes of the song. These are what you need to play solo style jazz guitar such that you are playing the melody, or "lead line", over the chords at the same time. These are probably the most difficult to apply, as you are not just positioning them for the arpeggio of the chord you are playing, but for the "Key" of the song, or written melody. This is where the acrobatic hand stretches and finger crossovers come in.

 

The "Bottom 4 String" chords, as you might guess, are played using only the 3rd through 6th strings. They are very useful for "comping" in big bands and combos, and especially useful for "chord solos". With this type of chord the 6th string note is usually, but not always, the root note of the chord.

 

So even within the term "Jazz Chords", there are also subcategories.

[1998StandardSG]

L5,

Thanks for the info. Now that is making some sense to me as to why those fingerings are there and how to apply them in a particular setting.

 

I will look up everything you said tomorrow.

[FirstMeasure]

Regardless of the Wiki (which I like and use often on many topics), they are counting "power chords", which in traditional music are not a true chord. A Chord traditionally is a "Triad", consisting of 3 (different) notes.

Thank you! I was starting to think I was the only guy who remembered this. It's an important concept in understanding the difference between major and minor chords. It's frustrating trying discuss that with someone who argues that power chords are chords just like any other. Fighting for equality is a very noble endeavor, but in this case it just clouds the issue of major and minor tonalities. <_<

 

Anyway, on the topic at hand. There aren't really a certain number of chords that can be learned and put on a shelf. A chord is a combination of notes. And with a little over 7 octaves on a piano, and a little over 4 octaves on a guitar, the combination of notes and alternate fingerings are practically limitless. I'm sure a computer with the right formula could figure out exactly how many permutations there are.

 

From my perspective, assuming there are a certain number of chords shows a general misunderstanding of chords and how they are built.

[stein]

L5LARRY is a Jazz cat for sure..he is out doing the deed, AND doing it well.

 

And I think he nailed it in a lot of places with the last post.

 

I never made it to the point of being a "Jazz player"...I ain't on the level, but association with such a heavy makes me feel smarter and more hip..thus makes me more cool. So I am wanting to put some other fine points to a fine post:

 

The "melody chords" as he puts it are the hardest in a way as they relate to the hardest stuff to play, and this is where the "chord extentions" as some call it come into play. A lot of the time these fingerings are made because the player is reaching for notes of a melody while playing a chord. So in a way, technically it may be more chords, OR it may be one chord with alterations as you play it. So, a stretch of 6 frets ain't really so far out of reach or so rare, as you might do it often while already grabbing a chord your fingers know. The same principle applies when you are doing a little dance with your fingers on notes within a scale on the fretbaord when grabbing one chord.

 

At some point, you have to deal with not just what your fingers can do, but how to deal with your headspace and where to put the 3000 chords a typical Jazz player can play. Even if you could memorize 3000 chords, you might not have the headspace to call them up and use them. So, knowing how to MAKE a chord by using scales might be easier. And you might need that headspace you got on a given day to figure out how to grab a chord on the fly. Even using headspace to dumb chords down enough to be able to finger them quickly.

 

For instance, lets just take a few situations. You could be given a piece of music to learn and practice, or you could be sight-reading (or given a chart) to play on the spot, with or without the expectation of inprov, or be purely doing improv playing a unknown song (or a known one). If it is a piece of music to practice, you may have to take what notes are written and figure out HOW to play them on a guitar...so what starts as a 6 note chord as written you may need to turn into a 3 note chord to make it possible. OR, if playing with others there are 2 reasons you might "dumb down"-either to get the chord out in time within your abilities, or to stay out of the way of other musicains.

 

If a keyboard player is involved and the chord is a 7th, he will (likely) voice it 1,3,5,7 or 9. If you as a guitar player playes a typical full 7th or 9th chord, it will sound like mush and not blend properly. So you may only play the root/7th, or play the root, 3rd ,fifth. Or, you may be in cherge of providing the full rhythm or chords. If the chord you see is coming up fast and you don't really know it, you might decide what is important to play to provide effective back-up, so it might be a full major or minor without any 7th or ninth, as the OTHER musicians are using your chord to play over and providing these notes. (and even if you might know the chord and can play it, you might lay off because you question how it will sound in the mix with others or what they would do).

 

Point I am trying to make is that at times you aren't so much as playing the chord as participating in a chord with others...a little deeper than simply ommitting the root as the bass player plays it. But, you KNOW the chords you are doing.

 

And, besides learning or knowing lots of different fingerings to add to your arsenal making you a better player and having lots of tools available, it is very much a question of how to arrange the stuff in your head to call them up. How to wrap your head around a piece of music or a role. Where to put all these fingerings, or how to find them.

 

Man I feel smart...but truth is right now if you put a chord chart in front of me I would choke. Just sayin'.

[jdgm]

I used to have the F Zappa 'Shut up n' Play your Guitar' box....which has a track on it called 'The Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression'...true!

 

Seriously; there are 2 books by (the now sadly late) jazz supremo Ted Greene which deal with chords 'and then some' - Chord Chemistry and Modern Chord Progressions. The guy was a one-off guitar genius. Eric Johnson once said he thought Greene should be President.

 

Take a look at some material relevant to this thread on Greene's site...try this, very informative and all in downloadable .pdf format.

 

http://www.tedgreene.com/teaching/fundamentals.asp