Geoff's Guitar Chords

Have the basics...

When you first learned how to play guitar, chords were your first priority. Then you most likely moved onto other interests such as strumming and chord progressions. However, you soon start to find the guitar boring. Why is that? Because it is!

You may be thinking to yourself, "Who is this guy and who does he think he is telling us that the guitar is boring?" No, guitar is not boring but it can be if everything starts to sound the same. I remember when this began to happen to me roughly a year after I had started playing.

I became extremely unmotivated and didn't want to continue down the path where everything sounded so bland. Chords are wonderful to a point. After that point, it's up to you whether that chord takes on a life of its own or not.

After going to the conservatory, I soon got back on the right track. Save yourself the money and read this article. You don't want to miss out on learning a few key steps you can take to make your music more interesting.

I relate it to the pallet an artist uses to paint a picture. It's you, the pallet of paint, and a blank canvas. You have the tools at your disposal to make beautiful art with vibrant colors that speak to your audience, or you can paint the canvas red and leave it like it is. Which would you prefer?

Regardless of skill level, you can make the most mundane chords sound extraordinary. In the case of the guitarist, there's you, the guitar with notes (the paint), and chords (the canvas). By adding or subtracting notes you can add color to your music and discover many new sounds. Let's get started.

Expand your chord vocabulary...

The more chords you know, the better. Whether you play rhythm or lead, it will enhance your ability to play the guitar. While there are numerous chords that you should know, we're going to focus on a few specific chords you form when you add notes to a regular chord.

If you want to add color to your chords, learn how to play 6th, 7th, 9th, add9, sus4 and 11th chords. Sound complicated? They really aren't. What are they exactly? These chords are Major chords with a few extra notes added on.

You can do a lot to manipulate a major chord to give you something a little bit different. Take these chords for example:

........... C6 ............GBGG. .C7.....................C9......................C11

...Sus4 and add9 chords look like the following:

.......C sus4.............. .C add9

Notice how most of the above chords has the basic C Major chord shape within the chord? All of the notes around the chord are what changes the quality of the chord. The notes that surround the usual C Major chord add color and depth to your music.

Are you still playing a C Major chord? No, because you are adding notes, which changes the intervals. However, the tone of the C Major chord is still heard quite clearly. Here are some more popular chords for you to use:

.......E sus4.................G9 ....................A sus4 ............... A add9

I encourage you to look up new chords that have the different extensions we have listed. The minor chords follow the same basic principal. What is seen above is only a fraction of what's available to you. Once you know them well, you'll wonder why you didn't learn them sooner. They are worth the time!

Using "color" chords effectively...

You can have too much of a good thing. If you use color chords too much, they lose their effect. The goal here is to occasionally add in one of the extra notes that surround the chord you are working with to add more depth to the music. This can be accomplished using a number of techniques.

One of the most common techniques is to hammer on/pull off on the note as you strum the chord. Here's an example using an ordinary D Major chord and hammering onto the note that turns the chord into a sus4:

.......D Major................D sus4

See the difference it can make to the music? All you are doing is hammering on and pulling off of an extra note that is easily within reach. It makes for beautiful music. Here is a more complicated example using a C Major chord:

Octaves are another great way to add color into your music. If your fretboard allows you to reach the upper limits of your frets, you can create some cool tones using octaves.

To achieve this effect, form an open chord (such as E minor,) and move it up 12 frets. Do this at a quick tempo while sliding and you can add yet another colour to your palet. Here's what it sounds like in action:

Creating smooth, eliquent chord changes...

Chord changes can become quite boring after a period of time. In contrast, they can also be quite complicated. Using color chords to help connect your chords will not only buy you time for the hard chord changes, but also make everything sound beautiful.

Let's take this sound clip as our first example:

It's a pretty classic chord change from D to G. Let's add in some colour and see if we can hear the change:

We can clearly hear that the second example sounds more polished but while it is not practical for every application, it can add to most songs. All I did was strum D, hammer onto G, which then made the chord a D sus4.

What makes this change sound really good is that there are notes that the D sus4 shares with the G chord, so you leave your fingers on those notes and get them onto the other frets. This sounds good and gives you a few extra seconds to plant your fingers on the low E string.

You can use sus4 chords, amongst many others, to get that effect between various chord changes. It takes some practice but persistence is key.

The key to making whatever you're playing sound even better is to not overuse the effect and keep it to break the tension when things start to get old.

 

 

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