practising chords

[peter_traj]

gday everyone.
i have been learning licks and solos mostly and have totaly ignored rythem practise. so now its time to start.my question is which chords should i learn to memory? there are hundreds of them!! My thinking is this,please correct me if i am wrong,the triads and 7th chords of each scale are the most commony used chords and the sus,9th,11,13,diminished,etc,etc are used to add flavour and tensions to the progression that is mainly based on triads and 7ths.is this a correct statement? are all progressions/song based on triads and 7ths? or can you record a progresion using only all the other chords and not have any triad or 7ths?
i look forward to your reply
bye now.

[S.Carter]

I'd need to know what you want to DO with the chords. Play jazz standards, bebop, pop, metal...? Compose original songs? All of the above.

There are lots of working guitarists who never played a dim chord.
Lots of metal players haven't used a third in a chord for years.


For many years at Berklee, I taught a lab called "Rhythm Guitar Styles", so chords are dear to my heart.

If you want to play jazz standards, learn: Maj7, 7, min7 first. Then maybe dim7, aug7 (they are an important flavor on certain tunes.) The 9, 11, 13, etc, are mostly colors and can be left out at first.

I learned certain chords and voicings because I needed them for tunes I loved: min9 for "Maiden Voyage," for example.

Don't worry a lot about how many "chords" you know (most players really are referring to voicings in a situation like this). Learn the chords you need to play the songs you love. When you get really tired of those chords, you'll learn new ones.

Steve

[EricV]

Hi Peter !

Well, this is not a direct answer to your question, but there´s something I noticed... you mention the term "memory"...

Now, there´s something that I always was thinking regarding learning chords:
I always thought that it was better to learn those chords by understanding them than just by memorizing them... and if you DO memorize them, it is important to use them a lot, too. ( I think that is what Mr. Carter is hinting at too )

What I mean by that is: there are bunches of "chord-dictionaries", like "587098436 Chords for Guitar" etc.
And it might be helpful to have one of those, just in case you need to play a chord that you do not know yet, but I think it is important to be able to "construct" those chords in your mind.

That means, instead of knowing how they look, you should also be familiar with their "formula"... like i.e.:
A major chord: 1-3-5
Minor: 1-b3-5
Sus4: 1-4-5

Or: "A sus2-chord is a triad with no third but the 2 instead, i.e: A major: A-C#-E ( A Maj triad ), A-B-E ( A sus2 )"

Etc. So, instead of having to open a chord dictionary everytime one needs to play a chord beyond triads, one should be able to construct the chord himself. That requires a understanding of the scale-system.
I think this definitely has its benefits... if you i.e. have to play an Fm9, and you can "construct" that chord because you understand the system ( Fm9= Fminor triad plus added 9th ), you can also make up the chord in several positions... so you can play it wherever you want to, while, if you look into a chord-dictionary, you have to look every time you want to play the chord somewhere else on the neck...

Hope this doesn´t come over as smart-a*****, I just think it´s the better approach, although it seems to be a bit more work when you start out. But when you construct those chords that way for yourself, they will eventually be in your memory...
Warm regards
Eric

NP: Steve Lukather / Larry Carlton-No Substitutions

[S.Carter]

Hi Peter,
I think EricV made some good points: understand how to build chords, and USE them.

Eric's comments reminded me: you'll hear lots of different names for the same chord, and the same name for different chords -- from different people, so don't let it worry you too much. For example, Eric refers to sus2 chord. There's also an add9 chord, and an add2 chord, all of which may or may not mean the same thing. Eric refers to Fm9 as an F minor triad with the 9 added, which is correct, while I think of it as an Fmin7 with the 9 added -- which is also correct!

The more you learn about music theory (there's some good stuff on this site), the quicker you learn -- and be able to use -- new chords.

Steve

[EricV]

Thanks Steve,

that is exactly what I meant.
The reason why I mentioned the "Don´t only memorize or learn it, use it"-thing is that I saw the opposite happen a lot in my experience as a teacher and a student.
What I mean is that I i.e. learned dozens of different scales, exotic stuff, huge chords etc. And I memorized that and analyzed it etc. But I hardly ever used that stuff, and therefore I called it "dead" information.

I mean, there sre are situations where all of a sudden you are asked to eg. use a scale you once memorized, and you can actually pull it off.
But often, people spend a lot of time learning stuff they´re never gonna use. I mean, if you only memorize a scale, and never actually try to make MUSIC with it, it´s pretty much wasted time.
I remember that, when I was getting into theory a bit more, I learned stuff like those japanese pentatonics and the enigmatic scale and all that.
I memorized them and was able to play them in at least two patterns. But when I tried to play, it sounded pretty much like "Scale up-Scale down"
Years later, I actually sat down, made up chord progressions to use these scales over, explored them by playing them, applied them to actual playing.
And there I noticed how much time I had spend on learning stuff I never applied, pretty much wasting time.
Things like those chord dictionaries or the "Guitar Scale Grimoire" are wonderful tools, but it´s not enough to just rush through them, memorizing a lot of information.
It´s like when you learn a language and you learn a lot of complicated words ( latin terms, medical terms, law-terms )... you gotta make sure what exactly they mean so you can use them in the right context... so your sentences make sense.
If you use them in the wrong context, you might say stuff you don´t mean to say, or simply say things that don´t make sense.
So, once you have the basics of that language down, you can start to "spice it up" with different terms, enlarging your vocabulary to, in the end, have a huge vocabulary you can use to elaborate on things and describe stuff in an interesting way...

Here I go again, getting loooooooooooong winded
Sorry ;)
Warm regards
Eric

[szulc]

Start with the chromatic scale as your universe then break it down into a major scale (for instance C Major or white keys on the piano), learn how to construct a major scale on any note of the chromatic scale. Then learn triads in C major basically they are made by skipping every other note 135, 246, 357, 461, 572, 613, 724 . Because of the fact that every Major scale has the same interval structure they always occur in this order M(ajor)m(inor) m M M m o(diminished). So learn Maj Min and Diminshed chords in the Keys you want to play in. Then learn that each triad has three inversions for instance 135 or in C major C E G ( C major chord)

135 starting from lowest note to highest note = Root Inversion
351 First Inversion
513 Second Inversion

You should learn fingerings for each of these on groups of three adjacent strings. This is all you need to know about (Major scale) triads in close voice. Then learn about open voice triads:
531 from lowest to highest
315
153

Learn these on groups of three strings not alway adjacent.

If you follow this you will be on your way to understanding Major scale triads.

[peter_traj]

thanks fellas, your replys where EXTREMELY helpful.i havnt taken any lessons yet but i think that maybe i should.i am so keen to learn the guitar that most days i spend 4 to 5 hours just practising.with the advice you guys give me it makes it all the more easier,(i cannot emphasise this enough).i am finding that learning chords i very hard,i mean i can actually fret the chords but to move from one to another quickly and in time is what is the hardest thing for me. but i will keep at it. here is a quick quetion.
a friend of mine showed me a 12 bar blues progression using bar chords. it was in the key of A and he played 7th chords(a7,d7,e7)up and down the fret board. he told me that i should pracitse this in every key and master it as it is the basis of many songs. but i have been learnind chords around the 1 ,2,3 frets of the guitar. so should i practise the 12 bar blues progressions with bar chords going up and down the fret board or should i do them at the top 1,2,3 frets? thanks again guys
sincerly, peter

[szulc]

Open Position Chords are good to have in your chord vocabulary.
You can make movable chords out of the five major types of open position chords CAGED. Learn all of the chords in open position then use them all over the neck by replacing the nut with your index finger as a barre.
A mistake most new guitar players make is they try to voice all six strings when playing chords. Most practical music doesn't require your to use more than 4 strings at a time.
Using movable forms works well for blues and rock changes.
It is my belief that you should learn alternatives for every chord in every progression you learn.
For instance forms based on open E for all three chords, then a mixture of E and A forms, all A forms, A and D forms, G forms , G and C forms. Then try to mix all of these together using the minimum movement principle ( try to stay in one place on the neck for several chord changes).