Favorite Chord....

[psw]

Have you guy's got a favorite chord shape or sound...

Like Hendrix's famous

----X-----

----8-----

----7-----

----6-----

----7-----

----0-----

One I always come back to me is this Am9

----0---------

----0---------

----5---------

----7---------

----0---------

----X---------

So, anyone got some of there own fav's

pete

[AlGeeEater]

MMm, my 2 favorite chords. They can be played as an ending, or a funk type riff seperatly(sp?). I love to use them as an ending for a blues song.

-----------

--6----5--

--6----5--

--5----4--

--6----5--

-----------

Eb9 and a D9

The Hedrix chord is also a nice chord like you pointed out PSW.

Edited May 24, 2005 by AlGeeEater

[feylya]

E----

B----

G-0--

D-1--

A-1--

D-1--

E--3-

B--1-

G--0-

D--2-

A--3-

E----

Something like that anyway.

[GregP]

An E of some sort:

079900

[Marzocchi705]

|-2

|-0

|-2

|-1

|-2

|--

this is also nice.

|-2

|-3

|-2

|-4

|-2

|--

[psw]

M...B7 and Bm7

GP...yeah thats a cool powerchord lots of E's and B's...gives an huge almost 12 string flavour. I like to use this by sliding it around. On the second fret you get a b with an added 4th (open high e) and on the 10th fret a cool Em7 inversion:

---0---

---0---

---12--

---12--

---10--

---0---

You can slide around a cool version of third stone from the sun with this chord shape.

Can't beat those funky 9th chords. I like the 5 note version...say

---5----(7)

---5----

---5----

---4----

---5----

---x----

you can add the 13th with that (7) extra note.

Also, the hendrix chord (E7#9) can be used in a functional way for a jazz type turnaround on a minor blues or ending:

F9 E7#9 E7b9 Am9

--x---(0)----(0)---0---

--8----8------6----0---

--8----7------7----5---

--7----6------6----7---

--8----7------7----0---

--x----x------x----x---

Here I've used the 9th chord of AlGeeEater and finishing with my "spooky" Am9 cluster chord...cleanish tone required!

Here's another one:

----(0)---

-----8----

-----0----

-----9----

----10----

----(0)---

G chord without the fifth but a lot of G's. Add the E's and you've got an em with added thirds. This is just the open C shape moved on up. Taking it down two frets makes an interesting sounding F chord with ambiguous whole tone flavours (ie consecutive whole tones F,G,A. Normally to get these kind of cluster chords you're looking at big stretches a la holdsworth or Andy Summers Police era.

Here's another fav of mine:

----3----

----3----

----0----

----0----

----x----

----3----

Billy Gibbons called this a Texas G or something. It's really just a huge power chord (roots and fifths...g,d,g,d,g)...makes an open G more "open" and the b string a little more in tune some how. Also...it's a great shape to move about. You get all these drones on the inner strings and can slide those oriental flavoured fourths to make a melody on the top two strings...the 6th string will follow the melody 2 octaves below creating a wierd sub-bass/octave divider type off sound to the melody. I worked up a real cool version of the blues "moonlight mile" (from the rolling stones - sticky fingers) just doing this on the verses...sliding around the melody.

Simple stuff but so effective!

I think this will be a great little thread here.

psw

[Curtis P]

i am pretty simple, i like the common rock and roll chord

-3--

-3--

-0--

-0--

----

-3--

-0

-0

--

-2

-2

-0

That one sounds cool too

Curtis

[Bill-Murray]

Well, I play a lot of Simple Plan and Good Charlotte, so far I know

a5, b5, c5, d5, e5, f5, g5,

Not really, I like barre chords and Am alot.

[psw]

That chord's only got 5 strings...I think it's the same as the g shape I showed...another big power chord!

Here's another one I remembered....You know the "message in a bottle" chord:

-----x---

-----x---

-----x---

-----9---

-----7----

-----5---

Well thats a stack of fifths...elaborated on for "always with you..." by satch.

Well, years earlier in tracks like "castles made of sand" hendrix was sliding this little beauty around:

---7----

---5----

---x----

---7----

---x----

---x----

---x----

Same stack an octave higher and easier to play. The ambiguous nature of the cluster means you can move it around kind of like you would octaves and such. Pops up in Hendrix's rhythm work and even in raging solos. Because the stack are two powerchords you can use the overdrive or clean if you wish!

Use the blocked strings for a percussive effect (wrap that thumb over Hendrix style)...excellent!

psw

[Mr.Churchyard]

I love those Rush/Dream Theater type chords... like

-0--0--0--0--

-0--0--0--0--

-6--8--4--6--

-7--9--4--6--

-7--9--2--4--

-5--7--------

I love the barré chords with 9ths (that's why I disliked that talk about f-chord playing) like

-5-

-5-

-6-

-9-

-7-

-5-

Then some jazzy chords...

[phingerboard]

I love the flavor of m7

-A- (root)

-A-

-A-

-A-

-X-

-A- (root)

A = any fret

X=dampened

[AlGeeEater]

Another one i forgot, is a chord from "Little Wing".

--5/7\5--3--

--3/5\3--1--

--4/6\4--2--

--5/7\5--3--

--------------

--------------

They sound good as a single chord group too. Heres a funk type chord. It's a C major chord...

--12--

--13--

--12--

--10--

-------

-------

See ya guys!

[MikeB]

no one mentioned the augmented!! *shock* i love it.

-0

-5

-5

-6

-7

-0

E augmented. its lovely

Mike

[Devon Headen]

Let's see...way too many out there, I'll just throw out a couple nice key of G chords

7-x-0-7-x-x

5-x-0-6-x-x

and move that general shape around a lot.

Also, must have chords for percussive rhythm (root note with 3 and octave, and root + b3 and b3 octave)

7-6-x-8-x-x

7-5-x-7-x-x

umm...an interesting Dsus4 for variety

x-5-4-0-3-x

you can also throw in the 2 with the open high e, or fret the high e at the fifth to give it another 5.

The fat sounding e5 on all six strings finally wore out for me, so I'm pretty sick of it. Another variation with only 2 root notes, is

0-2-x-4-0-0

a nice sounding bm(something; don't feel like figuring it out) for key of D is

x-2-0-2-3-0

I think that's quite enough for now, but I could go on forever. Well, a couple more shapes for good measure

x-5-4-6-5-x

5-7-9-6-5-5

x-x-3-5-x-5 (very fun little shape)

Let's hear some original thought in here

EDIT: didn't see Mr. Churchyard beat me to that 2 (or 9) shape.

[psw]

DH:

umm...an interesting Dsus4 for variety

x-5-4-0-3-x

Oh you beat me to it...saw Dylan use this in North Country girl open G, C then slide up to this for the D...nice. Sounds neat picked also!

MB:

no one mentioned the augmented!! *shock* i love it.

-0

-5

-5

-6

-7

-0

E augmented. its lovely

Try this James Bond Chord:

-0

-7

-8

-9

-10

-0

forget what it's called but occaisionally find it in some jazz. Good for Instro stuff!

AlGee:

Another one i forgot, is a chord from "Little Wing".

--5/7\5--3--

--3/5\3--1--

--4/6\4--2--

--5/7\5--3--

--------------

--------------

Yeah same chord as I mentioned but if you take out that note on the g string it doesn't seem to have any function so it doesnt seem to matter so much if moving it around you get some out of key notes...it's a kind of toanl cluster or colour of sound...Jimi was really on to that...music as soundscapes not just scales and modes, etc.

phingerboard:

I love the flavor of m7

yeah I used to use that exclusively for minor chords...don't seem to play it so often now...don't know why! It slides and slurs around nicely.

pete

Hmmm...something original...I don't know that there is anything that hasn't been done, but I'm sure there are a few things out there...I'll see if I can think of something special

[GregP]

Good lord, why are most people (except Devon) tabbing out their chords vertically? Seems like an awful lot of (unecessary) work!

[x189player]

Here's a handful of my faves i've put together into a nice Ellington arrangement. Especially that #11 chord in the last line.

[mledbetter]

In E.. I can fake my way through any song with these chords..

022100, 044200, 066400, x02200, x24400, x46600, 099800, 079900

I think that's right.. don't have a guitar in front of me.. It's just a simple walk up 8 chords with root notes in the E major scale.. But on an acoustic, the way they ring out is great and between those and a capo, it's real easy to fake your way along with keyboardists and their crazy chords

[Mr.Churchyard]

Try this James Bond Chord:

-0

-7

-8

-9

-10

-0

forget what it's called but occaisionally find it in some jazz. Good for Instro stuff!

←

Seems like an EmMaj7(9) chord. Lovely.

I often play triads like this:

e---

g---

b-2-2

d-2-2

a-4-3

e-5-5

respectively A major and A minor

Edited May 26, 2005 by Mr.Churchyard

[psw]

Try this James Bond Chord:

-0

-7

-8

-9

-10

-0

forget what it's called but occaisionally find it in some jazz. Good for Instro stuff!

←

Seems like an EmMaj7(9) chord. Lovely.

←

Yeah...that's right...it's the last chord...put a little vibrato on it for 007 effect!

3 note chords on the middle strings are neat:

D G Am Bm A E7 A7 A7 Dsus Eaug

- ---x----x---- x----x-----x-----x----x----x----x---

b ---7----8----10----7----5-----5----5----8----8--- ---5

g ---7----7-----9----7-----6-----7----6----6----7--- ---5

d ---7----9----10----9-----7-----6----5----7----7--- ---6

- ---x----x-----x----x------x-----x----x---x-----x---

- ---x----x-----x----x------x-----x----x---x-----x---

Just about any combination of notes of three notes over a 3 fret spread will give you a huge range of basic to more adventurous chord forms (like Eaug)

Much loved by Hendrix cause you can add little fills, K Richards 'cause you can hammer on the shapes, EVH 'cause they make cool riffs in a 3 piece setting and keep out of the way of the vocals...and any number of players...not the least because they're so easy to play! (plus no open notes mean they'll transpose to any key)

Because of the way the b string is tuned to a third, not a fourth, the forms don't need to stretch beyond a three fret range (as you'll find with other string sets). They're also great for voice leading. Sound neat hybrid picking (pick and two fingers) giving a piano like sound...or strummed...also good muted...and easy to play staccato by just lifting the left hand!

For Bass....playing notes a minor or major tenth (octave + 3rd) above the low string is a neat move. You only really need these two shapes to do it:

Am A

----5----6----

----x----x----

----x----x----

----5----5----

Same thing will work on guitar as well but is particularly suited to the bass as close voicings don't work too well in the lower register.

pete

Edited May 26, 2005 by psw

[Mr.Churchyard]

EVH 'cause they make cool riffs in a 3 piece setting and keep out of the way of the vocals...

←

In fact, as far as I remember, the first time I consciously encountered those three-note-per-string shapes was in "Panama"...

[mutronboy]

My all time favourite tune for guitar chords is Zappa's 'Zoot Allures'

my favourite of the bunch is this one (don't ask me what it's called, I only play it...heh)

I suppose you'd call it an E MAJ 7/9 +6

e---11---

b---12---

g---11---

d---11---

a---11---

e----0---

for those who know the tune I'll put up all the chords in sequence

(some of them are arpeggiated, and they're are a couple of quick runs I'll leave out)

On second thoughts...I'll just do the main section..the beginning's more complex and someone may have already done a powertab...

-e-----4------7------11------7------4----- This section repeats twice before the next

-b-----5------9------12------9------6----- section..it's quite slow, and is meant to be

-g-----4------9------11------9------6----- played loud and clean, but with feedback.

-d-----4------7------11------7------4----- A little bit of trem with the feedback, too

-a-----4------7------11------7------4----- I'll notate how many beats for each

-e-----x------x-------0-------x------x----- chord underneath...

beats(1)----(1)-----(6)----(2)----(6)

If it makes it any easier you can double the beat count, but it is very slow and feedbacky.

It's an awesome tune for a power trio...very slow and majestic...worth a look

If anyone wants more of this tune, just let me know...

Edited May 27, 2005 by mutronboy

[Daniel Sorbera]

In E.. I can fake my way through any song with these chords..

022100, 044200, 066400, x02200, x24400, x46600,  099800, 079900

I think that's right.. don't have a guitar in front of me.. It's just a simple walk up 8 chords with root notes in the E major scale.. But on an acoustic, the way they ring out is great and between those and a capo, it's real easy to fake your way along with keyboardists and their crazy chords

←

Those are like my most played chords also

----3----

----3----

----0----

----0----

----x----

----3----

Billy Gibbons called this a Texas G or something. It's really just a huge power chord (roots and fifths...g,d,g,d,g)...makes an open G more "open" and the b string a little more in tune some how. Also...it's a great shape to move about. You get all these drones on the inner strings and can slide those oriental flavoured fourths to make a melody on the top two strings...the 6th string will follow the melody 2 octaves below creating a wierd sub-bass/octave divider type off sound to the melody. I worked up a real cool version of the blues "moonlight mile" (from the rolling stones - sticky fingers) just doing this on the verses...sliding around the melody.

I always play that as a G (on acoustic of course). Prety much every christian worship song is just simple stuff in G but with the chords like this

G:

----3----

----3----

----0----

----0----

----x----

----3----

C:

----3----

----3----

----0----

----x----

----3----

----x----

D:

----3----

----3----

----2----

----0----

----0----

----x----

Em:

----3----

----3----

----0----

----2----

----2----

----0----

When you change between those chords it sounds much more nautraul when singing also.

I also like moving that C form around, it gets some really cool funk sounds. ESP on the 6 and 7 frets.

Also on acoustic just about everything I play in E I play with a cut capo on.

It's a capo that only covers the A, D, and G strings. It makes just about anything in the key of E or F# MUCH easier too play. It also gives your guitar a nice warm sound.

Heres some exampiles

(relative too capo the z means hold down the string on the second fret (the fret where the capo is)

E 000200

E/F# x40200

C#m x20200

C#m2 7x0700 hammer off to 7x0600

B x02200

A 320000 (or 3x0200)

E/G# 200200

F#m z22000

D 032000

G 133000

C 332010

Edited May 27, 2005 by Godin SD

[psw]

My all time favourite tune for guitar chords is Zappa's 'Zoot Allures'

my favourite of the bunch is this one (don't ask me what it's called, I only play it...heh)

e---11---

b---12---

g---11---

d---11---

a---11---

e----0---

←

Oh Yeah....I used to play this all the time when I was studying music....

It really comes from Miles Davis Kind of Blue era stuff (though featured in modern classical impressionistic type composers like Debussy and Stravinsky). A really beautiful open sound. I guess you can't really talk about chords without a little theory so here's some background to this chord. (of course Zappa was not afraid of theory and was well versed in what was going on in this regard)

OK...you know about the circle of fifths...and you know about the relation between fourths and fifths:

Let's do E

E to B is a fifth...the reverse B to E is a fourth...same notes just going in the opposite direction. Ok so the guitar is tuned (except for the b string) in fourths (tuning in fifths really only works for smaller scale instruments like the violin and mandolin because of the physical stretches required and the difficulty in playing chords). So a stack of fourths will be a bar right across the strings...except for the b string which is tuned to a maj3rd, so will need to be raised a fret.

SO...check this out:

here's a stack of fourths: ---x--

---8-- g

---7-- d

---7-- a

---7-- E

---7-- b

Now transpose the b on the lower string two octaves to the high string.

---7--- b

---8--- g

---7--- d

---7--- a

---7--- E

--(0)-- (E)

Ok, so even though it has a third on top it still contains all fourths, just the order is reversed.

Now...This chord sounds like a Em7(add 4)...you can add the low E to give an even stronger grounding to it.

OK...but there's more...

If you continue around the circle of fifths you will eventually name all twelve tones of the chromatic scale. You could say then that the chord intrinsically relates to the chromatic scale. For example, if you were to continue to stack up fourths you would still get the "sound" of this chord but it would now contain every possible note!!!!

Don't believe me...well put your foot on a piano's sustain pedal and play a stack of fourths (or fifths) all the way through the squence so that every note is ringing over several octaves...you'll see what I mean. By this means you can make any note relate to this chord.

Ok...let's transpose it a bit:

---12--- e

---13--- c

---12--- g

---12--- d

---12--- a

---(0)--

That means that every stack of fourths (or fifths for that matter, like in the Jimi hendrix chord I posted) could be considered an inversion fo the same chord in any position!

Got to run now...but theres even more...I'll be back to explain later...stay tuned!

[psw]

Just to continue this discussion briefly...here's another important aspect of this chord:

---7--- b

---8--- g

---7--- d

---7--- a

---7--- E

--(0)-- (E)

If you re-arrange the notes into a scale you get this

E g a b d

This is all the notes from our favorite THE E MINOR PENTATONIC SCALE.

Now...you can use the idea of quartal harmony...which derives from the chromatic scale...so contains all notes...as a means to use all notes in the chromatic scale (i.e. any note) in solo's and compositions...regardless of if the original tune contains Quartal Harmony.

Every appearance of this chord can be seen as some kind of inversion/extension of the same quartal harmony regardless of key or underlying chord. As each chord or sequence of the quartal/chromatic scale (chromatic scale arranged in perfect fourths) contains all the notes of a pentatonic scale, it can be used as an organising system that relates all pentatonic scales to one another.

The result is that you can easily use quartal harmony as a framework to use any pentatonic scale as a melodic or harmonic device over a given tune. It provides a different logic to notes. The result is that...given the right context...there are no wrong notes!. And this context is the pentatonic scale that we already are so familiar with...and fourths...which is intrinsic to the guitar because of the way it's tuned.

Anyway...If people would like me to start a thread explaining all this and/or want to learn more about this concept for structuring pentatonics so that all twelve tones can be used to create unique outside sounds without just sounding totally out of key...I could start another thread on it

But I'll need a little encouragement...so if there's no interest I wont bother. It is something you're unlikely to find in any books that I know of...and it basically all relates back to pentatonic scales...so it's not that hard to come to terms with!

let me know

pete