Moveable Chords (The Progressive Guitarist Series)

Part of Latarski's 'the Progreaive Guitarist' series in which each book concentrates on a particular area of jazz guitar. 'Moveable Guitar Chords' presents a.
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From the major key's I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi-vii o progression, the "secondary" minor triads ii-iii-vi appear in the relative minor key's corresponding chord progression as i-iv-v or i-iv-V or i-iv-V7: The technique of changing among relative keys pairs of relative majors and relative minors is a form of modulation. Adding a minor seventh to a major triad creates a dominant seventh denoted V7. In music theory, the "dominant seventh" described here is called a major-minor seventh , emphasizing the chord's construction rather than its usual function.

The dominant seventh discussed is the most commonly played seventh chord. These progressions with seventh chords arise in the harmonization of major scales in seventh chords. Be they in major key or minor key, such I-IV-V chord-progressions are extended over twelve bars in popular music—especially in jazz , blues , and rock music. The implementation of musical chords on guitars depends on the tuning. Since standard tuning is most commonly used, expositions of guitar chords emphasize the implementation of musical chords on guitars with standard tuning.

The implementation of chords using particular tunings is a defining part of the literature on guitar chords, which is omitted in the abstract musical-theory of chords for all instruments. For example, in the guitar like other stringed instruments but unlike the piano , open-string notes are not fretted and so require less hand-motion. Thus chords that contain open notes are more easily played and hence more frequently played in popular music , such as folk music. Many of the most popular tunings—standard tuning, open tunings , and new standard tuning —are rich in the open notes used by popular chords.

Open tunings allow major triads to be played by barring one fret with only one finger, using the finger like a capo. On guitars without a zeroth fret after the nut , the intonation of an open note may differ from then note when fretted on other strings; consequently, on some guitars, the sound of an open note may be inferior to that of a fretted note. Unlike the piano, the guitar has the same notes on different strings. Consequently, guitar players often double notes in chord, so increasing the volume of sound. Doubled notes also changes the chordal timbre: Having different "string widths, tensions and tunings, the doubled notes reinforce each other, like the doubled strings of a twelve-string guitar add chorusing and depth".

For triadic chords, doubling the third interval, which is either a major third or a minor third, clarifies whether the chord is major or minor. Unlike a piano or the voices of a choir, the guitar in standard tuning has difficulty playing the chords as stacks of thirds, which would require the left hand to span too many frets, [40] particularly for dominant seventh chords, as explained below. If in a particular tuning chords cannot be played in closed position, then they often can be played in open position; similarly, if in a particular tuning chords cannot be played in root position, they can often be played in inverted positions.

A chord is inverted when the bass note is not the root note. Additional chords can be generated with drop-2 or drop-3 voicing, which are discussed for standard tuning's implementation of dominant seventh chords below. When providing harmony in accompanying a melody, guitarists may play chords all-at-once or as arpeggios. Arpeggiation was the traditional method of playing chords for guitarists for example in the time of Mozart. Contemporary guitarists using arpeggios include Johnny Marr of The Smiths.

A six-string guitar has five musical-intervals between its consecutive strings. In standard tuning, the intervals are four perfect-fourths and one major-third, the comparatively irregular interval for the G,B pair. Consequently, standard tuning requires four chord-shapes for the major chords.

Another feature of standard tuning is that the ordering of notes often differs from root position. Notes are often inverted or otherwise permuted, particularly with seventh chords in standard tuning, [46] as discussed below. Triads are usually played with doubled notes, [47] as the following examples illustrate. Commonly used major-chords are convenient to play in standard tuning, in which fundamental chords are available in open position , that is, the first three frets and additional open strings.

For the C major chord C,E,G, , the conventional left-hand fingering doubles the C and E notes in the next octave; this fingering uses two open-notes, E and G:. For the other commonly used chords, the conventional fingerings also double notes and feature open-string notes:. Besides doubling the fifth note, the conventional E-major chord features a tripled bass-note.

The B major and F major chords are commonly played as barre chords , with the first finger depressing five—six strings. B major chord has the same shape as the A major chord but it is located two frets further up the fretboard. The F major chord is the same shape as E major but it is located one fret further up the fretboard. Minor chords commonly notated as C- , Cm , Cmi or Cmin are the same as major chords except that they have a minor third instead of a major third. This is a difference of one semitone.

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To create F minor from the F major chord in E major shape , the second finger should be lifted so that the third string plays onto the barre. Compare the F major to F minor:. These chords are used extensively by My Bloody Valentine, on the album Loveless. They are also used on the Who song "Pinball Wizard" and many, many more songs.

As previously stated, a dominant seventh is a four-note chord combining a major chord and a minor seventh. Drop-two chords are used particularly in jazz guitar. A list of fret-number configurations for some common chords follows:. Already in basic guitar-playing, inversion is important for sevenths chords in standard tuning. It is also important for playing major chords. In standard tuning, chord inversion depends on the bass note's string, and so there are three different forms for the inversion of each major chord, depending on the position of the irregular major-thirds interval between the G and B strings.

For example, if the note E the open sixth string is played over the A minor chord, then the chord would be [0 0 2 2 1 0]. This has the note E as its lowest tone instead of A. However, in popular music it is usual to play inverted chords on the guitar when they are not part of the harmony, since the bass guitar can play the root pitch. There are many alternate tunings.

These change the way chords are played, making some chords easier to play and others harder. An open tuning allows a chord to be played by strumming the strings when "open", or while fretting no strings. The base chord consists of at least three notes and may include all the strings or a subset.

The tuning is named for the base chord when played open, typically a major triad, and each major-triad can be played by barring exactly one fret. Open tunings improve the intonation of major chords by reducing the error of third intervals in equal temperaments. For example, in the open-G overtones tuning G-G-D-G-B-D, the G,B interval is a major third , and of course each successive pair of notes on the G- and B-strings is also a major third; similarly, the open-string minor-third B,D induces minor thirds among all the frets of the B-D strings.

The thirds of equal temperament have audible deviations from the thirds of just intonation: Equal temperaments is used in modern music because it facilitates music in all keys, while on a piano and other instruments just intonation provided better-sounding major-third intervals for only a subset of keys.

This adjustment dials out the dissonance, and makes those big one-finger major-chords come alive.

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Repetitive open-tunings are used for two non-Spanish classical-guitars. While on-average major-thirds tunings are conventional open tunings, properly major-thirds tunings are unconventional open-tunings, because they have augmented triads as their open chords. Guitar chords are dramatically simplified by the class of alternative tunings called regular tunings.

Regular tunings include major-thirds M3 , all-fourths , augmented-fourths , and all-fifths tunings. Further simplifications occur for the regular tunings that are repetitive , that is, which repeat their strings. Such repetition further simplifies the learning of chords and improvisation; [71] This repetition results in two copies of the three open-strings' notes, each in a different octave. Chord inversion is especially simple in M3 tuning.


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Chords are inverted simply by raising one or two notes by three strings; each raised note is played with the same finger as the original note. Inverted major and minor chords can be played on two frets in M3 tuning.


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It is a challenge to adapt conventional guitar-chords to new standard tuning , which is based on all-fifths tuning. The fundamental guitar-chords—major and minor triads and dominant sevenths—are tertian chords, which concatenate third intervals , with each such third being either major M3 or minor m3. Stacking thirds also constructs the most used seventh-chords. The most important seventh-chords concatenate a major triad with a third interval, supplementing it with a seventh interval:. Four of these five seventh-chords—all but the diminished seventh—are constructed via the tertian harmonization of a major scale.

Besides these five types there are many more seventh-chords, which are less used in the tonal harmony of the common-practice period. When playing seventh chords, guitarists often play only subset of notes from the chord. The fifth is often omitted. When a guitar is accompanied by a bass, the guitarist may omit the bass note from a chord.

As discussed earlier, the third of a triad is doubled to emphasize its major or minor quality; similarly, the third of a seventh is doubled to emphasize its major or minor quality. The most frequent seventh is the dominant seventh; the minor, half-diminished, and major sevenths are also popular.

Dear Don Latarski...

The previously discussed I-IV-V chord progressions of major triads is a subsequence of the circle progression , which ascends by perfect fourths and descends by perfect fifths: Perfect fifths and perfect fourths are inverse intervals , because one reaches the same pitch class by either ascending by a perfect fourth five semitones or descending by a perfect fifth seven semitones.

In particular, the ii-V-I progression is the most important chord progression in jazz music. Major inversions for guitar in standard tuning. The low E is on the left. The A demonstrates three of the different movable shapes. Besides the dominant seventh chords discussed above, other seventh chords—especially minor seventh chords and major seventh chords—are used in guitar music.

In major-thirds M3 tuning , the chromatic scale is arranged on three consecutive strings in four consecutive frets. Other chords— seconds , fourths , sevenths , and ninths —are played on only three successive frets. The circle of fifths was discussed in the section on intermediate guitar-chords. Other progressions are also based on sequences of third intervals; [90] progressions are occasionally based on sequences of second intervals.

In closed position, extended chords contain dissonant intervals or may sound supersaturated, particularly thirteenth chords with their seven notes. Consequently, extended chords are often played with the omission of one or more tones, especially the fifth and often the third, [92] [93] as already noted for seventh chords; similarly, eleventh chords often omit the ninth, and thirteenth chords the ninth or eleventh. Often, the third is raised an octave, mimicking its position in the root's sequence of harmonics.

Dominant ninth chords were used by Beethoven, and eleventh chords appeared in Impressionist music. Thirteenth chords appeared in the twentieth century. Conventional music uses diatonic harmony , the major and minor keys and major and minor scales, as sketched above. Jazz guitarists must be fluent with jazz chords and also with many scales and modes ; "of all the forms of music, jazz In popular music, chords are often extended also with added tones , especially added sixths.

It is the best conceptual and practical material available. Although there is a plethora of books and resources available on the market today, many seem cumbersome and confusing or have very little content to offer.

Tips & Tricks Series 2. Two Movable 7th Chord Shapes

In contrast, I find your books to provide easy to understand explanations that demystify the confusion while offering a balanced approach to learning and exploring the instrument. I've had the pleasure of performing at the NAMM show four of the five last years. At these events I get to talk with a lot of folks who have endless questions about how to improve their guitar skills.

I have recommended your books at these clinics, concerts and workshops to guitar students of all levels countless times. I consider myself to be just an average hack on the guitar, but as a student of the guitar I've found your books to be very helpful. Do you use a particular computer software program to create the chord boxes and diagrams in your books? Latarski, It was a fluke that I found a book several years ago called Chord Embellishments.

I was helping a friend clean out her ex-husbands belongings from their garage and found this oversized format book hanging out of a file folder. She said he didn't even play the guitar and told me to keep the book. I had played by ear and was self taught for 31 years when I struck it rich with this book. I've used it many times over when I'm teaching. Five years later, this book is a mainstay in teaching and learning.

Moveable Chords: Guitar Book

I have added Practical Theory and Moveable Chords to the arsenal of guitar knowlege. Your books have helped me make sense of what I was already doing, and expand what I create musically. I love the guitar more now than ever. Thanks a lot, from me and all my students!

I will definitely recommend it to my students. Don, I purchased your Progressive Guitarist Series last year. Just wanted to let you know that these books are priceless. I have learned a great deal about theory and lead playing scales, embellishments, arpeggios. Latarski, I just wanted to take a moment and give credit where credit is due. Your Progressive Guitarist Series of books have taught me more in the past year than I was able to learn in 10 years of self-teaching and occasional lessons.

Yours are the best out there and I am positive that's because they were written by the best guitar instructor out there. I will keep learning from your books and I will continue to recommend them to my own students and other guitarists who ask for my advice. By the way, I've got your Practical Theory for Guitar and it is by far and away the best thing I've found. Concise and explains so much. The mode sections are very good. The book has helped me to understand chord substittions and why they work.

My teacher is now using your book as a theory reference for his other students, and I find that the information within is an invaluable resource that I've recommended to a few of my other musician friends. Once again thanks for making such a comprehensive and easy-to-understand theory book! Don, I got the Funk Groove Essentials CD last week, but due to an exhaustive work week, had to wait until yesterday to put it in.

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The intructions got me steered in the right direction with the voicings on the chords and the scale to use. Thanks to your book my tunes are really rocking. When I release my records I'll be sure to include your name in the credits to pay tribute to the way you have helped my songwriting. I have Practical Theory for Guitar. Even though I have many other books for guitar theory written in Korean and English as well as transcribed from Japanese, Practical Theory for Guitar is the best.