I've enjoyed the threads on various chord and fingering patterns and I got to thinking it might be fun to explore all the various turnarounds—little mini chord progressions—used to introduce a tune, end a chorus or simply fill the space between choruses. I'm sure the guitar players among you will have a whole store of these in your bag of tricks.

In the hope of starting a thread on turnarounds, I offer a couple of them to kick things off. The first one is a simple blues turnaround that most people already play. It's just to help get the idea across. I marked the left (noting) hand fingers I use directly above the fret indications in the tab fragment below. The E7 chord ending the turnaround is a C7 pattern moved up so the index finger is on the 5th fret.

Blues Turnaround in A

                                                  E7       
     3 4 3   3 4 3   3 4 1     3       1  2       3
  E    9       8       7           |                      |
  B                                |                      |
  G  9   9   8   8   7   5         |                      |
  D                            7   |                      |
  A                                |   5  6       7       |
  E                                |                      |
  

This next one is more of a jazz turnaround. I've placed it in the key of C but all the chords are movable ones so you can use it anywhere on the neck.

The progression is C6, C#dim, Dm7, D#dim, C6, D#dim, Dm7, G13 with fingering as 8x798x, 9x898x, (10)x(10)(10)(10)x, (11)x(10)(11)(10)x, (12)x(10)(12)(10)x, (11)x(10)(11)(10)x, (10)x(10)(10)(10)x, (10)x9(10)(10)(12). I've made the fingerings active links to chord diagrams if you would rather see a diagram of the left hand fingering. The chords are arpegiated in a swing rhythm and make a nice 8 bar intro to a tune like "Georgia On My Mind." You could also just chop them two chords (four strokes) to the bar.

Anyone else?

      - Mark