Moveable Chords

Subject: Moveable Chords
From: GUEST,Sing.out
Date: 18 Jan 03 - 09:16 PM

That recent thread was really helpful to me. Easy to follow, although I don't know how/when to use those moves.

The D Chord hint (moving up to the 7th and 9th frets) has gotten me out of the first three frets. I have found I can use it at the end of Hobo's Lullaby and it sounds really nice.

Any other helpful hints to "jazz" up songs for beginning players playing folk tunes, traditional songs, etc. with the most common chords?

Thanks!

Penny

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 18 Jan 03 - 10:19 PM

Learn the basic 9th chord form. It is indispensable for swingin' tunes up. At the first fret it's a B9 and it's fingered X21222. It's just like a B7 except you make a "mini barre" with your ring finger to catch strings 1,2 & 3. Slide it up to the 2nd fret and you've got a C9. At the 4th fret it's D9 etc.

Say you're playing a simple 3 chord song in G. Just G, C & D chords. Substitute C9 and D9 for the regular C & D major chords and see what happens. Since the 9th chords are "closed" chords, it'll probably sound better to use a barre G (355433) than a regular open G (320003).

BTW, on that B9 fingering you can hook your thumb over and catch the 6th string at the 2nd fret instead of muting it.

Bruce

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: Marion
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 12:48 AM

Here's a link to the thread Penny's talking about, since it didn't make it into the list at the top: Our friend the movable B7 chord.

Penny, I don't know how beginner is beginner, so pardon me if this tip is too basic for you:

When playing a D chord (the normal one in the first three frets) wrap your thumb around and fret the low E string on the 2nd fret for an F# note. Although most chords involving the thumb take some stretching, this one is really easy, and it means that you can strum all six strings, and that you have three bass strings available for an alternating bass pattern. Also, it will make you look more sophisticated than you may actually be. You can add this note to a D7 chord as well.

Marion

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: ced2
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 05:49 AM

I keep reading strange finger patterns on a guitar fingerboard; I think they must be F-off#.

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 11:18 AM

The best way to think about movable chords is that they are all "inversions". The same tones stacked in different orders. C,E,G
which spells out a C major chord can be inverted all over the neck ot the guitar. Sometimes three tones are useful and other times four or five or six which requires that some of the tones will be doubled in a different register. You can use your ear sometimes to locate the inversions of the basic chord that you play. Start with the basic triad for example: C,E,G, and then E,G,C then G,E,C. Carry it up the neck of the guitar. Also, some chords in first position (on the first three frets of the guitar) can be found in other positions up the neck in the same "voicing". This means that a G,C,E on the first three strings in first position will sound the same as the fourth, third and second string on the third fret. These principles will apply to any chord.

Frank

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: Cluin
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 11:25 AM

Another neat trick is to leave some strings open and ringing if they fit within the chord. It provides for a nice wide deep voicing when you're way up the neck sometimes, though you might want to only leave open bass strings if the open notes are the tonic or the 5th. Sort of a "power chord" sound.

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: GUEST,sing.out
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 01:00 PM

Thanks everyone. Guess I'm beginning, beginner. Will have to break down and learn all the notes on the strings, which I wanted to avoid! But I bet it will all make more sense then.

I'll check this all out again in time.

Penny

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: Marion
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 10:10 AM

Hi Penny. Another good thing to start doing right while you're a beginner is the G chord fingering - most people start out with a less practical fingering.   

If you're not doing so already, play G like this: middle finger on 5th string 2nd fret, ring finger on 6th string 3rd fret, and pinkie on 1st string 3rd fret. Don't worry if it feels awkward at first, it will soon feel more natural than the index-middle-ring fingering. And it will make transitions to and from the C chord MUCH more graceful. For further info, see the thread "Beginner guitar - G chord fingering" in the list of links at the top of this thread.

You're right that learning the names of notes on the fretboard will open up a lot for you - I'd suggest you start by learning the first five frets of each string, rather than the whole guitar at once. It's also very enlightening to learn some chord theory if you haven't done so already: what notes make up the chords, and what chords tend to go together in songs.

One other thing I wanted to mention - your last post implied that some of the tips you're finding here are out of your league. I've been a Mudcatter for most of my guitar-playing life and I've learned a lot from threads here. With many (most?) of these technique tip threads, I found little or nothing that I could use right away, but I've made note of them and browse through them periodically to see what "speaks to my condition" at the time. A message that was over my head the first time I saw it might be just right for my knowledge level if I read it again in six months, and might turn out to be something I've already learned and consider old hat if I see it again in a year.

So my suggestion is - keep coming back, reading through the archives of tip threads, and seeing what they have to offer you at that particular time. If you become a Mudcat member, you can keep a list of traced threads on your personal page so they're easy to find again. If you don't, you can find good threads to browse through with the list of related links at the top of other threads, or by looking at the Help for Pickers Permathread, which is both a collection of tips and an index of tip threads.

Cheers, Marion

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: Marion
Date: 24 Jan 03 - 11:27 AM

Bruce said in his post above about movable 9th chords:

BTW, on that B9 fingering you can hook your thumb over and catch the 6th string at the 2nd fret instead of muting it.

There's a couple of more options on that chord: you can fret both the 5th and 6th string with your middle finger instead of muting or using your thumb; you can also fret both 5th and 6th string with your thumb and really impress your friends.

Marion

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Jan 03 - 07:32 PM

I agree that the G chord fingering you suggest should be practised, Marion, but I would suggest that the alternative fingering should be practised as well.

There are many times when it is effective to play a passing A (possibly as a pull-off) at the fifth fret with the pinkie while holding down a G chord.

It is quite easy, with practice, to attain fluency with either fingering, and in time the hand will select the appropriate fingering automatically.

Murray

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: Mugwump
Date: 24 Jan 03 - 07:37 PM

I've tried this th mularkey. It's bloody hard, just can't get my 47 year old arthritc fingers around it! Now if I'd learnt it when I was a kid I'd be laughing. But all the guitar books at that time had "Home On The Range" , "The Grand Old Duke Of York" and other shite!

Subject: RE: Moveable Chords
From: Lane
Date: 26 Jan 03 - 01:01 PM

Jenny,
Good thread... keep it going. I'm not a beginner, but have not ventured much above the 3rd fret in my time playing... as I find that there's life up there, I want to find more of the same kind of thing you're looking for.

You might want to play with taking a simple F chord and just sliding it up - two frets above its regular position and its a G, up two more gives you an A. You can use it to replace the regular positions and get some nice different voicings.

BTW.. I had missed what you mentioned about taking the D up to the 7th and 9th frets..thats sounds nice. I play Hobo's Lullaby too, how do you use that D trick in it... as an ending or?