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Inversions/Playing Up The Neck
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Inversions/Playing Up The Neck |
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Subject: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: GUEST Date: 22 Jun 04 - 11:55 PM Hi, I've seen a couple of people lately, who have acquired a talent for working out relatively simple chord sequences by using the whole neck of the guitar, rather than the usual first postion chords. I've never been one for applying bar chords when it could be avoided, and I find that these inversions can have as satisfying an effect as alternate tuning chords. Could anyone suggest a book or web-site where I could learn how to "work the neck" of a guitar for a more interesting accompaniment? Cheers John |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: DonMeixner Date: 23 Jun 04 - 12:29 AM http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/pm/chord/chord Try this John. I build chords with this generator all the time. It ain't a book but it is a great tool to use. Don |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: Amos Date: 23 Jun 04 - 12:50 AM One way is to approach the scales in duplets. Playing only two or three strings, instead of all six, as they slide up the neck. As with all major Western scales the intervals (in half-tones) are 2-2-1-2-2-2-1. Typically for example you can run up the high E and G strings and you will find that they run up in parallel except for two places (just as the intervals are two halftones except for two places. Just looking at the top three strings with high E on the right and playing just the high E and G strings, just two fingers one for each of the two strings, played in ascending pairs: E 1xx F# 2x2 G# 4x4 A 6x5 B 8x7 C# 9x9 D# 11x11 E 12x13 That's a scale you can start anywhere. If you start it on the third fret, it is a G scale, and so on. A |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: MAG Date: 23 Jun 04 - 01:22 AM How interesting, Amos. That is pretty much the pattern I have been using to begin learning where the notes are up the neck. it is one neck attack skill to freeing up my playing. incremental, but still one step. the friend showing me some stuff is big on inversions, passing chords, power chords, etc. It's coming, it's coming. slowly. I'll get it before I die. Or arthritis gets me. (I'll play the G scale and think: g-a-b-c-d-e-f#-g find a d, and do: d-e-f#-g-a-b-c#-d a scale;e scale, etc. |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: GUEST,Les B. Date: 23 Jun 04 - 01:56 PM Quite a number of years ago I ran across a Mel Bay instruction book on playing melody out of simple "pure" chords - ie. three string (or sometimes four string) chords on the highest three strings of the guitar, high E, B, and G. I don't have the book anymore, so I don't know the correct title. It was an eye-opener for me. The moveable chord shapes were the 1st postion "D", the first position "F", a modified "A", "Dm", "Bm", etc. Just taking those shapes and sliding them up and down for melody and inversions can really open up the neck. If you're fingerpicking one of those inversions usually throws the needed melody note up on the top string. And, if you're in the right key (G or D?), you can still sometimes use the open bottom strings for your alternating bass without too much dissonance. |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: Mark Clark Date: 23 Jun 04 - 04:14 PM John, There is a simple system for learning to find your way around the neck of the guitar called CAGED—taken from the chord shapes for C, A, G, E and D. The thread is called I feel CAGED!!!. This system will help you learn where you can find substitutions for first position chords. Another very helpful thing to know is where the various intervals occur in all the chords you make; i.e. which finger is playing the root or tonic note, which finger is playing the third, fifth, seventh and so on. With this knowledge, it becomes much easier to construct new chords at other positions on the neck. <pedant alert> I suppose a bar chord is any chord played while working in a bar. Chords formed by placing the index finger firmly across all strings at a paticular fret are called barre chords. </pedant alert> But it isn't necessary to play barre chords to play up the neck. Players like Merle Travis and Doc Watson almost never use barre chords. It is handy to learn to use the thumb of your noting hand to get needed bass notes but this technique is probably used more by finger pickers than plectrum players. Jazz players commonly use three and four note voicings for their chords. They learn something like the CAGED system so they know where they are. For example, describing chords by fret only listing strings from bass to treble, a G6 may be played as:
1·x·6·3·5·x (tonic, sixth, third, fifth). If you raise the fourth (D) string note (the 6th interval) one fret, you have a dominant seventh chord (G7) but the fingering must change to 1x243x. If you raise that same string yet another fret, you'll have a GMaj7 chord but, again, the fingering must change so you'd use 1x342x. Now all these chords may be moved anywhere you'd like.Once you start to see how this works you can play with these forms in other ways as well. One useful thing you can always do with these chords is transfer the note on the bass E string to the treble E string. Of course you can't sound the bass E anymore but you now have a complete set of four-string trebble chords for comping. Kentucky thumbpickers like Merle Travis, Thom Bresh and Tommy Flint use an entirely different set of moveable chords using the thumb of the noting hand so the bass is always where they want it. - Mark |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: M.Ted Date: 23 Jun 04 - 05:39 PM You should print out Mark Clark's post, laminate it, and carry it with you everywhere, because all the info you need is there!!!--just work with it a little bit at a time, though, because though this stuff is simple to explain, it takes a lot of practice and repetition to get it smooth-- |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 23 Jun 04 - 06:03 PM Of course, if you've got a guitar that allows you to get above the 12th fret and hold down first position chords there, it looks quite impressive and sounds interesting, and you don't need any new chords at all. |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: John in Brisbane Date: 23 Jun 04 - 09:14 PM This is one of the common movable scales for guitar which allow reasonable economy of left hand movement. It's in the key of C Major, but can be used for keys ftom (say) Bb to E. Once you get used to playing this pattern - up and down the scale - it's then quite easy to move to (say) the C# scale by moving one fret down towards the bridge, and so on. There are other easy scales, but I'll leave it at this for the moment. I hope that my TAB style below makes sense. I've rotated it through 90 degrees for this example. >
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: John in Brisbane Date: 23 Jun 04 - 09:27 PM EADGBE
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: pavane Date: 24 Jun 04 - 04:55 AM There are not necessarily INVERSIONS An inversion is a chord with a note OTHER THAN THE TONIC as its lowest note. Thus the chord of C, root position, is C E G ( c e g ...) First inversion is E G C .... Second inversion is G C E In classical harmony, second inversions can only be used in certain limited circumstances. Guitarists don't seem to worry about this! |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: M.Ted Date: 24 Jun 04 - 01:39 PM I don't understand your post at all, John--clarify? |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: Mark Clark Date: 24 Jun 04 - 02:42 PM M.Ted, Thanks for the generous endorsement. While I was writing that, I kept thinking you could do a much better job of explaining it than I. Pavane, I think your examples are correct, as far as they go. But to say an inversion is any chord with “a note OTHER THAN THE TONIC as it's lowest note” isn't quite the whole story. I think that, technically, inversions require that the spelling of the chord be rotated without altering the basic sequence of notes. So E G C and G C E are proper inversions of a C Major triad but E C G is considered a voicing rather than an inversion. This issue probably doesn't come up much on the piano, where each note occurs only once, but on the guitar there are many places on a fingerboard where the same note may be found. Keeping the third always just above the tonic might require that both notes be played on the same string at the same time—an impossibility. And, as you point out, chords played up the neck aren't necessarily inversions but they do represent different voicings even if the spelling is in order. The information I posted yesterday I learned long ago from a now deceased jazz player, Art Erickson, and I remember it really opened up a lot of new possibilities for me. He referred to the four chord forms I diagramed for a G6 as inversions and guitarists tend to think of them as inversions but I think voicings may be the more correct term. The implications of playing around with those chord forms can be quite astonishing… well, assuming you're as easily astonished as I am. <g> For example, the G7 form based on my first voicing above may be converted to a kind of G7b9 by raising the G on the bass E string one half step to a G#. The fingers used then become 2x131x. Of course we no longer have any G (tonic) note in our chord but guitarists do this sort of thing all the time. If the chord functions as a G7b9 and has some of the notes from a proper G7b9, it's a G7b9. Of course a better name for this particular chord might be AbDim7 (or FDim7 or BDim7 or DDim7) and once again you can transfer the note on bass E string over to the Treble E string with impunity. The point is that when you know where the named intervals are in each chord you make, playing around with them becomes a lot more fun. You're no longer just memorizing chord shapes and fingerings. You'll be able to construct your own voicings to fit what you want to play. This is far easier and more practical than owning a book of 10,000 guitar chords or relying on a computer program to construct chords for you. - Mark |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: Mark Clark Date: 24 Jun 04 - 02:51 PM John's example is just a descending C Major scale diagrammed in a series snapshots showing what fret is being played on each string. The strings are ordered bass to treble (left to right) as in my examples. - Mark |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: John in Brisbane Date: 25 Jun 04 - 03:55 AM Thanks Mark. Because this thread has covered 'Playing Up The Neck' I thought it might be useful for somebody who wants to play single notes closer to the bridge of the instrument. Once you know two or three of these common scale 'shapes' it's a lot easier to improvise in ANY key, right up and down the fretboard. Regards, John |
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Subject: RE: Inversions/Playing Up The Neck From: Big Al Whittle Date: 25 Jun 04 - 04:11 AM if god had meant us to play up there he would have given us twelve inch fingers |
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