The G major Chord thread

Subject: The G major Chord thread
From: Stu
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 05:00 AM

Well, as the D major thread seems to have started well, how about G major?

As my only real refence is Irsih and English tunes, you mayfind my choices somewhat simplistic. To continue on the bass run theme, working my way up the fretboard i quite like Am7-Bm -C.

Sweet!

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Janice in NJ
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 06:31 AM

In the USA we often call G major The People's Key. That's because it is well suited for the group singing of many basic I-IV-V folk songs such as Oh Mary Don't You Weep, It Takes a Worried Man, Got to Travel On, She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain, Jesse James, and This Land Is Your Land. The most important chords (including G, G7, C, C7, D, D7, Em, and A7) are all easy to play on the standard 6-string guitar, and do not require any barring. Picking out bass runs or the melody (or a skeleton of the melody) with the thumb or with a flat pick is usually fairly simple. The main chords are also easy to play on the 5-string banjo when it is tuned to an open G, and the melody can often be picked with the thumb and forefinger.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 06:35 AM

The People's Key?

Must tell Tony Blair.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 07:52 AM

Hmmmm, he'll have to leglislate against that - like all those folk singing pubs...

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: GUEST,Seaking
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 08:31 AM

and then Gordon will tax it..

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Snuffy
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 09:12 AM

Legislate against it? Silence the melodeons?

'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. :-)

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 09:20 AM

I recently met a guy who plays guitar in a Stones cover band called Goat's Head Soup. When he gets tired of the guitar, he plays a mandolin tuned to open G ... Somehow that tangly, jangly mando sound doesn't say "Stones" to me, but what do I know?

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 11:05 AM

G major is a favourite key of Keith Richards - he tunes to DGDGBD a lot of the time and has done so throughout the stones history.

He uses a Capo often too.

I've played a few Stones songs on the mandolin and in my experience they adapt very well.

p.s. Note that Mandolins lowest two pairs of string (G & D) reflect the "Keith" tuning and provide the Power chord         d G D g b d, which means those power chords make the move note for note, so you can play those chordy riffs exactly the same, albeit 8ve up.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: PoppaGator
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 01:26 PM

The most important single question about the G major chord (standard tuning, of course):

Do you use fingers 1-2-3 (middle finger on low E string, ring finger on high E) or fingers 2-3-4 (ring finger on low E, pinky on high E)?

As much as any single indication, the method you employ to make the "G" serves to separate the amateurs from the "playas."

The 1-2-3 version is taught to beginners, but the 2-3-4 fingering is far easier to use in most situations ~ especially in the key of C ~ for quick chord changes, bass runs, etc. The only case where I can see the 1-2-3 formation being preferable is in two-chord songs in G, where the only chords you make are G and D.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Midchuck
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 01:40 PM

...or the "Tony Rice G...

(1st finger on A string for B, middle on low E for G, ring on B string for D, pinky on high E for G).

No third except in the bass.

Nice droney sound for certain nice droney songs.

Peter.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Highlandman
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 03:02 PM

(1st finger on A string for B, middle on low E for G, ring on B string for D, pinky on high E for G).

No third except in the bass.

Now mute the B instead of sounding it :-) and you have the basic "bluegrass" G chord - no third at all.

-HM

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 03:37 PM

I use both fingerings, depending on what's going on. Normally (a la classic guitar) I use the 2-3-4 fingering. Easy transition to and from C, or, say, a progression of G-G7-C, or almost anything within the keys of C and G. Sometimes in the key of D, I'll use the 1-2-3 fingering. If I'm going from G to a Bm, for example, I'll probably use 1-2-3. Just flop the first string down on the 2nd fret (barre) where it already is and put the rest of the fingers where they need to be.

No law sez you have to use only one fingering.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: GUEST,Clint Keller
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 03:56 PM

Met a guy once - just once - who tuned his guitar GGDGBD. Don't know if he wanted to get rid of the low D or wanted to reinforce the low G. He picked good, though.

Doesn't Keith R sometimes use a custom five-string tuned GDGBD?

clint

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Mooh
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 04:24 PM

Keith has at least two regular Telecasters with only 5 strings tuned to GDGBD, and likely more guitars than we can imagine.

As for G major chords, context is everything, dictating "voicing", fingering, and number of octaves. Remember that if it occurs in one place on the fingerboard it has to occur everywhere else. Highlight all the G, B, and D notes on a fingerboard map and G chords will pop up all over the place. As for which one to use, the ear will help.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 07:31 PM

I'd like to introduce my old friend Gibbidy.... (G B D)

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: GUEST,Auggie
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 09:04 PM

If you play "upside down" as I do (right handed guitar played by a left hander), G is a ridiculously easy chord to finger

ring finger at 3rd fret of low E string
index finger on 2nd fret of A string
thumb on 3rd fret of high E

Wanna pick up that D note from the third fret of the B string?
Just slide your thumb on over a little farther.

For those of us who are "forward impaired", playing "backwards" is often much easier.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: DonMeixner
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 11:48 PM

I play the full four finger chord with the D grabbed off the B string by my ring finger. The key of G is my favorite bunch of chords except for the odd Bm and G7 which are very hard for me to play.

Except for the C major the usual chords take no more than two frets in width. I can cpo up a little and be comfortable in my usual singing keys.

Don

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Pauline L
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 01:02 AM

I'm a fiddler, and I thought D major was the People's Key.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Mappa Mundi
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 07:01 AM

The chord of the (5)Banjo player! Much beloved by er - me!

Woohoo.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: GUEST,Grab
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 08:10 AM

1,2,3 fingering also allows the 320033 version of the G chord (I think this is the one Midchuck is calling the "Tony Rice G"). This is very prominent in "Take it easy" by The Eagles, to pick an obvious example. I don't like it as much as the regular 320003 version, but it has its places - as do the 32000x and 32003x versions.

It also makes possible an alternative G7 with 323003 which allows interesting mid-range runs instead of the bog-standard bass and treble runs.

Graham.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 08:28 AM

Others fret the top D and G in teh 320033 version with the same finger (either ring or little) bending the top joint back.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 10:14 AM

Those of us with small, square hands are rather limited in our choice of fingerings. The 2-3-4 version of basic G would be so much more convenient, if only my pinky were long enough to arch even a quarter of an inch and thus clear the edge of the fingerboard.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 12:55 PM

Those last two posts illustrate how very different our physical capabilities can be.

Even before I got arthritis, I don't think I could ever have held down those four strings like Richard Bridge says he can do it. I play plenty of fingerpicking pieces where I'll fret the top two strings at the third fret with my pinky ~ but only one at a time. Catching them both at once with a bent-backwards little finger ~ I can only marvel at the idea. Similarly, I can play the bottom two strings at the third fret, on a "C" major chord, one at a time, but can't fret them both at once with the ring finger as some folks can.

And then on the other hand (pun intended), I found it pretty easy to learn to make that fairly-basic chord that Charmion can't reach. I don't doubt that it might be very difficult if not impossible for some folks to do this. It makes me thankful for what abilities I have, and helps me not feel too terribly bad about the stretches and reaches I can't handle.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 01:11 PM

How's this for a G chord:

Re-tune A string down to G
THEN Re-tune E string up to G - almost like open tuning.

Fret 1st and 2nd strings at 3rd fret and play a full G chord.

Only two fingers required for a C chord. Play D or D7 chords as usual.

Subject: RE: The G major Chord thread
From: John Hardly
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 01:22 PM

G = the key with the lowest root note in standard tuning where the rest of the chords in the key are readily accessible AND the root is not an open string .

I'm one of those lucky guys who can play 320033 with three fingers -- my pinky easily flexes to cover the B&E strings.