# Choosing Chords



## Bastille day (Mar 2, 2014)

Need some advice players, when I have a tab for a song in front of me, is it common to take the standard chords and replace them with bar chords which sound close?

example: playing an A further up the neck in a bar chord formation?


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Bastille day said:


> Need some advice players, when I have a tab for a song in front of me, is it common to take the standard chords and replace them with bar chords which sound close?
> 
> example: playing an A further up the neck in a bar chord formation?


A lot of people choose to do this; I prefer not to when possible.


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2014)

I also play standard (cowboy) chords more often than bar.
Part of the reason is there's a fuller sound in standard with
a couple of open string ringing. Bar chords tend to sound a
little muffled. Plus standard is easier on these old hands. lol.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

Bastille day said:


> Need some advice players, when I have a tab for a song in front of me, is it common to take the standard chords and replace them with bar chords which sound close?
> 
> example: playing an A further up the neck in a bar chord formation?


only when it's easier to get to or from the next chord, or the next thing you've got to do.

For the B family of chords however, I prefer to go 7th fret. I just find it easier.
I'd rather have a different home spot for F as well, but haven't found a go-to.
- usually just cheat and use the one that looks like a crunched up cowboy C, because let's face is when you are playing an F, it's usually pretty close to the next C


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I've never checked to see if it's common or not, but unless your goal is to play it note for note like the original, then play it the way you want to.
I've used power chords instead of full chords and vice versa, and I've used 9th chords instead of regular major chords--I like to mix it up.

Unless someone else is in charge and they are paying you to play a specific chord voicing,do what sounds best.


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## Bastille day (Mar 2, 2014)

zontar said:


> I've never checked to see if it's common or not, but unless your goal is to play it note for note like the original, then play it the way you want to.
> I've used power chords instead of full chords and vice versa, and I've used 9th chords instead of regular major chords--I like to mix it up.
> 
> Unless someone else is in charge and they are paying you to play a specific chord voicing,do what sounds best.



Thats how I learned "sleepwalk", took two tab versions, picked the best sounding riffs from both, combined the two and now have my own version. 

Just wasn't sure if that was the right approach.


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

Due to injuries to both arms which has limited my ability to play the 5&6 string chords I have switched to using intervals,triads and 4 note chords. This of course has meant a major change to my playing style but it has opened up a whole new area for me to experiment with. Old standards like Fly Me To The Moon, Scotch and Soda, Georgia On My Mind and others have a whole new sound.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

then there are the times when after struggling through a song several times playing the "cowboy chord" progression on the tab, you try it again using bar chords or a combintion of both that makes sense and everything falls into place just like it was meant to be.


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## Bastille day (Mar 2, 2014)

fredyfreeloader said:


> Due to injuries to both arms which has limited my ability to play the 5&6 string chords I have switched to using intervals,triads and 4 note chords. This of course has meant a major change to my playing style but it has opened up a whole new area for me to experiment with. Old standards like Fly Me To The Moon, Scotch and Soda, Georgia On My Mind and others have a whole new sound.


Good stuff, I saw a documentry on Django Reinhardt, played mostly with his index and middle finger due to injuries received in a fire.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Years ago, I tried as much as possible to play what I think I hear from the recordings which may in reality not be the same way the original music had been chorded. These days I play whatever sounds good and feels comfortable playing. Some cases, I play the bar chords as it allows me to mute the strings when I want to play a more percussive rhythm.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

when you play some chords ( a bar chord is one example), you play a chord shape which is transferable up along the frets.
Getting to know many shapes helps, cause those shapes are the roots to scales and a bunch of other great stuff.

Learn your chords and then you can just fill in the rest.

disclaimer....most of the time I have no idea what I'm talking about ...so dont say I didnt warn you.

G.


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## Bachololic (Jan 27, 2014)

Hi,

If you play an A in the open position you are playing A,E,A,C#,E....the Barre at 5 makes it A,E,A,C#,E,A....very little difference unless you specifically want the high A on the high E string or it is a case of convenience, say you are going from G# to A. Most barre chords are based on E and A shapes, so all an A barre chord is, is E major at the sixth fret with the barre across the 5th fret. Back one fret it is G# or Ab, up one it is A# or Bb. Take your middle finger off the G string and you have an Em shape so now it is Am. All the F barre chord is, is E major up a fret. Fm is Em up a fret and so on. There is no real reason to play a barre unless the song creator wanted it that way for some reason, but generally speaking barres only make it harder to get from chord to chord. On an electric barring is fairly easy, but on a steal string it can be much harder. 
If I was playing a song say G C D, I wouldn't ever play barres unless it was specifically done that way.
You can learn to THUMB the F barre chord. Put your thumb on the low F, ring plays C on A, pinky plays F on D, middle plays A on G, Index play C on B and If you can manage index barres F on high E. The high E is not necessarily crucial. This enables you to play F without dropping your wrist.
Hope I haven't rambled too much.
Good luck


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

An A chord sounds different depending where it is played on the neck. The challenge when learning a sound is to not only match the chord, but to also match the specific voicing of the chord used. Listen for the tonal quality of individual notes inside the chord, which will give you clues to the position and voicing originally used. Most often first position (cowboy) chords and straight barre chords are not used. Often extended chord shapes and inversions are used. Throw away your chord dictionary (or set it aside rather) and learn how to construct a chord from its scale intervals then challenge yourself to find/create various 3, 4, 5, and 6 chord forms all the way up the neck. You will train your ear in the process and likely discover some familiar voicings not included in you chord dictionary. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Bastille day (Mar 2, 2014)

Thanks for all the great advice so far.

What I have learned so far, is to take one or two tab versions of any song, learn to play with the easier cowboy chords to get the feel, then dress it up with different barr chord versions. 

Some songs I did not have to change, some I was totally lost and forgot about them, but when learning "Vehicle" by "Ides of March", I learned the outline then didn't look at my tabs again and re-structured it with what I thought sounded pleasant. Although maybe not perfect, I am very happy with it.


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