# Which Chord?



## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

What's the one chord that gives you trouble? I know there are a lot shapes/grips we might practice, but which one sucks the most life out of you when you get it wrong?


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Augmented chords or is it diminished?

One of them is kind of easy, the other isn't.

I always forget as I rarely play them.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

Number 3 is what happens when "The Thing" escapes the Research Base and imitates a guitarist.


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

zontar said:


> Augmented chords or is it diminished?
> 
> One of them is kind of easy, the other isn't.
> 
> I always forget as I rarely play them.


I guess the ethos is you can always take the root note out, but there are just some chords that we practice but rarely play. I'm gonna take a pic of what's giving me trouble.


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

That one is my adversary: a 1st position spread Gmin7 or Bbmaj6 (if read from the Bb)


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## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

Mutant_Guitar said:


> View attachment 386623
> 
> That one is my adversary: a 1st position spread Gmin7 or Amaj6 (if read from the A)


I dont know what that fucking chord is, but it’s giving me trouble just by looking at it.


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

RBlakeney said:


> I dont know what that fucking chord is, but it’s giving me trouble just by looking at it.


it's a Gmin7, built from the top G(Rt), Bb(3b), D(5), F(7b) This one is a "close voicing", because the notes are contained in 1 octave. But if read from the Bb as the root, the G becomes a maj6 tone in the chord.









here's the same chord but played from 6th position.


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## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

Mutant_Guitar said:


> it's a Gmin7, built from the top G(Rt), Bb(3b), D(5), F(7b) This one is a "close voicing", because the notes are contained in 1 octave.


I can’t play that chord I’m not a scientist.


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

RBlakeney said:


> I can’t play that chord I’m not a scientist.


I have faith in you, from alchemy to surgery, I know you got this.


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

zontar said:


> Augmented chords or is it diminished?
> 
> One of them is kind of easy, the other isn't.
> 
> I always forget as I rarely play them.


Augmented chords I think are just seasoning, you don't necessarily think of them as part of the regular meat and potatoes. So you kind of go between the augmented tones while you're in position. The diminished chords though are kind of interesting because with any diminished grip if you take a look at the the chord it is literally just a major chord grip but all the "information" from the root is just moved down/diminished by a semitone, resulting in what is called half-diminished chord, a full diminished chord has a 7bb (double flat)


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## teleboli (Aug 19, 2009)

Mutant_Guitar said:


> it's a Gmin7, built from the top G(Rt), Bb(3b), D(5), F(7b) This one is a "close voicing", because the notes are contained in 1 octave. But if read from the Bb as the root, the G becomes a maj6 tone in the chord.
> View attachment 386631
> 
> 
> here's the same chord but played from 6th position.


Dude.

Are your frets like that or is it my meds?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

teleboli said:


> Dude.
> 
> Are your frets like that or is it my meds?


Nominated for BEST POST 2021!


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

teleboli said:


> Dude.
> 
> Are your frets like that or is it my meds?


Sir, trust your senses. Your meds are still t-minus 30. Those are true temperament frets, some genius came up with them because guitar wasn't hard enough already.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

This is why I stick to double stops and triads.


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

Kerry Brown said:


> This is why I stick to double stops and triads.


^A wise man says more by playing less. It's actually something to aspire to^


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Kerry Brown said:


> This is why I stick to double stops and triads.


But in my case of augmented & diminished chords--thsoe are also triads

SO no Hendrix chord in your playing?


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

How do you read a Hendrix chord? Cause this will imply how you might play on/over/through one.
And also, how do you define a doublestop?


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I have short fingers so there's chords that I just can't play. Like the first chord in Always With Me Always With You by Joe Satriani.


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## Thunderboy1975 (Sep 12, 2013)

Most of the chords in Go All The Way by Raspberries twists my digits and grinds my gears.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

Mutant_Guitar said:


> it's a Gmin7, built from the top G(Rt), Bb(3b), D(5), F(7b) This one is a "close voicing", because the notes are contained in 1 octave. But if read from the Bb as the root, the G becomes a maj6 tone in the chord.
> View attachment 386631
> 
> 
> here's the same chord but played from 6th position.


I think that chord gets easier if you barre at least the five highest strings. It means that you don't have to think or be as precise about how you finger the F and it pulls your thumb further to the treble side of the back of the neck making it easier to reach the G


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## dgreen (Sep 3, 2016)

drop 2 and drop 3 chord form playing eliminates most awkward finger stretches. And when the chord is still too big a stretch, simple solution, just eliminate the root voicing and play the chord as having an implied root.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

zontar said:


> But in my case of augmented & diminished chords--thsoe are also triads
> 
> SO no Hendrix chord in your playing?


I was being facetious. Lately I've mostly been playing bass so I have to know where the notes are but only play a single note at a time. For augmented and diminished chords I just play the root. You don't usually stay on those chords for long. For Hendrix it would be the root on the one and maybe the flat seven or sharp 9 as passing tones.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

Jim Soloway said:


> I think that chord gets easier if you barre at least the five highest strings. It means that you don't have to think or be as precise about how you finger the F and it pulls your thumb further to the treble side of the back of the neck making it easier to reach the G
> 
> View attachment 386692


That's a good way, and in 1st position I think I use the same ^^ methodology; overshoot with the middle finger by barring a string above the ones you're playing, so in that case I lay my finger tip down on the D string and put my joint down on the G and B strings, this way there's an added anchor for me to lift up the bottom-most joint so I can still cleanly fret the High-E....but anyway you cut it, just try to play that 1st position Gmin7, it's still a bit of a wreck. But if you're gonna sequentially harmonize the scale with 7type chords you're gonna have to play it at some point.


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

dgreen said:


> drop 2 and drop 3 chord form playing eliminates most awkward finger stretches. And when the chord is still too big a stretch, simple solution, just eliminate the root voicing and play the chord as having an implied root.


Exactly...but then, what if you don't have your trusty Bassman around. Contingency #2, learn to walk that bass line, which is its own animal.

Also, some of the inversions you run into with drop2/drop3 get pretty hairy too.


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## Jim Soloway (Sep 27, 2013)

Mutant_Guitar said:


> That's a good way, and in 1st position I think I use the same ^^ methodology; overshoot with the middle finger by barring a string above the ones you're playing, so in that case I lay my finger tip down on the D string and put my joint down on the G and B strings, this way there's an added anchor for me to lift up the bottom-most joint so I can still cleanly fret the High-E....but anyway you cut it, just try to play that 1st position Gmin7, it's still a bit of a wreck. But if you're gonna sequentially harmonize the scale with 7type chords you're gonna have to play it at some point.


Somewhere in the distant past that extended barre idea became a very regular part of my playing and it's allowed me to get comfortable with some really awkward chord shapes.


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## dgreen (Sep 3, 2016)

Mutant_Guitar said:


> Exactly...but then, what if you don't have your trusty Bassman around. Contingency #2, learn to walk that bass line, which is its own animal.


for sure, but not every chord need a root note when walking thru the chords

and yes, some inversions of drop 2/3 chords are a bit of a stretch, but that is the beauty of knowing all the inversions, use the one with the least amount of stretching


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

Jim Soloway said:


> Somewhere in the distant past that extended barre idea became a very regular part of my playing and it's allowed me to get comfortable with some really awkward chord shapes.


I see the ol' jazzmen do it, and they do so with subtlety. I'm thinking Jimmy Bruno; he can't be taller than 5'5 and his hands are very stubby but no problem playing any of those chords.
I think I'll work on that barre idea a bit when I get home to practice.


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

dgreen said:


> for sure, but not every chord need a root note when walking thru the chords
> 
> and yes, some inversions of drop 2/3 chords are a bit of a stretch, but that is the beauty of knowing all the inversions, use the one with the least amount of stretching


10-4. 
I am still a neophyte in all ways. But, earlier this year I'd worked out this simple correlation; the # of unique notes in a chord = the # of inversions for that chord in that particular form. The same is true of chord types within a diatonic sequence; the # of unique notes correlates directly to the # of unique shapes used in the sequence. That really takes the pressure off having to remember what they all look like. Of course, if you're keen on using close/drop2/drop3/ interchangeably all that goes out the window, but then you get a secondary advantage of being in closer proximity to degrees that are non-adjacent. It's brilliant.


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## dgreen (Sep 3, 2016)

sounds pretty technical, but in the end one goes with what works best and easiest to remember and memorize.


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