Guitar chord variations are an integral component of learning the guitar, giving a song direction or altering its feel.
Chords may be altered by adding or subtracting notes from their scale; for instance, an F#5 chord could be written as F#5/G to indicate that an E note has been added at the bottom.
Major Triads
Triads are essential building blocks of harmony that can be found across any genre of music. Composed of three notes (root note, third and fifth) they allow arpeggios and melodies to be composed easily with just three chords – opening up new possibilities when playing rhythm or lead guitar.
A major triad is formed by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of any scale and stacking them – starting with the root note as its base – in any order to form chord notes. The quality of this chord depends upon how many semitones or half steps separate its notes.
Each triad shape can be altered on the fretboard by changing its root note; for instance, moving C major triads up an octave becomes G major triads – and so forth with each of the other shapes as well.
Minor Triads
Minor triads are among the most frequently encountered chords in music. Like major triads, minor triads feature three notes; however, their third note has been changed from major to minor in order to alter its chordal properties.
Minor triads are an invaluable building block of four and five note chords, providing a quick way to quickly construct various sounds on the fretboard. Becoming proficient at learning these shapes will allow you to quickly build various sounds on the fretboard quickly.
Minor triads are typically notated using root notes followed by an “m” symbol or letter; however, this notation can be difficult to read in low light conditions and requires closer reading than desired. Therefore, another alternative notation for minor triads uses lower case m over root note. Understanding these triad shapes and their relationships to one another is paramount when comping chords or improvising over changes.
Major Sevenths
Major seventh chords are triads that add one major scale degree, commonly abbreviated maj7 in chord diagrams. They are common across genres and offer greater complexity and movement than their dominant and minor counterparts.
Plectrum shapes are also great ways to add a chunky sound to your rhythm playing, as they usually involve strumming only on bass strings, leaving open notes from outer strings for percussive strumming. For a more melodic approach, lower voicing of this shape with muted outside strings using both your underside of finger and tip of thumb should work effectively.
Addition of extra notes can give these shapes more flavor and create various inversions. For example, adding a flat seventh (9), added thirteenth (13) and altered fifth (#5 or b5) gives rise to chords such as Maj7add13/Add11/B5 etc. Likewise the drop 3 voicing can easily be extended by dropping the third an octave lower for an R-3-5-7 sounding chord.
Minor Sevenths
Minor seventh chords are four note chords consisting of a root note, minor third note, perfect fifth tone and minor seventh interval. They produce an inviting jazz sound when played over minor triads and there are numerous minor 7 chord shapes that can be played on guitar but below are some of the more commonly utilized minor 7 chord shapes.
Em7 chord formation is a quick and straightforward one to learn for any guitarist, especially beginners or players with smaller hands. It utilizes close-spaced fingers without large stretches between notes; hence making it suitable for beginning students or those looking to advance quickly.
F#m7 chord is another well-known minor seventh chord and can be composed by using root, flatted third and fifth notes from harmonic minor scale. Also referred to as Fm7, this minor sixth chord adds expectant qualities which work particularly well when played alongside major seventh chords as well as being beautiful all on its own.
An eclectic use of chords will add variety and complexity to your progressions, since fretboards allow for multiple ways to finger a chord.
Each has its own personality. To start off, we’ll explore basic shapes before moving onto exploring some voicings that add bass notes to our chords.
Major Triad
The Major Triad chord is constructed by stacking its root, major third and perfect fifth notes of any scale together to form an unbroken chain of notes spanning root to fifth of any scale. It is one of the primary patterns to learn when studying chords; and can even be generated from other shapes on a fretboard.
Each major triad can be inverted to create different sounds in your chord progressions and highlight both inner and outer notes of a given triad.
Add the ninth note to this pattern for a seventh chord and suspending chord by flattening string 3’s third shape – this will help add texture without losing that classic bar chord sound! This method also lets you build suspended chords. This technique provides extra texture without diluting its punchy sound!
Minor Triad
Triad chords are essential building blocks of guitar playing for any serious guitarist, making them easy and comfortable to learn first. Triads also form the base for other types of chords.
This week we are exploring minor triads. These chords contain all of the same notes as major triads but feature minor third and perfect fifth intervals between their outer notes for added complexity – notated on chord charts as Cm, C-, or.
Triads can be played quickly or slowly and in any order that suits you best, making them ideal for arpeggios and riffs.
Major Seventh
Major 7th chords combine a major triad with the major seventh note (one half step below the octave) from any scale to create a more romantic sound than Dominant 7 Chords; these chords can often be found in slow songs like ballads.
There are various methods for expanding major seventh patterns, including adding ninth, eleventh or thirteenth notes to a basic drop 2 maj7 pattern and creating either a maj9 chord, maj7add13 chord or maj7ninth chord – each variation can be played at any position on the fretboard.
Minor Sixth
The minor sixth chord is a diatonic chord found across many musical genres and styles, creating tension within melodies to elicit melancholy or longing emotions. Stride pianists frequently utilize this chord to fill any gaps in their descending runs using chords with minor sixth intervals as filler chords.
As with the major 6th chord, minor 6ths are constructed using the triad chords in its key. Their key difference lies in their functionality: A minor 6th serves as the tonic role while F major 7th chords act subdominantly.
Suspended Triad
These chords differ from open and closed triads in that specific chord tones are moved up an octave or doubled, creating a simpler and streamlined voicing.
Suspended chords rely on subtracting the third from their usual trio of roots, third and fifth notes to create harmonic ambiguity that can be exploited musically for tension and anticipation.
Below you’ll find two easy and effective methods of exploring this chord type. Invest some time to imprint these shapes into your visual, aural and muscle memory.
Diminished Triad
Diminished chords can add an exciting and captivating element to any chord progression, adding extra tension and intrigue. While they retain all of the darkness and tonal depth associated with minor chords, diminished chords add an unifying jazziness that sets it apart.
Dim7 (or Cdim7 on guitar) is the most frequently encountered diminished chord, created by stacking another diminished triad on top of your basic one and often written as Am7b5 in chord charts. This yields a diminished chord featuring double flattened sevenths.
Slash Chord
Slash chords are simple regular chords with an additional bass note that differs from its root note. They are usually notated by placing their chord name on the left and adding a slash before notating its bass note on the right.
This week we’ll look at various chord progressions in multiple keys and explore various slash shapes on the fingerboard. Our aim is to build up a library of these slash shapes and incorporate them into our playing. Also keep in mind that they can also create bass movement between chords – useful when shifting between major to minor or vice versa.