As you study chord charts, you may encounter chords marked with an “X” and an “O”. These slash chords require extra finger strength and stamina as you must strum all six strings at once while simultaneously muted one string with your thumb.
Before continuing, be certain that you understand intervals and triads.
A Minor Chord
Minor chords might not have the same vibrant sound of major chords, but they still can add an air of melancholy to a song. A minor chord consists of its root note accompanied by two lower third notes that have been flattened or lowered and one sharp fifth note that has its height reduced or flattened slightly before becoming sharp fifth notes.
To play a minor chord on guitar, the standard open A minor voicing may be sufficient. To make the chord easier to finger and jazzier in sound, remove your fourth string for an A minor seven chord that sounds more relaxed and jazzy.
Many iconic songs make use of both major and minor chords to create drama and tension, such as Hurt by Johnny Cash, Lost My Religion by R.E.M. and Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. Learning chords, scales and music theory is one thing; applying what you know requires practice! Luckily, with Fender Play App your learning can continue on the go and develop the skills needed to master all your repertoire of chords!
A Major Chord
A major is one of the essential chords to master as a guitarist; it can be found across genres and forms of music. Popular examples of its use can be seen in songs by U2, Coldplay and Plain White T’s (such as Desire by U2) & Plain White T’s (“Hey There Delilah”).
This chord has some interesting extensions that allow it to create more distinct and interesting sounds. For instance, adding the 7th gives this chord extra tension and adds even more sound via its lower seventh tone.
Extensions of major chords offer you great versatility with this basic chord shape.
A Dominant Chord
A dominant chord can add tension to a song by mixing major and minor chords together, adding dissonant flat seven notes for extra resonance.
Bill Withers’ classic hit Pretty Woman features an amazing example of a dominant chord: G – B – D – F, with its flat 7 adding tension to the song.
Ofttimes a dominant chord will be followed by its V chord, such as B7 in G, to create an effective cadence. But you can also use half-diminished sevenths to produce this same effect without needing resolution back to tonic – especially useful in modal harmony such as F7 Mixolydian where you use this form of harmony! A half-diminished seventh can be defined as being composed of minor thirds, diminished fifths and flat sevenths above its root chord.
A Suspended Chord
Suspended chords can add dissonance to any composition. Simply defined, suspended chords are simply triads with their third replaced by either a perfect fourth (suspended 4th) or major second (suspended 2) creating tension which does not resolve back into an original chord structure.
Suspended chords were historically employed as a creative device within Renaissance music to add instability into a progression, yet nowadays they’re more commonly heard as creative devices or melodic instruments. Suspended chords can play an essential part in creating mood or space in song by delaying resolution of its progression and thus contributing to its overall compositional integrity.
Add sus chords to your repertoire for a dynamic sound and keep chord progressions sounding fresh and exciting. They can be found across most genres of music – from pop and rock, jazz and classical. Gnarls Barkley’s song Crazy features an example with its Dmaj to Gsus4 change that doesn’t resolve, leaving listeners in an emotive place where they can experience every line in its lyrics.