As you learn guitar chords, it is wise to start off by learning some easy beginner songs. This will keep your motivation up while providing exposure to different chord voicings and strumming patterns.
Once you’ve mastered basic major and minor triads, the next step should be extension chords: these chords consist of regular triads with added 9th, 11th or 13th intervals for additional complexity.
Chords
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s song Shallow from A Star Is Born features just three simple chords that can be played fingerstyle. Strumming or fingerpicking, it is essential to learn to transition seamlessly from chord to chord; this will enable you to produce an unrivaled rendition of this popular tune.
The Ab (or G sharp) chord offers a bright, almost perky sound ideal for creating guitar soundscapes in uptempo songs. Additionally, this chord can be found as “G#” in The Trammps’ classic dance-floor hit, “Disco Inferno.”
Beginner guitarists frequently struggle with playing seamless chord changes due to stopping strumming while their fretting hand fingers adjust to each new chord shape. To address this problem, we’ve developed two simple exercises that help learn and practice each chord shape before moving on.
Scales
One of the key aspects of improvising over chords is becoming familiar with and applying scale patterns, since their intervals correspond with chord tones from your triad you are playing over. This makes it much simpler for you to start on notes that may not quite work, such as the third note in an A minor pentatonic scale, before finding solutions that do work – like starting on one that does fit.
Scales can be divided into major and minor scales, symmetrical scales (diminished and whole tone), modes derived from major and minor scales and more. Knowing a bit about each will make melodies, phrases and riffs much simpler to create.
For best results when learning basic scale patterns, work on them at three tempos: slow, medium and fast. Furthermore, practice them ascending and descending the fretboard pattern by pattern.
Intervals
There are thirteen interval types (often referred to as “pitch distances”) which come in three forms: ascending, descending and harmonic. Their quality depends upon whether their key and tonal center (major/minor).
Interval recognition may seem like a complex theoretical exercise at first, but with repeated practice it becomes instinctive – you’ll soon be hearing two notes and instantly knowing their interval without having to think about it!
This method helps you move around the fretboard more effectively and avoid becoming “trapped” in certain areas of the neck. For example, flamenco and Latin musicians often employ the b2 interval for creating certain feels; blues guitarists target b5 for tension and resolution in solos. Intervals also make improvising more effective by providing an organized framework in which you can choose which notes to play improvised pieces within.
Fingerings
Fingerings in musical notation serve to indicate which fingers players should use for playing individual notes, making this style useful for music written specifically for learners or to indicate difficult passages that require specific fingering patterns.
Fingerings are usually indicated with circles or numbers around a string. Shifting from one fingering to the next may be indicated with letters such as thumb, index finger, middle finger and ring finger being indicated by letters P, I, M and A on an alphabet chart.
Finding a fingering that works for you is of utmost importance. Every person’s hands differ; factors like thumb angle and length of fingers can play a significant role in which fingerings feel most comfortable for each individual.
Make every attempt to reduce finger crossings when playing music, as these unnecessary moves may add an additional difficulty layer to a passage or cause your hands to tire more rapidly than needed. Trying to play faster than required could also cause fatigue to set in quicker.