Introduction
Hi~!
I decided to write down what I know of chords to help your guitar playing.
hese lessons are very important for beginners. These information about chords and how to build them are essential to play guitar.
I'm sure you have noticed that guitarist play multiple notes at the same time. They are playing chords. Chords are very basic of guitar playing. As a beginner, you should learn chords at least to be able to play every major, minor, and 7th chords. We will deal with more complex chord theory and learn how to construct chords of your desire when we get to Theory Info Section.
Here is lessons I'm planning posting. So, Check this section so you can find whatever information that should help you the most.
1. Basic open chords
2. Bar chords
3. Power chords
4. Minor chords
5. 7th chords
That's what I'm planning to write about. Check out other info's I post in other sections. They are information that are important for beginners. When you master these chord info section, you will be able to play most of songs that are around our familiarity.
have fun, and contact me if you get stuck.
Bye~!
1. Basic Open Chords-The most fun you will find with guitar!
You might not agree,
but I think open chords are the most fun thing you find when you pick up guitar!
Trust me. It is!
For beginner, these chords are easy and fun to learn and play.
Also, you can play bunch of well known songs with these few chords.Do you remember "Free Falling?" That song only used open chords.
I'm sure you already had blast playing and singing the song.
If you know these chords you can pretty much play most of pop songs out there. Or! you can write songs if you like.
Very good and motivational? chords for beginners, I'll say. :)
I remember when I first started playing I wrote songs just with open chords and simple bar chords. and I had ability to jam with my host brother and his friend. I was just playing simple chords, but It's so much fun to be in that dynamics of jam sessh with your good people.
Anyway, if you know these chords: you can play good pop songs, write your own songs, and play with others.
These activities will motivate you greatly to learn more about guitar.
And it is best to learn guitar with fun, right?
So, Let's begin!
Basic of the Basic of Guitar Chords! ARE!!!!!!
Open Chords!
I like open chords simply because Bar Chords Hurt and other Chords are complex. T
here is nothing much too learn with text.
I’ll give you basic Tab ( I hope you already read Basic Info section), and you will play.
Basic Open Chords are: C, D, E, Em, G, A, Am
Here we go!
C chord Fingering
--0----
--1---- > index
--0----
--2---- > middle
--3---- > ring
--0—
D chord Fingering
--2---- > middle
--3----- > ring
--2----- > index
--0-----
--x----- > Don’t play
--x----- > Don’t play
E chord Fingering
--0----
--0----
--1---- > index
--2---- > ring
--2---- > middle
--0----
Em chord Fingering. (This is called E minor chords. We will learn more about minor chords later.)
--0----
--0----
--0----
--2---- > ring
--2---- > middle
--0----
G chord Fingering
--3---- > Pinky~!
--0----
--0----
--0----
--2---- > index
--3---- > middle
A chord Fingering
--0-----
--2----- > ring ---- or you can play all with one finger ( my preference is ring finger)
--2----- > middle
--2----- > index
--0-----
--0------
Am chord Fingering
--0-----
--1----- > ring
--2----- > middle
--2----- > index
--0-----
--0------
Here it is!!! Basic Open Chords!!!! Try it!
I’ll put a chord chart to show you hand positioning to help your understanding.
Practice these chords and when you think you’ve practiced enough, try next lessen about basic bar chords.
And, are you learning your fretboard when you are practicing these? Good!
These chords are very fun and easy.
Good practice for beginners.
When you get comfortable with these open chords, I suggest you to go out and search any pop songs or country songs of your favorite.
I'm sure you will find many of your favorite songs to be playalbe just with these open chords.
Learn songs with open chords. Have fun. That is the best way to learn guitar. When you are playing your favorite songs, you will surely fall in love with guitar and have most fun! T
hat's why I said these chords are great for beginners.
Hope this help your guitar playing!
Bye!
2. Bar Chords- Chords that hurt
Hi!
Let’s look into some basic chords and how to turn them into more complex ones. Bar chords.
Bar chords are the basic guitar chord all beginner guitar players should master.
These chords will add most of chord vocab that is used in most guitar playing.
It's important to partice Bar chords as a beginner. If you are comfortable with open chords and thought guitar wasn't that hard, get ready. Pain is on your way.
If you learn these, you will be able to play every single major and minor chords. We will touch on how to build minor in another lesson.
One thing to warn yah, is that if you just finished practicing open chords these chords will hurt. As a beginner without 'stone hand' and 'iron finger tips' learning these chords will be painful.
I think you get the point. I know you'll be on Talala Land when you can sing your first pop songs and make your mama proud by playing open chords.
Remember, that practicing Bar chords hurts, and you won't make pretty sound when you first try. You won't be able to make sound. Expect that to be true. Don't get disappointed because you can't play bar chords in your first try.
Everyone couldn't play pretty sounding bar chords from the beginning.
Also, some beginners always complains about how small their hands are. For some people bar chords may seem impossible because of their finger length.
Don't give up. 7 year olds can play bar chords. Some of them are actually really good. So, don't give up because your fingers are too short. You're just a beginner. If you keep on trying, your finger will understand how to make bar chords.
Remember, bar chord is the basic of basic in guitar playing. By learning these chords you will be able to have complete chord dictionary.
Okay! Let’s start.
You first need to know basic ‘Open Chords.’ Open Chords are : A, C, D, E, G, Em, Am.
Everything less are formed based on these, so it will be easy to understand how to form chords if you know these chords.
You can build pretty much every basic chords off of chord form of E and A.Look at the chord chart below and check out how E chord and F chord is formed.
If you move E chord up a step and cover first all the first frat with you index finger, you made F chord!
E chord F chord
-0- -1-
-0- -1-
-1- -2-
-2- -3-
-2- -3-
-0- -1-
F chord formed: When you move E chord up a step, and replace open strings with your index finger.
Simple!
So, let’s start building all the other chords.
Hopefully you understand stepwise relationships among notes.
If you don’t here you go.
C – C# - D - D# - E – F - F# - G - G# - A - A# - B - C
Every dash indicates ‘Half Step.’
Remember in your kinder garden, first time you saw piano with black and white blocks. And hitting them with your small fist. Haha, I use to be a Sunday school teacher at my Church and watching little kids, two or three of them, sitting on one chair and making absurd noise with piano and laughing.
Anyway, the relationships between those blocks are ‘Half Steps.’
If you look at piano, you will figure that between E and F, and B and C there are no black notes.
So, Let’s apply this in our easy guitar chord making.
Remember, One Fret is One Half Step!If you move E chord up a fret, that is F chord. Of course you need to cover all open strings with your index finger. If you move F chord up a fret, your get F# chord.
How about one more fret?
You will have index finger covering all 3rd frat and have E chord shape! That’s G chord!
So, If you want to play Gm, It will take Em chord shape with index finger covering 3rd fret.
Same with G7 and Gm7. but, we will get into different chord qualities later on. Just Major bar chords may be hard enough for beginners.
If you didn’t know that chord shape with index covering is called ‘Bar Chords.’
Ain’t your index finger looks like a Bar?
Do you understand this?
I'm just giving you the 'shape' of bar chords.
If you know this shape, you can move this shape up and down the fretboard to make all kinds of chords.
Since you are just a beginner, let try making another bar chord to actually understand this.let's make Bb Major chord.
We need to know where Bb is.
Hopefully you've learned the fretboard and able to identify Bb in 6th string in no times.
But for those beginners who just skipped practicing the fretboard, let's figure this out by hand.
opened sixth string is E. Let's check out how many half steps are between E and Bb
E - F - F# - G - G# -A - A# (Bb)
There we go.
You know A# is equal to Bb right?
If you don't you should've taken elementary music classes back in elemetary school.
We have 6 half steps.
That means Bb is located in 6th fret of 6th string!
So, let's have 6th fret to make our Bar.
--6--
--6--
--6--
--6--
--6--
--6--
okay, there is our bar.
To make Bar chords rooted in 6th string, we add 'E' chord shape to our bar.
--6--
--6--
--7--
--8--
--8--
--6--
Got this?
Good! This is one of two bar chord shapes.
Practice this shape. Don't forget to check your fretboard, when you are doing this.
Okay. Now let’s look at other type of Bar Chord that takes A chord shape.
Same rule apply to this one.
A chord shape is played with your 'Ring finger.'
You need to press all three strings just with your ring finger. That's why this shape is bit harder than previous one. But, still this shape is basic of guitar playing. First time practicing will hurt your fingers, but to get out of beginner stage, this is required. You won't be able to play guitar unless you learn these two bar chord shapes.
Let’s start.
What is half step up from A?
B!!!
Not~!(Borat says)
It’s A#! or Bb – they are same thing.
Remember our Bb chord that we made with bar chord shape 1?
Let's make same Bb with different bar chord shape.So, A# will be a Bar chord that index finger covers first frats.
A Chord A#chord
-0- -1-
-2- -3-
-2- -3-
-2- -3-
-0- -1-
-x- -x-
-x- means ‘Don’t Play that String!’
You can simply not play that string or mute it by gently touching the string with your finger tip.
Anyway. Don’t they look similar? Huh~?
Yeah, they do look similar.
So, you can make whole lotta chords with A chord shape and E chord shape. Right?
You can do same things with D chord shape and C chord shape and G chord shape. But, they are hard to make them bar chords because it requires too much of stretch. But, don’t worry you will be able to make whole lotta chords if you understand principle behind chord building. You'll learn that later, and you won't be able to find informations dealing with that on web. Even if you find one, it'll be too complicated and personal. When you get to that point, you need to learn guitar by yourself or get something or someone professional. Haha, how good is it to be a beginner?
As a beginner, you must practice, open chords (C, D, E, G, A) and Bar Chords ( E shape chords and A shape chords).
I know practicing bar chord may be hard but you’ll be fine if you can enjoy the pain????
I mean, just don’t be a wuss and
‘JUST DO IT!!!!!’
as our good old Nike preaches.
Good!
This is chord chart that shows you suggested fingering and hand form shown. Hopefully you will find this helpful.
If you can't figure out right hand position to play bar chords, try to get something visual to guide you. My best recommendation is to get one of guitar learning program I listed in Good Product section.
Programs are professional and have great user friendly videos to guide your guitar learning process. I've wrote down, some programs that will teach you some part for free,
so check them out.
If you don't have 40 bucks to spend on professional programs, you can ask your guitar friends or try finding something on web.
Also, I have an article in Article section to help your understanding of bar chords bit more.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in next lesson.
Have fun playing! HeHe, I know it'll hurt a lot.
Don't give up!
3. Power Chords- Are You Ready To Rock?
Hi!
Can you feel the force?
Hah? It’s Power Chord Time~!!
Yeah, that’s right. Power Chords are chords that found a lot in Rock music.
These chords are simple, powerful, and Rocking~!
It fuctions almost like Bar chords and can be used as alternative. But I strongly suggest that you master bar chords before you start messing with any other chords. Because when you use power chords major and minor quality of chords can be simply ignored, and this character may hinder you from learning hard and painful bar chords.
However! Please, do remember that you HAVE TO LEARN BAR CHORDS IF YOU WANT TO BE GOOD AT GUITAR!!!!!!!! For beginners, power chords are just a good excuse to not practice bar chords. Don't do that. If you don't practice bar chords you will be forever in the beginner fairy land.
So, let’s have that in mind and learn power chords!
Power Chords are simple!
It’s root + 5th + root.
This means that you don’t have to worry about changing chord form dues to Major and Minor qualities.
If you want to learn more about those check out THEORY INFO section.
So! Let’s build Power Chords!It’s SIMPLE!
You just move around Em chord around frats like we did in Bar Chords.
This is E major and E minor Power Chord
--x--
--x---
--x---
--2---
--2---
--0--
You simply play these Three strings.
Don’t play muted strings. You may make false sound quality. I had a friend whom I was teaching guitar. I thought him power chords and he would just strum all 6 strings. What do you get? Complaints from hall mates and annoyed ears. So, don't play muted strings.
To mute those three strings, there are several ways.
But for beginner who just learned how to play bar chords, it's simplest to just 'gently touch' body of your index finger on these strings.
Another way is to play your right hand palm on 123 strings, and play 456 strings with short and powerful strokes.
Muting might sounds awkward when you first try it. Remember you're just a beginner. When you master muting technics you can do all sorts of effects with right Technique.
Muting is one of technique that is very important but I can't properly demonstrate with out visual support.
As I said, get with programs that thousands of people world wide are learning from, or ask your guitar playing buddies. Learning from visual will help you greatly when you are learning muting techineque.
Okay, continuing with power chords.
Now, you move this around like we did in Bar chords!
Let’s make A Major and A Minor Power chord.
Let’s first check out how many half steps we need to go from E to A.
E – F – F# - G – G# - A
We can see that there are 5 half steps between E and A.
From our knowledge about Bar Chords, we know that we should cover 5th frat with index finger and continue E power chord shape.
A major and A minor Power Chord
--x----
--x----
--x----
--7----
--7----
--5----
Remember not to play muted strings.
Now you get the point, right?
As bar chords had two different positions, power chords have different positions too.
Do you remember A chord?
--0---
--2---
--2---
--2---
--0---
--x----?
Hope you do.
Can you already guess what you want to do to make power chord off of this?
Yeah, that’s right.
You just play three strings!
--x----
--x----
--2----
--2----
--0----
--x----
Simple! Ain’t it?
That power chord is both A major and A minor power chord. You can play it both ways. Power chords kinda ignored Major and Minor quality of a chord because It only contains root and 5th of a chord.
Now you can just move this form around to make whole variety of chords.
Let’s try E power chord in this form.
We need to figure out how many half steps we have between A and E.
A – A# - B – C – C# - D – D#- E
There are 7 half steps!
So we simply cover our A string 7th frat with index finger and continue this power chord form.
--x----
--x----
--9----
--9----
--7----
--x-----
This is E power chord!
Simple!
Now you know much about power chords. You can play whole variety of rock songs with these chords. And maybe you can make your own rock song~! Have fun with it! But please remember that you should master Bar Chords although you’ve learned power chords.
May the force of Jimi be with you!
If you want to learn Guitar in depth by Professional, check out below link and See if it’s good chance for you.
I’ll see you in next lesson~!
Bye~!
4. Minor Chords - This is a joke, seriously.
Hi, again!
In this lesson, we will learn minor chords, and how to build one using our beloved bar chords.
Minor chords are not that that complicated.
Simply stack Root + Minor 3rd + 5thSimple, hah?
If that doesn’t make sense go to THEORY INFO section and learn more about chord build stuff.
Now, let’s try trying minor chords.
It’s simple variation of Bar Chords. If you know two forms you will be fine playing minor chords. Okay, remember our major Bar Chords? Remember, F chord?
--1----
--1----
--2----
--3----
--3----
--1----
This Rings bell, right? Let’s make that Minor
--1----
--1----
--1----
--3----
--3----
--1----
There you go. F minor.
You simply take off middle finger.
You just move that shape around fret to get other chords.
Let’s try C#minor.We first figure out how many half steps between F and C#
F – F# - G – G# - A – A# - B – C – C#
8 half steps = 8 frats up!
--9----
--9----
--9----
--11---
--11---
--9-----
C#minor! There you go.
Now, let’s try another chord form that we had.
Remember that we could make whole bunch of bar chords with A chord?
--0---
--2---
--2---
--2---
--0---
--x----
Above is A major, and Let’s make A minor.
If you learned it already from the chord chart, Great!
--0---
--1---
--2----
--2----
--0----
--x----
This is A minor.
Do you remember how we moved things around to build bar chord? Let’s do the same thing here!
Let’s make A# minor
--1---
--2---
--3---
--3---
--1---
--x---
Let’s try B minor
--2---
--3---
--4----
--4----
--2----
--x----
Now you get the point of building minor bar chords by just knowing the chord shape!
Hurray!
Now you have far more chord dictionary than when we started! Open chords, Bar chords major and minor, of course, and power chords!
Since you know all these chords, you can now play pretty much every basic chords exists. We only had 4 lessons about chords, yet we know every basic chords! It's been short time since we began. If you can master 7th chords and learn how to contruct your own chords, you are done with beginner guitar lessons. You will dig into scale and theory bit more till you can be intermediate guitar player.
I'm proud of you making this far, and see you in next lesson!
Have fun playing!
5. Seventh Chords! - Want Full and ColorFULL Sound? You Will GET ONE NOW~!
Alright,
You’ve learned the foundations of Guitar chords. We’ve covered open chords, bar chords, and power chords. If you can play all those chords, you have no problem playing most of songs that are out there.
But, if you want to go into guitar playing deeper and really have this instrument to be a mechanism to express your soul, you need chords with more qualities.
7th chords are great tools to achieve that.
Before we begin, please, please, please practice all chords that we’ve learned and have that comfort when you lay your fingers on that frat board.
Also, please look more into the THEORY INFO if you want to fully understand this and make it your own. 7 chords can be hard to understand because there are bit more complex theory behind them.
If you can play all major chords, minor chords, and 7th chords, I promise you that you will be ‘FINE’ playing most of the pop songs. But if you are getting into Jazz and all that, you should get a professional to guide you.
Check out GOOD PRODUCT section and try professional lessons. That will save you honestly thousands of dollars and give you very efficient ways to learn guitar.
Okay, if you are ready, let’s start building some 7th chords.
To do this exercise, you really want to have a piano with you and your guitar.
If you don’t have a piano, DRAW one! That’s what I do.
Simply draw one octave section of piano.
This will help you learning guitar tremendously.
Okay, now learn some new chords.
There are 4 parts in 7th chords. Root + 3rd + 5th + 7th.
There are names for these and hard to understand theory words for 7th chord construction, but I’ll write it to the most simple and practical ways.
We can give our 7th chords different qualities. How many? FOUR!
Major, Minor, Augmented, Diminished.
These can also broken down into
MajorMajor, MajorMinor, MinorMajor, MinorMinor, Fully diminished, Half diminished and so on, but we won’t go to that far.
We will focus on the most practical seventh Chords.
Let’s Start with Major 7th chord.
Remember this and you’ll be find building Major 7th chord.
This chord is written as M7, maj7, or 7M.
Learning guitar requires this kind of basic theory knowledge, but this won’t be that hard. We will just look at how to construct this chord, not all bits of theory behind it.
Therefore, just memorize how this chord is made and put it in your chord dictionary.
= Root + 4 half step up + 7 half step up (from root) + 11 half step down from root
Formula goes : 1 + 4 + 7 + 11
Hard to understand? Let’s try building one than to help your understanding.
Let’s try building G7M ( G major 7)
We have G as our root. To find Major 3rd go up 4 half steps
G – G# - A – A# - B
To find 5th of G, go 7 half steps from the root. That is equal to 3 half steps from the 3rd.
G – G# - A – A# - B – C – C# - D
To find Major 7th of G, go 11 half steps up. Or simply go down 1 half step from the root.
G – G# - A – A# - B – C – C# - D – D# - E – F – F#
If we collect all these, we get G, B, D, F#
Find these notes in your guitar and form a Chord. Since you know what notes you need to form GM7, you can play this chord in many different positions. Here is some examples.
--2------10------3—
--0------12-----3---
--0------11-----4---
--0------12-----4---
--2------10-----5---
--3------x------3---
Above three chords are all Gmaj7 chord. You can make whole lot more than these.
M7 chord is major major chord. This is the ‘Majoristic’ chord. HeHe. I just made that term.
It sounds like, ummmmm……….
Try it for yourself. I ain’t gonna explain what it sounds like in this lesson. That’s too much.
You really don’t have to understand theory behind this to build chord. Just memorize how many half steps you need ( Root + 4 + 7 + 11), and build one.
But, I strongly suggest that you learn some theory or get a professional help. Check out the recommended program for your sake. It’s less than the cost a guitar strap. It on promotion period, so don’t miss this chance.
Invest some! Not in stock market that is crashing!
If you are investing in a small AMP, when you can’t even construct 7th chords, please, for chirst sake, forget your dingky little AMP and invest that money in lessons. And get some cool looking straps with left over money.
You’ve learned the foundations of Guitar chords. We’ve covered open chords, bar chords, and power chords. If you can play all those chords, you have no problem playing most of songs that are out there.
But, if you want to go into guitar playing deeper and really have this instrument to be a mechanism to express your soul, you need chords with more qualities.
7th chords are great tools to achieve that.
Before we begin, please, please, please practice all chords that we’ve learned and have that comfort when you lay your fingers on that frat board.
Also, please look more into the THEORY INFO if you want to fully understand this and make it your own. 7 chords can be hard to understand because there are bit more complex theory behind them.
If you can play all major chords, minor chords, and 7th chords, I promise you that you will be ‘FINE’ playing most of the pop songs. But if you are getting into Jazz and all that, you should get a professional to guide you.
Check out GOOD PRODUCT section and try professional lessons. That will save you honestly thousands of dollars and give you very efficient ways to learn guitar.
Okay, if you are ready, let’s start building some 7th chords.
To do this exercise, you really want to have a piano with you and your guitar.
If you don’t have a piano, DRAW one! That’s what I do.
Simply draw one octave section of piano.
This will help you learning guitar tremendously.
Okay, now learn some new chords.
There are 4 parts in 7th chords. Root + 3rd + 5th + 7th.
There are names for these and hard to understand theory words for 7th chord construction, but I’ll write it to the most simple and practical ways.
We can give our 7th chords different qualities. How many? FOUR!
Major, Minor, Augmented, Diminished.
These can also broken down into
MajorMajor, MajorMinor, MinorMajor, MinorMinor, Fully diminished, Half diminished and so on, but we won’t go to that far.
We will focus on the most practical seventh Chords.
Let’s Start with Major 7th chord.
Remember this and you’ll be find building Major 7th chord.
This chord is written as M7, maj7, or 7M.
Learning guitar requires this kind of basic theory knowledge, but this won’t be that hard. We will just look at how to construct this chord, not all bits of theory behind it.
Therefore, just memorize how this chord is made and put it in your chord dictionary.
= Root + 4 half step up + 7 half step up (from root) + 11 half step down from root
Formula goes : 1 + 4 + 7 + 11
Hard to understand? Let’s try building one than to help your understanding.
Let’s try building G7M ( G major 7)
We have G as our root. To find Major 3rd go up 4 half steps
G – G# - A – A# - B
To find 5th of G, go 7 half steps from the root. That is equal to 3 half steps from the 3rd.
G – G# - A – A# - B – C – C# - D
To find Major 7th of G, go 11 half steps up. Or simply go down 1 half step from the root.
G – G# - A – A# - B – C – C# - D – D# - E – F – F#
If we collect all these, we get G, B, D, F#
Find these notes in your guitar and form a Chord. Since you know what notes you need to form GM7, you can play this chord in many different positions. Here is some examples.
--2------10------3—
--0------12-----3---
--0------11-----4---
--0------12-----4---
--2------10-----5---
--3------x------3---
Above three chords are all Gmaj7 chord. You can make whole lot more than these.
M7 chord is major major chord. This is the ‘Majoristic’ chord. HeHe. I just made that term.
It sounds like, ummmmm……….
Try it for yourself. I ain’t gonna explain what it sounds like in this lesson. That’s too much.
You really don’t have to understand theory behind this to build chord. Just memorize how many half steps you need ( Root + 4 + 7 + 11), and build one.
But, I strongly suggest that you learn some theory or get a professional help. Check out the recommended program for your sake. It’s less than the cost a guitar strap. It on promotion period, so don’t miss this chance.
Invest some! Not in stock market that is crashing!
If you are investing in a small AMP, when you can’t even construct 7th chords, please, for chirst sake, forget your dingky little AMP and invest that money in lessons. And get some cool looking straps with left over money.
Okay, I’m just being concerned as we come to the part of guitar playing that you really need to learn theory.
Let’s learn how to build another 7th chord. This time we will try 7chord. This is still major 7th chord.
However, it has different quality. It’s “ MAJOR MINOR 7th.” It’s commonly known as the “DOMINANT 7th CHORD.” Remember that name, you will hear it a lot if you get into more in depth theories.
To learn what that means, you should check theory section or GET PROFESSIONAL HELP.
I’ll try to explain just ‘how to’ of building this chord, not the theory.
Okie~! Since we know how to build Major 7th ( GM7, G7M, Gmaj7), this one will be quite easy to learn.
Dominant 7th is ROOT + Major 3rd + 5th + minor 7th.
That means : Root + 4 half steps + 7 half steps + 10 half steps.
Can you think of what to do from this point?
Okay, let’s try D# and make a dominant 7th chord.
We start from D# and count up 4 half steps.
D# - E – F – F# - G. We get G!
Now, try 7 half steps from our root D#.
D# - E – F – F# - G – G# - A – A#. We get A#!
Remember how I suggested to have a childish paper piano? Or have Guitar with you? Count for yourself and check if I’m right.
Now, 10 half steps from D# to have 7th.
D# - E – F – F# - G – G# - A – A# - B – C – C#. C#. ewww, this chord have too many #s.
Anyway, using our little formula ( ROOT + 4 half steps + 7 half steps + 10 half steps, hope you still remember that half step = 1 frat ;) we can find out what notes we need to build dominant 7th chord.
D#7 = D#, G, A#, C#!
If you already know theory and circle of 5ths, please don’t attack me for putting # instead of b. This is just to learn method of building 7th chord. All I’m concerned is that you can count half steps. I know This should be written as Eb7 (they are same thing by the way, If you don’t understand what I’m saying right now, just ignore it.), I know that! So don’t E-mail me about this!
Sorry if I sound little bothered……. I had similar lessons in Korean websites and I just got little pissed because I use to receive dozens of mails from “SETTING HOME EXPERTS” telling me about this kind of stuff.
Remember that this lesson is made for people who just want to play guitar and learn guitar, and don’t know much of theory. I thought it will be easier for them to just know formulas (root + 4half steps + 7 half steps + 10 half steps, this kind of things) than learn whole theory behind building a 7th chord.
I’m sure you just want to play! I know! Just play!
Just remember the formulas and build chords and just play!!!!!!
When you can ‘Just Play’ you will have so much more fun as a beginner. I know theories can be overwhelming when you are just learning.
When you get good, and start digging some scales and compositions, I’m so sure that you will ‘Some how’ find learning theory to be interesting. HaHa, I know that sound absurd for some people.
I think the best and easiest way to learn guitar is lotta practice, lotta help from professionals, constructed and formulated teaching methodology. Spend 40 dollars and just get on program. If you are concerned check out GOOD PRODUCT section and review the program beforehand. I’ll hate to see you miss out this offer and struggle to learn this awesome instrument.
Let’s learn how to build another 7th chord. This time we will try 7chord. This is still major 7th chord.
However, it has different quality. It’s “ MAJOR MINOR 7th.” It’s commonly known as the “DOMINANT 7th CHORD.” Remember that name, you will hear it a lot if you get into more in depth theories.
To learn what that means, you should check theory section or GET PROFESSIONAL HELP.
I’ll try to explain just ‘how to’ of building this chord, not the theory.
Okie~! Since we know how to build Major 7th ( GM7, G7M, Gmaj7), this one will be quite easy to learn.
Dominant 7th is ROOT + Major 3rd + 5th + minor 7th.
That means : Root + 4 half steps + 7 half steps + 10 half steps.
Can you think of what to do from this point?
Okay, let’s try D# and make a dominant 7th chord.
We start from D# and count up 4 half steps.
D# - E – F – F# - G. We get G!
Now, try 7 half steps from our root D#.
D# - E – F – F# - G – G# - A – A#. We get A#!
Remember how I suggested to have a childish paper piano? Or have Guitar with you? Count for yourself and check if I’m right.
Now, 10 half steps from D# to have 7th.
D# - E – F – F# - G – G# - A – A# - B – C – C#. C#. ewww, this chord have too many #s.
Anyway, using our little formula ( ROOT + 4 half steps + 7 half steps + 10 half steps, hope you still remember that half step = 1 frat ;) we can find out what notes we need to build dominant 7th chord.
D#7 = D#, G, A#, C#!
If you already know theory and circle of 5ths, please don’t attack me for putting # instead of b. This is just to learn method of building 7th chord. All I’m concerned is that you can count half steps. I know This should be written as Eb7 (they are same thing by the way, If you don’t understand what I’m saying right now, just ignore it.), I know that! So don’t E-mail me about this!
Sorry if I sound little bothered……. I had similar lessons in Korean websites and I just got little pissed because I use to receive dozens of mails from “SETTING HOME EXPERTS” telling me about this kind of stuff.
Remember that this lesson is made for people who just want to play guitar and learn guitar, and don’t know much of theory. I thought it will be easier for them to just know formulas (root + 4half steps + 7 half steps + 10 half steps, this kind of things) than learn whole theory behind building a 7th chord.
I’m sure you just want to play! I know! Just play!
Just remember the formulas and build chords and just play!!!!!!
When you can ‘Just Play’ you will have so much more fun as a beginner. I know theories can be overwhelming when you are just learning.
When you get good, and start digging some scales and compositions, I’m so sure that you will ‘Some how’ find learning theory to be interesting. HaHa, I know that sound absurd for some people.
I think the best and easiest way to learn guitar is lotta practice, lotta help from professionals, constructed and formulated teaching methodology. Spend 40 dollars and just get on program. If you are concerned check out GOOD PRODUCT section and review the program beforehand. I’ll hate to see you miss out this offer and struggle to learn this awesome instrument.
We can now make D#7 chord! Try making one for yourself, if you still haven’t memorized frat board, look at the BASIC INFO section or GET SOME HELP FROM PROS.
Here are few D#7 chords you can make.
--3-----6--------11----
--2-----8--------11----
--3-----6--------12----
--1-----8--------11----
--x-----6--------13----
--x-----x--------11----
These are D#7 chords. Remember, that there are whole lot more than these three. You can make thousands (that’s a lie) of chords using inversions and such.
Okay, We’ve covered ‘how to build Major 7th chord and Dominant 7th chord.’
We are going to learn Diminished 7th chord.
Diminished 7th chord sound really really dissonant. So, use it wisely! From this lesson this will be the last chord to cover. It’s because I think you will only need these 7th chords and other basic stuffs that I’ve taught if you are to play most POP MUSIC.
Just have in mind that there are more 7th chords with different qualities.
Okay! Let’s learn how to build Diminished 7th chord!
I love this chord.
It’s devilish~ hehe, and crashing, and surprising, and awesome, and awesome, and awesome!
Okay, I think since we already covered two chords, I think I can just give you the formula and let you do it for yourself.
Diminished 7th is : Root + minor 3rd + TRITONE!!!!! + diminished 7th.
HaHa! I bet you are wondering what Tritone is. Maybe because I put !!!!! with it.
Simply put. Tritone = Devils chord. Scary huh?
Okay, grab your guitar and play C and F# together and hear it for your self.
Eahhh~!!! Ain’t that absurd sound? I mean, if you’re not devil worshiper. No, even if you are a devil worshiper this sound should sound annoying, etching, and just eachh~~!!!
Since this sound doesn’t really please our ears that much, using of Tritone was BANNED during the church music (Choral) era.
But, now, we use this everywhere. If you dig deeper into learning guitar you will encounter this sound a lot and start liking it.
Enough about Tritone, and let’s go back to building our Diminished 7th chord!
Remember this?
Diminished 7th is : Root + minor 3rd + TRITONE!!!!! + diminished 7th.
If we formulate this: Root + 3 half step + 6 half step + 9 half step.
Easy! Ain’t it?
Let’s make C°7 <- is read C diminished seventh.
First we count half steps using piano or frats using guitar
C – C# - D – D #
C – C# - D – D # - E – F –F#
C – C# - D – D # - E – F –F# - G – G# - A
We than have C, D#, F#, A. To satisfy theory experts we should note that if you are writing music theory paper, you should write that as C, Eb, Gb, A. If you don’t understand why, just note that they are the same thing. If you want to know why check THEORY INFO section of GET PROFESSIONAL LESSONS. Invest! I say.
Okay, we know that C°7 is consists of C, D#(Eb), F#(Gb), A.
Now we build chords! Try make some for yourself, I’ll try for myself too!
Have in mind that your chord should make sense. That means : Have All tones, Make it PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE! As we move on to more complex chords, some chords just look absurd and don’t look possible. If you find one chord that is outside of your physical capability, make your own!
Find out what notes are in a chord, figure out what chord that is, and transform it to be your own.
Be a Transformer! HeHe. We will touch about that bit more in theory section.
Okay, are you done? I made two.
--8---------11-------
--10--------10---------
--8----------11---------
--10---------10---------
--9-----------x--------
--8-----------x--------
Okay, We’ve covered how to make Open chord, Bar chords, Power chords, and 7th chords.
This and what we’ve learned in Basic info section will be enough to play most of pop songs.
But knowing this ain’t enough.
I cannot teach you how to strum and hold guitar properly and such things that are effective to learn visually.
If you are just a beginner learning guitar learning what is up here may seem enough. Maybe because you are struggling just to handle this stuff, or reading text lesson just ain’t your style.
We are learning Guitar. That means that we are learning music. Music is sound. It is better to learn guitar with visual and audio. What professional lessons can give you, I can’t give. Don’t miss the promo period. Hundred dollar worth of stuff is 40 bucks. Some less it’s less than 40 (it’s 39. Something, you know that’s 40), but the point is that don’t think that you will be great at guitar just by buying a guitar and play few songs that you learn by yourself.
Back in high school, I had so many friends who bought guitar because it looked cool and they wanted to hook some chicks, and romanticized about world through music.
With all that great dreams in mind they picked up guitar, but they didn’t DO WHAT IT TAKE TO BE A GOOD GUITAR PLAYER: DEDICATION.
First few days, it’s all good. You are making sound and stuff. First few months it’s all good because you don’t have to learn much to play guitar. Simple songs you can find tabs and play.
But is it really yours? Reading tabs and memorizing tab to play music?
NO!!!!!
As they learn more guitar playing to be better, they don’t take what is necessary to be a guitar player. They think you can just learn all this on websites and practicing tabs.
I can assure you that that is the dumbest way to lose interest in guitar playing and get stuck in your ‘awkward sounding guitar phase.’
What I’m posting can be helpful to you.
But you gotto remember that I’m just posting this stuff to remind myself what I’ve learned in music school and to have fun recalling memories.
I really do want you to be better guitar player. Simply because I want more music in this world.
I want more!
More music heard in this world. More people I can jam with. More Sound to make better life!
Guitar is fun. There is no doubt about that. I think I have orgasm when that jam session hits.
Guitar is useful. It will get you better life. Fame, Sex, money, you know what guitar can do.
Guitar is awesome. It will have you more relaxed life. YOU SHALL CHILLLLLLLL!!!!!with music. HEHE.
I know this and you know this! If you have come this far in lessons, I surly know that you’re at the point where you’re saying to yourself “ can I just learn this thing on internet, or should I get some professional help?”
I know this!!! You know this!!!
Please don’t take the hard way and give up playing guitar. Please, Please, Please, get a tutor or buy some book, or go to your music teacher in school!!!!
But they can be expensive and time consuming. What can I say, I’ve been there.
Let’s see. Tutor can cost minimum 100 for a lesson. Books usually cost 20~30 dollars per volume (and most times books have 4 volumes to complete one course like: Learn scales! Learn Blues! Learn Rock! ETC.), and your school teacher may not be the best choose because they are not your teacher.
If you have seriously thought about what kind path, hard or EASY path, you know that above chooses are just not hooking your interest.
Check my GOOD PRODUCT section and see if that offer is hooking your interest.
Simply put, 40 dollar (during this special offer time), lifelong lessons for every level of guitar playing, Teacher= rock star guitarist + degree in education, tutorials for your most wanted songs, Jam and audio tracks so you can practice jamming with band. Just read for yourself, I don’t need to write all that down.
Getting professional help in some sort is crucial to guitar playing in this stage. You feel that need, and I’ve been there myself. I really don’t give a shit what kind of help you get. But GET ONE!! Tutor, Books, that Program, whatever that can push you through this phase, GET IT!!!!!
Now we build chords! Try make some for yourself, I’ll try for myself too!
Have in mind that your chord should make sense. That means : Have All tones, Make it PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE! As we move on to more complex chords, some chords just look absurd and don’t look possible. If you find one chord that is outside of your physical capability, make your own!
Find out what notes are in a chord, figure out what chord that is, and transform it to be your own.
Be a Transformer! HeHe. We will touch about that bit more in theory section.
Okay, are you done? I made two.
--8---------11-------
--10--------10---------
--8----------11---------
--10---------10---------
--9-----------x--------
--8-----------x--------
Okay, We’ve covered how to make Open chord, Bar chords, Power chords, and 7th chords.
This and what we’ve learned in Basic info section will be enough to play most of pop songs.
But knowing this ain’t enough.
I cannot teach you how to strum and hold guitar properly and such things that are effective to learn visually.
If you are just a beginner learning guitar learning what is up here may seem enough. Maybe because you are struggling just to handle this stuff, or reading text lesson just ain’t your style.
We are learning Guitar. That means that we are learning music. Music is sound. It is better to learn guitar with visual and audio. What professional lessons can give you, I can’t give. Don’t miss the promo period. Hundred dollar worth of stuff is 40 bucks. Some less it’s less than 40 (it’s 39. Something, you know that’s 40), but the point is that don’t think that you will be great at guitar just by buying a guitar and play few songs that you learn by yourself.
Back in high school, I had so many friends who bought guitar because it looked cool and they wanted to hook some chicks, and romanticized about world through music.
With all that great dreams in mind they picked up guitar, but they didn’t DO WHAT IT TAKE TO BE A GOOD GUITAR PLAYER: DEDICATION.
First few days, it’s all good. You are making sound and stuff. First few months it’s all good because you don’t have to learn much to play guitar. Simple songs you can find tabs and play.
But is it really yours? Reading tabs and memorizing tab to play music?
NO!!!!!
As they learn more guitar playing to be better, they don’t take what is necessary to be a guitar player. They think you can just learn all this on websites and practicing tabs.
I can assure you that that is the dumbest way to lose interest in guitar playing and get stuck in your ‘awkward sounding guitar phase.’
What I’m posting can be helpful to you.
But you gotto remember that I’m just posting this stuff to remind myself what I’ve learned in music school and to have fun recalling memories.
I really do want you to be better guitar player. Simply because I want more music in this world.
I want more!
More music heard in this world. More people I can jam with. More Sound to make better life!
Guitar is fun. There is no doubt about that. I think I have orgasm when that jam session hits.
Guitar is useful. It will get you better life. Fame, Sex, money, you know what guitar can do.
Guitar is awesome. It will have you more relaxed life. YOU SHALL CHILLLLLLLL!!!!!with music. HEHE.
I know this and you know this! If you have come this far in lessons, I surly know that you’re at the point where you’re saying to yourself “ can I just learn this thing on internet, or should I get some professional help?”
I know this!!! You know this!!!
Please don’t take the hard way and give up playing guitar. Please, Please, Please, get a tutor or buy some book, or go to your music teacher in school!!!!
But they can be expensive and time consuming. What can I say, I’ve been there.
Let’s see. Tutor can cost minimum 100 for a lesson. Books usually cost 20~30 dollars per volume (and most times books have 4 volumes to complete one course like: Learn scales! Learn Blues! Learn Rock! ETC.), and your school teacher may not be the best choose because they are not your teacher.
If you have seriously thought about what kind path, hard or EASY path, you know that above chooses are just not hooking your interest.
Check my GOOD PRODUCT section and see if that offer is hooking your interest.
Simply put, 40 dollar (during this special offer time), lifelong lessons for every level of guitar playing, Teacher= rock star guitarist + degree in education, tutorials for your most wanted songs, Jam and audio tracks so you can practice jamming with band. Just read for yourself, I don’t need to write all that down.
Getting professional help in some sort is crucial to guitar playing in this stage. You feel that need, and I’ve been there myself. I really don’t give a shit what kind of help you get. But GET ONE!! Tutor, Books, that Program, whatever that can push you through this phase, GET IT!!!!!
If you do get one, and manage yourself to push through beginner to intermediate stage hit me with e-mail and let me know.
I’m actually planning on traveling around. I don’t know what my military status is gonna be, but I’m definitely start traveling around the world in few years. I’ll try to update where I go in my blog or hit you with email.
If I get to visit somewhere around your place, I'll hit you up and maybe we can play music together, if your time allows.
Have fun playing~!
May Force Of Jimi With You~!
Bye~!
Hans-
PS: Check Other sections.
I’m actually planning on traveling around. I don’t know what my military status is gonna be, but I’m definitely start traveling around the world in few years. I’ll try to update where I go in my blog or hit you with email.
If I get to visit somewhere around your place, I'll hit you up and maybe we can play music together, if your time allows.
Have fun playing~!
May Force Of Jimi With You~!
Bye~!
Hans-
PS: Check Other sections.
