[Doug]

I know that barres are the bain of beginners and without them people tend not to play above the first position. But... there are some easy ways of playing chords up the neck by using the open strings. Some of these chords have a bit of flavouring added giving really cool jazzy tones.

Here's a really cool E (I put the fingering in brackets) try this one by hitting the low E then letting the chord ring - sounds really cool - love the lower octaves coming through.

------0------------------------
------0------------------------
------9(4)---------------------
------9(3)---------------------
------7(1)---------------------
------0------------------------

And a really easy A... (cool bluesy run is to slide from the 5 to the 6 on the G string)

------0------------------------
------5(1)---------------------
---[5]6(2)---------------------
------7(3)---------------------
------0------------------------
------X------------------------

And a D... (or shift it down 3 and it's a C)

------5(1)---------------------
------7(4)---------------------
------7(3)---------------------
------0------------------------
------X------------------------
------X------------------------


A beautiful sounding Amaj7 (follow that chord with a G# on the high E string - beautiful sound)
------0---[4]---------------------
------0------------------------
------6------------------------
------6------------------------
------0------------------------
------X------------------------


jazzy sounding Am's (with added degrees of various kinds)

------5(1)-----0------0----------
------5(1)-----0------0----------
------5(1)-----5------5----------
------5(1)-----5------7----------
------0--------0------7----------
------X--------X------X----------


And, of course, the possibilities are endless. Don't be afraid of noodling up the neck.

Have fun,
Doug

[solidwalnut]

Great stuff, Bob.

[bmurnahan]

Notice these are all some kind of 3 6 2 5 turnaround in G

Oops...in C

[fireblade]

I like these chords. I use em all the time. Hey Joe is a good one to play with these sliding chords. I did a track which uses that slidng E chord a lot.

SoundClick - The yelling gun - MP3 music downloads on SoundClick

It the one called parking lot.

[Aunt Doty]

I know Kirk............I know!! Read, watch dvd, practice!!!!!!!!!!!!

[carol m]

My head is spinning, fingers too......woohoo

[monk]

Originally Posted by si16

Aadd9

0
0
6
7
0
x

Technically this chord is Aadd2. In order to be considered a 9 there has to be a 7 present.

Regards,
Monk

[si16]

Originally Posted by monk

Technically this chord is Aadd2. In order to be considered a 9 there has to be a 7 present.

Regards,
Monk

I agree, A9 would be A C# E G B. The chord I wrote has a B but no G. My understanding of added chords convention is that the added note is always written an octave up from the root (regardless of whether it actually is or not). Is this incorrect?

[monk]

si16,
Sorry. I may not have been clear about that.

A9=A C# E G B

Amaj9=A C# E G# B

Aadd2=A C# E B

The 7 or b7 must be present in the chord for the 2 to "become" a 9. Otherwise it's just a 2 regardless of octave.

If the 2 replaces the 3 it would be called sus2. If the 3 is present it's an add2.

In Classical Theory the add2 chord was called a 9/8 suspension and had to be resolved to the triad. In Modern theory the add2 is a variant that stands on its own.

Examples of Classical 9/8 suspension:

--x--x----0---0
--3--1----3---1
--0--0----0---0
--2--2----x---x
--3--3----3---3
--x--x----x---x

Note that in these examples the "9" does reside in the second octave. But then something like this comes along:

---0---
---1---
---0---
---0---
---3---
---3---

Regards,
Monk

[wcostley]

The open chords talked about, I find extremely hard because the strings in that area stand so much higher up off the fret board which makes it real difficult (putting it mildly) to hold the strings down without touching the open strings next to them, it seems to me that you would need a real low action guitar to be able to play most of them.
Skip

[monk]

Skip,
These are playable on any guitar. Electric, acoustic or classic.

Be sure to arch your fingers and press straight down on the strings with your thumb in back of the neck. In fact, your fingers should never touch an adjacent sting unless you intend to mute it.

Regards,
Monk

[Fretsource]

Monk, that's interesting about the add2 v add9 naming convention. Over here, the use of add 9 is far more common than add 2 (which, of course, doesn't make it more correct). I know the reasoning behind both conventions, although the add 9 convention, (which names the added notes according to their equivalent extended position) isn't logical, using 9 & 11 instead of 2 & 4 and including "add" to differentiate them from true 9th and 11ths, but then using 6 instead of add 13.
How about the 6 add 9 chord? Do you prefer to call it 6 add 2? Or is their some special justification for using 9 in this case?

[Fretsource]

Sorry for going off topic a bit with my last post. Here are a couple of shapes to make up for it.

If you move C7 (x32310) up 2 frets it becomes D9
If you move it up another 2, it becomes E7.
And B7 (X21202) if moved up 5 frets also becomes E7

Apologies if they've already been posted. I quickly scanned through all but my eyes were out of focus by the time I got to the end

[eddiez152]

Doug,
Thanks for the thread on this. Lots of great info here from you and all.