[steve/f]

Hello everyone,hi been playing the guitar for about a year now and getting by using about five chords,is the best way to learning chords memorising them or learning scales.

Thanks.

[redrider37]

Originally Posted by steve/f

Hello everyone,hi been playing the guitar for about a year now and getting by using about five chords,is the best way to learning chords memorising them or learning scales.

Thanks.

Hi Steve,

I have been playing for about 3 years, the 1st 6 months I got advice of friends who play, then I went to lessons and they broght me along really well, they give you a structure to practice which I think you need. You play with others which helps your timing and its social so you don't get bored.

This site is fantastic, look for lessons on here and also there is advice on how to practice and what to practice.

Hope this helps

I hope the mathew Street Festival is revived cos we have had hotels booked for a year

[allthumbs]

Learn how chords are constructed. You can then build any chord you want without having to memorize each one.

[lorispencer]

i agree with allthumbs. knowledge of the critical movable chord shapes (how and why they are constructed) along with a knowledge of the notes on the fret board will allow you to easily construct a chord you have never played before and to take familiar chords and move them to different places on the neck. the great thing about guitar is that you can have lots of fun with the knowledge of about 10 chords and the use of a capo plus if you choose, with a little more knowledge you can have all 6 strings and all 20 something frets at the ready to play.

[steve/f]

Hello redrider, the festival is on this year,the only problem is that all the bands will only be able to play in the pubs and not outside,due to not getting a safety certificate with all the work going on for 2008
why the council didn't let people know earlier is another story.Anyway hope you come and have a good time,back to normal next year.

[Aunkster]

Originally Posted by allthumbs

Learn how chords are constructed. You can then build any chord you want without having to memorize each one.

I hate to ask but can you elaborate on this please?

[allthumbs]

This lesson will give you a start.
Chord Construction

[Tekker]

It's a good idea to first learn all of your open major and minor chords.... "Open" meaning you are playing strings that are not fretted.

There are only five open major shapes, these are C, A, G, E, and D. Then there are only three common open shape minor chords (there are others, but they aren't really used often), these are Am, Em, and Dm. These chords should be committed to memory.

The most important ones are the "A" and "E" shapes because these are the most common shapes used for barre chords.

So get all these open chords down, then start in on barre chords.

Barre chords will probably take a while to learn, barre chords are very difficult, so just be patient. I don't think I've heard of a guitarist that didn't really struggle with barre chords when first learning them. But once you get them down, the whole world of guitar will open and you'll be able to play in any key you want.

-tkr

[Noodler]

If you know 5 chords, I'd extend that to 15 by using memory, just by going to Guitar Tabs, Guitar Chords and Lyrics - Chordie and finding songs that use just a few chords. Like some Johnny Cash, Don't Cry by Guns and Roses, American Pie (Don Maclean).

Learn these open chords, like Tekker said:

A,Aminor,A7,D,Dm, D7, G, G7, C, C7, Em, E, E7,B7, F.
None of them except F are hard to play. In fact some will be easier than some you already know. By now you'll be able to play hundreds of songs!

Now when you get to F, you need to cover two strings with one finger or do a barre chord. So now it's time, just like Tekker said to attack E and A shaped barre chords.

allthumbs and lorispencer, the OP said he knows five chords. Does that sound like someone who knows how to spell chords and the names of the notes all over then neck to you? I know what you are saying, but it doesn't sound like Steve is up to that yet.

[geitenvla]

Both are pretty useful to know; the standard open chords are the ones you'll eventually have to grab without any thinking involved. The scales are very useful when you try to build your "own" chords. When I started out I tried to stick to all the full major chords on the first 4 frets... A - B - C - D - E - F and G. Almost simultaneously you can learn the minors and the 7 chords as well. (still stick to the first 4 frets)...

Once this is covered, try to progress to barre chords... this is all a very slow process and probably will take you years to cover. Yet, it pays of a great deal and you can play most the most common songs with it.

[generaldefault]

Learn some scales and then figure out which chords fit over which scales

[AX7221]

The word "best" is giving me some difficulties. The easiest way would be to just memorize them. A better way (if it was realistic) would be to learn construction. I think it's unrealistic at first to do it way, but you dont have enough time between chord changes to map the 1's 3's and 5's then decide on fingerings and play it, so memorize 'em. But it is very good to understand the construction and also with respect to the diatonic scales.

[Noodler]

Originally Posted by AX7221

The word "best" is giving me some difficulties. The easiest way would be to just memorize them. A better way (if it was realistic) would be to learn construction. I think it's unrealistic at first to do it way, but you dont have enough time between chord changes to map the 1's 3's and 5's then decide on fingerings and play it, so memorize 'em. But it is very good to understand the construction and also with respect to the diatonic scales.

A good, common-sense answer.

Steve, I am learning 11ths, 13th, augmenteds, dims, etc (ie the exact same thing you are doing, just the next level) and even though I can remember how to spell the chords, at the end of the day I still have to memorise, practice and play shapes to play songs.

Besides, playing your basic 15 or so open chords will give you practice while you have fun playing songs. I reckon it's always important to have something fun to play, as well as working on improving. For me it's "Baby Did a Bad, Bad thing"

[makn]

I've been teaching myself to play for two years now. (A teacher is on the agenda for the rest of this year and next,, now that my fingers can move freely on the guitar.) However, I would say something that has really made a difference in understanding what I'm playing on the guitar was PlainTalk by Kirk. Even though it's not targeted at beginners.

I have zero musical background or native talent. Just a desire to learn.

It allowed me to take the huge jumble of notes on the guitar and get an understanding of them. Of WHY the chords worked as they did.

I approach the guitar like writing a program for a computer, there are rules. (since I work on computers all day) And these rules once you know them, make it easier to work the guitar. For me understanding some of the rules made the memorising of the the chords so much easier. i.e a minor chord, = flat the 3rd. That meant nothing to me when I started.

After Plaintalk I understood what the 3rd was, and where it was. So now I can make a minor chord anywhere on the guitar, when I know where the major is.

I tried explaining a minor chord, and why's it minor to my brother-inlaw, who plays way better than I do and has been for years. And he didn't get it. He had memorised without understanding.
And was happy with that approach. Me, I like to get rules as well as memorising the position of a chord.

But above all I enjoy what I do. Even if I haven't progressed from the open chords, to moving up the neck with other chords, or barre|barr chords.

I take small steps, add a little bit each time.

At least my wife thinks I sound alright when I play.

[danbhoy67]

Originally Posted by makn

I've been teaching myself to play for two years now. (A teacher is on the agenda for the rest of this year and next,, now that my fingers can move freely on the guitar.) However, I would say something that has really made a difference in understanding what I'm playing on the guitar was PlainTalk by Kirk. Even though it's not targeted at beginners.

I have zero musical background or native talent. Just a desire to learn.

It allowed me to take the huge jumble of notes on the guitar and get an understanding of them. Of WHY the chords worked as they did.

I approach the guitar like writing a program for a computer, there are rules. (since I work on computers all day) And these rules once you know them, make it easier to work the guitar. For me understanding some of the rules made the memorising of the the chords so much easier. i.e a minor chord, = flat the 3rd. That meant nothing to me when I started.

After Plaintalk I understood what the 3rd was, and where it was. So now I can make a minor chord anywhere on the guitar, when I know where the major is.

I tried explaining a minor chord, and why's it minor to my brother-inlaw, who plays way better than I do and has been for years. And he didn't get it. He had memorised without understanding.
And was happy with that approach. Me, I like to get rules as well as memorising the position of a chord.

But above all I enjoy what I do. Even if I haven't progressed from the open chords, to moving up the neck with other chords, or barre|barr chords.

I take small steps, add a little bit each time.

At least my wife thinks I sound alright when I play.

Flat the 3rd chord...., wow I never knew that! Tried it with all the major open chords..., great. One question though, if I,m playing a regular open C chord, can I flat the 3rd by just lifting my index finger off the b string?