[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

[wcostley]

Doug,
This sounds very interesting, I'm mainly responding so I won't forget to put some time and thought into it.
I'm one of those still stuck up by the nut.
I can barr a decent F chord, but it takes me so long to get my fingers in the right position that it's more or less useless to me.
Thanks,
Skip

[__tsidewinder__]

Hey, cool lesson Doug. Been looking for chords like these, they sound very unique. Anyone know more?

[Aunt Doty]

Thanks a million Doug! I have been playing with some very talented players and have seen them play up the neck without using barres and was wondering what they were doing so now I can have an idea , at least a place to start!

[tomg123]

Thanks doug i also find sweet sounding non-barre chords up the
neck. Alot can move around to. The A chord one you have can be
moved down concluding on Fmajor7 for a very nice progression

[X4StringDrive]

Thanks for this Doug

[solidwalnut]

Nice job!

[Kirk Lorange]

Nice one, Doug.

That first E5 is a great one to see if you're in tune.

The Amaj7 is actually a Amaj7add9 (no 3) ... the open B string is the 9. I guess since there's no 3 it's a sus2, not add 9. Who cares! It sounds beautiful.

Aunt Doty: You need to read PlaneTalk a couple more times! You don't need to be shown these things.

[monk]

Kirk,
You were right the first time. It's an Amaj9. The 3 is hiding on the third string at the 6th fret.

The voices, low to high, are 5 1 7 3 9 5.

Here's a few more: Am add2 to AmMaj9 to Am9


---0---0---0---
---0---0---0---
---5---5---5---
---7---6---5---
---0---0---0---
---0---0---0---


Here's an A7 I learned from Jerry Reed:

---0---
---5---
---0---
---7---
---0---
---0---


An Em add 2:

---0---
---0---
---0---
---4---
---2---
---0---

Try moving the note on the 5th string up to 3 then 4 and back down for a James Bond vibe.

An A9:

---0---
---0---
---6---
---5---
---0---
---0---

Same shape as E7:

---0---
---0---
---7---
---6---
---x---
---0---

Enjoy,
Monk

[Kirk Lorange]

Thanks, monk. Now I'm going to read PlaneTalk again!

[Teddy Madison]

Thanks Doug!

This one is beautiful when you finger pick it.

-----0-----
-----0-----
-----5-----
-----7-----
-----7-----
-----X-----

Wayne

[Doug]

Kirk, thanks for pointing out my error with the Amaj9 - I shouldn't be so lazy about figuring out what notes are in there - it just "sounded" major 7th to me
Monk, thanks for adding to the list.
One thing to point out though, is that these are not generally "moveable" chords like barre chords are (but they do sound cool).

[knight46]

Thanks all for this information.

[si16]

Aadd9

0
0
6
7
0
x

This sounds good followed by the A Major Doug posted in the first post.


E major 7

x
9
8
9
x
0

and E7

x
9
7
9
x
0

[bmurnahan]

If you remove the root there are many of these used by Chet Atkins when he does open string rolls. Remember, the bass player has the root.

---0------0------0-----0-----0-----0------0----------------
---0------7------0-----7-----0-----7------0----------------
---7------7------6-----6-----5-----5------4----------------
---6------6------5-----5-----4-----4------3----------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------

E7 E9 A7 A13 D13 D9 G7


----0--------0---------0---------0---------------------
----0--------0---------0---------0---------------------
---13-------12-------11--------10----------------------
---12-------11-------10---------9----------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------




-----0-------0------0-------0--------0-----------------------
-----3-------2------1-------0--------0-----------------------
-----4-------4------2-------2--------1-----------------------
-----6-------5------4-------3--------3------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------

Notice these are all some kind of 3 6 2 5 turnaround in G and they are all dominant 7ths. You can change a note here or there to see what other chord qualities you can come up with.

I also remember a Lenny Breau article from long ago about using open strings in chords and how each one can function. For instance the open E could be the 1 in E, a flat 9 in D# or Eb, 2 or 9 in D, etc and then seeing what you can come up with thinking along those lines. For instance....

--0------0-
--9------4-
--7------6--
--8------5--
---------6--
-----------

Bb7b5 Eb7b9

Some useful, maybe some not so useful but something to think about.

Have fun exploring!

Bob