[rutledj]

Hi,

I'm trying to learn a rather ambitious version of Amazing Grace (Tommy Emmanuel )

He appears to use several passing chords (chords in-between the main chords of E, A B7th). What are the rules for using/finding these passing chords?

Thanks
Rut

[Fretsource]

Hi - No strict rules as such, just some guidelines:
You can play it safe by using chords that are consonant AND contain only notes from the key that the song is in,
or
you can live dangerously by experimenting with dissonant chords and chords with 'out of key' (chromatic) notes.

Consonant (blending) chords are majors, minors and sixths (and maybe 7ths in bluesy songs, like TE's arrangement of Amazing Grace). Most others chords are dissonant (clashing).

'In key' chords (in the key of E) contain only notes of the E major scale:
E F# G# A B C# D#
which combine to give you the following set of chords.
E, F#m, G#m A, B, C#m D#diminished. (You can extend them by adding more scale notes to make 7ths, 6ths, 9ths, etc).

Dissonant and especially chromatic 'out of key' chords often need to be followed by specific chords to sound good - so if you're not sure of the effect that your chosen chord is producing in the ear of the listener - play it safe and stay in key with fairly simple chords such as majors, minors 6ths and 7ths.

[Kirk Lorange]

Hi, Rut ... what Fretsource says.

Also, I had a quick listen to Tommy's version on YouTube ... he's throwing in some nice diminished chords amongst it all, but he's also doing some simpler things. For example, between the E and A at one stage he adds a G# bass note to the E, which is just a new inversion of the E chord; he then plays a E9 ... why? because E7 leads nicely to the A, but the melody note is a 9 ... An E chord with a flat 7 and a 9 equals E9th. So you can see that by adding the melody notes to the underlying chords, new chords are formed that sound tricky, but are really just the sum total of what's going on at that moment in the tune.

[rutledj]

Thanks! I figured it was just some variation to them main chords but can't figure them out. The youtube version (which was taped from woodsongs) is the version I was trying to get down. Very challenging.

Rut

[stringslinger]

I'll tell ya something about passing chords...

passing chords can be used to great effect, as they make you sound like you are playing something much more complex than it really is... and they can make you sound like you're THE MAN on guitar just by throwing in passing chords, which really could be just the same moveable shape sliding around from a key chord, chromatically up to the next key chord. Sounds cool when done right, but very easy. I'm sure eventually I'll cover this in a lesson too.

[joemerc]

hi there stringslinger hope you keep us posted on this lesson,the sooner the better.thanking you again

[Aunt Doty]

Yeah, stringslinger I'd be very interested in that lesson also!

[Stratrat]

I'm always up for learning something easy that sounds complex!