A few weeks ago, I was at a party with a few guitarists. Unsurprisingly, someone gave me a guitar. This got me thinking about musicality and how with a few simple tweaks, you can become a much better player.<\/p>\n
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As usual, I started to play a really simple finger picking pattern.<\/p>\n
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At its heart was a 4 chord trick. Of course, I was adding things and making it sound more complex than it really was.<\/p>\n
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The four chords were: G<\/strong>, Em<\/strong>, Am<\/strong>, C<\/strong>. So, nothing beyond the grasp of basic player.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Only three simple elements make the pattern sound complex. Firstly, passing chords, I used a few to add interest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I used a range of chord voicings to add different flavors. Lastly, the rhythm pattern was unique.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I slowed the pattern down to show someone, it occurred to me that this is a great lesson in musicality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t take a genius to realise you have a number of chord options.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For example, if we take G, we could play just a normal G chord<\/strong>, G sus4<\/strong>, Gmaj9<\/strong>, Gmaj11<\/strong>, G6<\/strong> or G69<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If any of these don’t look familiar to you then grab a copy of my Essential Chord eBook<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Similarly, we could do this for C<\/strong>, Em<\/strong> and Am<\/strong>. This means we have 3 further options for each chord or 18 total chord choices.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It would be rather stupid to bung them into just one song. That\u2019s taste<\/em> and musicality<\/em>, right there for you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In order to understand all of your options, try playing each chord by itself. When you’re confident then try it in the pattern.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If it sounds great, try to remember and use it. Sounds bad? Try another option.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The last step is to find the choices that relate what you feel. That\u2019s musicality in action.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You want to move people with the music you play. Plus you to be able to translate what\u2019s in your head into your hands.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When you have this together, then you want to find passing chords.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moving away or to any of our G<\/strong> chords, you can use a D<\/strong> chord. For example, I like to use D\/F#<\/strong>. So that gives us two chords in the first and last bar.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The second bar, Em<\/strong> is cool with being single! You could try using two different voicings of Em<\/strong>, such as Em7<\/strong> and Em9<\/strong>. However, a simple Em is great by itself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The third bar can have two chords, the first, an Am<\/strong> chord [Am<\/strong>, Am7<\/strong>, Am9<\/strong>] moving to a G\/B<\/strong> or just a simple G chord.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We\u2019ve created a walking bass line over the changes. Sounds great! Plus it\u2019s a whole other level from where we started.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In terms of the timing<\/a>, we can either split the bar in half and play two beats on each or play the additional chord on beat four.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original pattern : | G \/ \/ \/ | Em \/ \/ \/ |\u00a0 Am \/ \/ \/ | C \/ \/ \/ |<\/p>\n <\/p>\n New pattern : | G \/ \/ D\/F# | Em \/ \/ \/ |\u00a0 Am \/ \/ G\/B | C \/ \/ D\/F# |<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As for feeling, firstly get 8th<\/sup> notes sounding tight. When you do, you\u2019ll be able to move it around the beat which will add instant feeling to your playing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, you need to get it rock solid to start with. When its firm, then you can try and gently swing it so it sounds more like 16th<\/sup>s. I know, easy to say, hard to do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If your rhythm skills need some work, then start with a good metronome (I recommend oss DB-30C Dr. Beat Metronome, which costs $30 from Amazon<\/a>) and my Improve Your Sense of Time and Rhythm eBook<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As you can see, we have taken something pretty basic, added some new chords to liven the pattern up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We’ve then added passing chords to this sequence to advance it. Finally, we’ve played the pattern with solid timing and feel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s really a simple thing to do but its hours of fun.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You can try this with any style, chord pattern or song you like. It works best for fingerstyle. Give it a go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guitar Chord Choices<\/h2>\n
Adding musicality to your guitar playing<\/h2>\n
Passing chords<\/h2>\n
Rhythm<\/h2>\n
Improve your musicality<\/h2>\n