14 Ways to Escape the First Four Frets, Part 6

14 Ways to Escape the First Four Frets, Part 6
Read part 5

[Escape #5] Open Movable Chords

There's nothing new under the sun. But sometime in jr. high, circa 1988, I slid the open E chord shape up to the 6th fret I thought I had found it. I moved it two more frets and was absolutely convinced that I had stumbled on the greatest find since six strings had been tied to a piece of wood.

Turns out I wasn't the first. Within a decade, the worship music scene was dominated by acoustic guitars playing open movable chords. The two quintessential songs of that era was Open the Eyes of My Heart by Paul Baloche and Delirious'  I Could Sing of Your Love Forever.

While the sound in modern worship has moved away from that open acoustic sound, the technique is still being used and innovated upon. And it's still a great way to escape the first four frets.

Here's a comprehensive e-training on open movable chords I use in my live workshops. If you have questions or comments, drop me an email or reply to this post.

14 Ways to Escape the First Four Frets, Part 5

14 Ways to Escape the First Four Frets, Part 5

Read Part 4

[Escape #4]

In much of life, theory precedes (and is often far easier) than practice.

I can tell you the basic theory behind a internal combustion engine. Fuel, sparks, pistons, explosions. But don't ask me to fix my lawn mower engine. And I can tell you about twelve different ways of losing weight. But then ask me about my gut and why it's still there: I'll change the subject. [Actually, I have lost over 100 lbs in the last few years...it's been the same 15 lbs seven times. So I'm not the biggest loser, but maybe the most repetitive...]

For most guitarists, practice precedes theory. We played a C chord long before we knew what a C chord really was. And for many guitarists, theory never makes it on the plate. Which is a-OK. But theory can be useful. As we dive into the next escape, I'm going to lead-in with a theory lesson. If you start getting short of breath and breaking out in hives, just scroll down to the practical stuff. Knowing the theory behind this technique might allow you to use it more broadly. But for some, theory just messes with their mojo. I understand.

For a brief background on what Triads are, click on the graphic to the right and you'll get taken to a larger version of it. (hit "back" on your browser return to the post).

By the way, this is a full-out training I'm developing - if you have some feedback (good, bad or ugly) for it, please drop me an email or reply to this post.

If you can't digest roots and thirds and fifths, let's start simpler. Learning the basics of triads is as simple as playing with the alphabet.

Musical notes (for us English speakers at least) are designated with letters A - G. To learn your triads, just start skipping every other letter:
A (B) C (D) E
R  2   3   4   5

So the A triad is made up of notes A, C, and E.  A is the Root. C is the 3rd. E is the 5th. It doesn't matter if the triad is major, minor, diminished or augmented. Later, as you get to know chord theory better, the sharps and flats will need to come into play. But for now, just get to know the letters that make the triad.

The Triad Game:

A good way to do this is just make a mental game out of it. As you're driving, sitting in study hall, waiting in line, or pretending to listen to your girlfriend--during those down times--play the "triad game." Start with C. C is like the middle of the western music universe, so it's a good place to begin. Mentally determine what notes are in a C triad: C, E, G. Then move on. But move around the circle of 5ths. C, G, D, etc. This will help you learn a whole new realm of theory without realizing it. Here's a chart to get you going. >>>>


Again, at this point, don't worry about sharps, flats, majors, minors, etc. Just get to know the basics of a triad. After you play this mental game awhile, you'll be able to rattle the triads off in your sleep.

OK, I'm starting to break out into theory-induced hives, and I love this stuff. I think it's time to get to the practice of it.

The first triad shape is one you've been playing everyday since, well, you started playing. It's the D triad. This shape is to a guitarist what a neck beard is to an Amish dude. (OK, I don't really get that analogy either.) But this shape is more than just a D chord.

If we play the triad game, we figure out that the notes in a D triad is D, F, A. In this case it's a major triad, so the 3rd is an F#. (Take my word for it at this point - the rabbit trail of theory explanation would lead us into next winter).

Why is there a "5th" designation on the chord diagram? The 5th is in the 'bass' (or lowest voice). This is also called second inversion. What would happen if we traveled up these first 3 strings too look for the next occurrence of the D triad. We'd find a slightly less familiar shape.

Lets start with the 3rd string. As we move from the A on the second fret, we find our next chord tone on the the seventh fret: a D. On the 2nd string, we move up from the D on the third fret to an F# on the seventh fret. And on the 1st string, we move from the F# on the second fret to an A on the fifth fret.

This forms a triad with a root in the bass. (This is called "root position".) If you don't quite recognize this chord, take a look at the chord diagram to the right. This triad is the top three notes of a 5th String Root D barre chord. It has always helped me to "see" triads when I relate them to larger chord they are a part of.





If we move up each string again to find the next triad, we land up around the 10th fret. This time, the third is in the bass, which is a "first inversion." This should look vaguely familiar as well. Take a look at the full chord that it's a part of: the 6th string root D barre chord.

So even though we began with a D shape, this triad isn't exclusive to on the D chord. Let's look at how the G triad on string set 3-2-1. OK, quick - what are the notes in a G triad?

Got it?

Yep - G, B, D. Here are the G triads on string set 3, 2, 1:

You'll notice the same shapes, just in a different place.











So what do these triad shapes have to do with actual playing? Let's put the triads into the context of a often used chord progression.



The 1  -  5  -  6m  -  4 is a popular chord progression. It is used in Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name" among other popular worship tunes.

So far in the key of D, we've covered the 1 chord: D, and the 4 chord: G. Let's figure out what the triads for the other two chords in this progression.

First the 5 chord: here's the A triads on string set 3-2-1:

The 6m chord naturally occurs as a minor chord (hence, the little m) - that means we need to figure out what a minor triad looks like. Let's go back to were we started, the D shape - only this time, it's the Dm shape:

This is a shape you've likely played before. Look at how it relates to the D major triad shape. What's changed? The third is moved down 1/2 step (or one fret). This is a "flat 3rd". It's what makes a minor chord a minor chord.

In the key of D, the 6m chord is a Bm. To form a B minor triad, we need to move up the neck until we hit the B at the 12th fret.









Here are the other two B minor triads on strings 3-2-1.












Making the Escape with Triads
The whole point of this series is learning how to escaping the open position frets. So let's put this into practice. We have all four triads of the 1 - 5 - 6m - 4 progression. (D, A, Bm, G). What we can do is figure out which of these different triads group together. Here's one grouping:

As you play these triads, arpeggiate (play individual notes) instead of strumming. It will help you hear the different chord tones.

Here's another grouping that takes us above the fourth fret:

These triads aren't substitutes for full chords that fill out the sound. These triads are for finding your niche in the band mix.

Try different approaches. Strum the chord. Arpeggiate. Play a steel-string acoustic (strummed in the upper frets these triads sound mandolin-ish). Play a nylon string (strummed in the upper frets these sound ukulele-ish). Use an electric guitar with a clean setting. Dirt setting. Delay (think U2).

Note: some of these voicing sound a little "square" since they are straight major or minor. In future articles, we can explore some variations of these triads. But until then, experiment with tweaking these triads to see what sonic subtleties (or not-so-subtleties) you can create.

14 Ways to Escape the First Four Frets, Part 4

14 Ways to Escape the First Four Frets, Part 4

[Escape #3 continued]...need to read the first half?

We're in the middle of exploring barre chords as a way to escape the first four frets. If all we knew was what we discussed in the first half, our use of the standard barre chords would require some serious jumping around. Take for instance if we decided to play the chorus of "Mighty to Save" with only 6th string root bar chords. The progression is the top line. The fret to play the 6th string barre chord is on the bottom:

A    E     D      A      F#m      E

5    12    10     5         2       12

Lot's of jumping.

To minimize leaps up and down the neck, the 5th string offers us some great moveable chords.

The most common 5th string root barre chord is based on the A shape. 

First, this barre chord can be played with a double barre. Yep: barring with two fingers.

The finger numbers are designated on the bottom of the diagram. The first fingers bars on the fifth and the third finger bars across the 7th. For the double jointed, this finger is cake. For others, the ability to bar those three middle strings while leaving the first string open is downright impossible. My the highest joint on my 3rd finger does not bend backwards well, so this fingering it tough for me. After working at it, I can make all 5 notes of this chord ring [if you put a gun to my head, but otherwise, forget it]. 

Some are able to use this fingering to play this voicing on the left. If you've got Swift Premium Brown and Serve Sausages for fingers like I do, getting 3 thick digits crammed onto one small fret is tough. I like the voicing on the right below. Simply let your 3rd finger come up slightly to mute the 1st string. 

But will we miss that note? Maybe. But probably not. The 1st string is the fifth of the chord. The fifth is the least important tone in a Major and Minor chord. And it's already occurring on the 4th string, so in this voicing, the 1st string fifth interval is generally not necessary. Unless you want that higher fifth to ring out. (Really, it's all about you...)

One more thing about playing this barre chord. Remember how we talked about using the "beefy" part of your finger in the first half of this article? Same thing applies. For most people, it's actually easier to barre all six strings versus just five. So barre all six strings and simply strum from the 5th string down. And if you do hit that 6th string, don't sweat it: it's the fifth of the chord so it won't sound off, just inverted.

Let's start exploring the other chords based on this A shape. First, here's the chord tones in this A shape (left). 

To create the minor we need to simply lower the third one half step (or one fret). Let's do it:

Can you see the "Am" shape on frets 6 and 7.

To create the m7 shape, we lower the root one whole step (or two frets).

 

Let's go back to our original shape and look at variations of the major chord.

One voicing we didn't look at with the 6th string root barre was the major7 chord (maj7). While it's possible to create the maj7 with a 6th string root barre chord, the voicing is muddy. There are better ways to make a 6th-string root maj7 chord. That's coming later. The fifth string root barre chord offers a great sounding maj7. Simply lower the root 1/2 step (1 fret) to create a maj7 voicing. Try it...quite jazzy, eh? Learn enough of these and you'll be able to swing all your favorite worship songs. Just wait, eventually our Australian friends will do "Hillsong: Moonlight Lounge Worship" and we'll all be rocking the maj6 and maj7 chords.

 

To change a maj7 to a dominant 7 (dom7), simply lower the 7th down one more 1/2. Now it's a "flat" 7th (one full step/two frets).

Another option for a dom7 chord is on the right. Putting the "flat 7" in the upper voice creates a bright, distinct sound. Sometimes you want this - other times you don't. Trust your ear.

 

We covered the theory behind sus4 and 7sus4 in the last blog. The fingering for the sus4 can be a little tricky. Your best option is to go with how you prefer to play the major shape above. Either add the 4th finger while you continue to barre with the 3rd finger; or slide the 4th finger up one fret.

The last 5th string barre chord we'll look at is the sus2. I won't go into this chord much. Later in this series we'll be digging deeper into sus2/add2/add9 chords.

There are no "rules" about when and when not to use barre chords. At times, the major chords can sound "square" and the minor chords too dark. You need to trust your ear. 

Sometimes barre chords can be used to play in higher register, cutting through a mid-heavy mix. Other times, barre chords are the only way to play a 'borrowed' chord (like when a Bb gets thrown into a song in the key of C). And yet other times, barre chords create just the right sound for the song. You need to trust your ear. Did I mention that?

Part 5

14 Ways to Escape the First Four Frets, Part 3

14 Ways to Escape the First Four Frets, Part 3

Read Part 2

[Escape #3]

I've always said the "F" chord is aptly named.

For beginning players, it's a wall that seems surmountable. Up to this point, the newbie player has figured out how to contort his left hand to play a G, keep from hitting multiple strings with each finger as he plays a C, and only strum 4 out of 6 strings to play D. But then the teacher says, "Let's try the F chord," and the student's vocabulary suddenly gets more colorful. His guitar vocabulary, that is. He learns a new five-letter word: "barre." Did you know that the first attempt at "barring" is enough to make 47% of new students quit? (Did you also know that 68% of all statistics are made up on the spot?)

But one day, after perseverance and dented fingertips, the student gets it and begins a new journey with an index finger that can press down multiple strings. This student now has the skills to escape the gravity of the first four frets by playing barre chords.

If you're already on the far side of that ring of fire called "learning how to play barre chords," you might be tempted to ditch this session and go kill some time watching the Crossroads guitar duel between Steve Vai and the Karate Kid. [OK, fine. Go watch it. I'll wait.........doesn't get old, does it?]  Besides looking at the standard barre chords, we'll talk about ways to use them in worship music.

First, let me cover some ground for any novices: a barre, or bar, is a technique of using one finger to play multiple fretted notes. This is done to create chords in keys and octaves not possible with open notes. Most often, the finger used to bar is your 1st, or index, finger. There can be partial barres, covering 2 two 5 strings, as in the case of the simple F chord (shown above); or there are the full barres, where the finger covers all six strings (shown to the right.) The chord diagram will show a curved line covering the strings to be barred. Some diagrams may also use a straight line.

We'll be looking first at "6th-String Root" barre chords. "6th-string root" means just that - the root is on the sixth string. The root, without going into much theory, is the daddy-o note of the chord. It's what the chord is built on and what it's named after. The C chord's root is C. The A chord's root is, yep: A.

The most common barre chord shape is the E-shape barre chord. It looks like the common open position E major chord (see it in the stars?) The first finger barre emulates the open notes. [The numbers under the string in this particular diagram are the fingers used in this shape. From here on out, the fingerings won't be designated. But if you have a question on any of these chords, drop me an email. I'll be glad to help you out.]

The beauty of this and other barre chords is that you can simply move this shape up and down the neck to create new chords. If you play this shape at the 5th fret, you get an A major chord. Notice that under the 6th string, there is an R. That means root. In this position, the root note is A. If we were to move this shape up to the 8th fret, the root and chord would be C.

The two numbers, 3 and 5, are part of most every chord: the third and the fifth. These are tones, or notes, that make up the chord. They are named by their interval from the Root. We're getting in up to our noses in theory, so I'll stop now and save the theory-geeking for another blog post. But without getting into too deep, we'll be looking at how the Root, Third and Fifth moves around as we change the quality of this barre chord.

Whenever you see just the letter designating the chord name - as in this case with A - it's implied that it's a major chord. At times, you'll see major chords designated with an uppercase M, as AM (A Major). But if you don't see anything but the letter, assume it's major. Every other type of chord or voicing will have some alteration to the name.

Before we move on to look at variations of this shape, let's talk about actually playing this bar chord. A mistake that many players make is not using enough of their first finger to press down the barre. Do you see how your finger is divided into thirds? Often a player learning the bar will place the very tip of his/her finger at the 6th string and try to press down all the strings with the top 2/3s of his/her finger. The bottom third of your finger is where the beef is. Try placing the bottom third of your finger on strings one and two. Your finger may extend above the 6th string, but that's ok. Using the bottom third of your finger will give you more leverage.

Another trick to learn barre chords is playing them higher up the neck. Honestly, a full F barre chord at the 1st fret is brutal. The same shape is usually easier to play between the 5th and 9th frets. Get used to playing this barre shape up higher, then work your way down towards the lower frets.

Again, without getting to deep, these bar chord shapes can actually teach us some music theory. Let's go back to the A barre chord:


If you know the third of the chord you know the gender of the chord. And by gender, I mean whether it is a Major or Minor.


Play this A chord to the left. Your 2nd finger is playing the 3rd of the chord (coincidentally, and only coincidentally, it's on the 3rd string. The string number is no indication of the chord interval.) If you lift up that finger, it lowers this 3rd interval making it a "flat" or minor 3rd. What is created is an A minor barre chord (designated with a lowercase 'm'). Notice how much darker it is than the major. 2nd finger on - happy! 2nd finger off - sad!

[Notice also that the Am chord resembles the open position "E"-shape, only now it's the Em shape.]

Go back to play your A major shape. Lift up your 4th finger (that's your pinky). What happened? The root was lowered two frets (one whole step) to create a 'flat 7' interval in the chord. This chord is known as the A Dominant 7, or just A7. It is a bit unstable (like that one uncle that you see only at Christmas and you hope he doesn't hit the eggnog too hard before he visits). It feels like it wants to go somewhere. It does. Dominant 7 chords usually want to resolve to another chord. In the case of A7, it wants to go home to D. Try it.

There's another chord that contains a "flat 7". Play the A7. Now lift your 2nd finger again. You now have an A Minor 7 (to the left). The Minor7 chords are used a ton in modern worship music. The straight minor chord is often too dark; the presence of that 'flat 7' softens the sound. It still has a minor sound to it, but far less mournful.  Here's another voicing for a m7 barre chord that I like (on right).

Let's head back to our Major shape. A common alteration of chords is to raise the 3rd up one half step (one fret). Try it (but you'll likely have to change your second, third and fourth fingers around to do it). This is called an Asus4. The 'sus' is short for 'suspended'. Think of it this way: the 3rd is 'suspended' and replaced by the 4th. Practice playing the Asus4 to the A. It's a common sound you hear often.

Another variation is a dominant 7 chord with a sus4. Remember how the m7 tended to soften the sound of the minor chord? The sus4 does the same thing for the Dominant 7 chord. It takes away some of the instability of it. It still wants to go home, but its a kinder, gentler yearning to resolve. (Versus the A7 screaming "take me back to the freaking D chord now!") And besides the A7sus4 being a nicer chord, this particular fingering is actually easier to play than the straight Asus4.

Sus2, add2, add9 chords are great chord variations. (So great, in fact, that they'll have their own entry in this series.) But with this 6th string root bar chord, there aren't a lot of options that sound great. Here's one option for an Aadd2. It's a bit of a stretch, but it's a nice sounding chord once you've gotten it. (Btw - Dave Matthews fans will recognize the shape of strings 6, 5, 4. If you're older, think Andy Summers' riff on The Police's "SOS.")

So that's the beginning of "Escape #3: Barre Chords." In the next post, we'll continue to look at barre chords (5th string root) and then talk about when, where, why, and how to use them in worship music.

Happy Barre-day.



Read Part 4