stevel
Member
- Messages
- 15,470
Hi all,
By "inside" here I mean, on the inner 4 strings, like for comping.
This will get long, but I feel I need to explain, so please bear with me...
I spent a long time a while back going through possible permutations of chord shapes - those with 6th string roots, those with 5th string roots, those with 4th string roots, and skipped string shapes, etc.
And so you'll know, I know the theory behind making any chord and am not just playing "by shape".
But here's something I came across - a 13th chord like:
x
10
11
11
10
x
In all my permutations, I didn't come across that possibility (though I never expected what I was doing would exhaust all possibilities) but in playing it, I find it to be a very "familiar" sounding voicing.
When you couple this A13 with D9 and E9 like:
x
10
9
10
9
x (and the E9 is up two frets of course)
I find I get a set of voicings that are very familiar sounding - Route 66 (in pre-JM versions) come to mind.
I know that this D9 voicing is rootless, and the A13 is 7th, 3rd, 13th, and root from the bottom up.
So these seem to be "common" or "choicy" voicings. Of course I can play them in other ways, but what this has gotten me wondering is, what are the most common ways you guys play these voicings?
I can easily come up with an A major 9th chord like:
x
5
4
7
4
x
But I don't feel that that's a common "rootless" voicing of a major 9th, not to mention it sounds so strongly like C#m7 that it appears guitarists avoid using a voicing that strongly implies another chord, despite a different root.
I've been through all inversions of chord shapes too - but only for four note chords - realizing of course a m7 for example can be the upper 4 notes of a "rootless" M9 chord.
However, that 13th threw me because it has it's root, but is "5thless", "9thless" and "11thless".
Of course that means it had only what it needs to make it a 13th - root, 3rd, 7th, and 13th.
So what I'm looking for are four string chords - inner 4 strings (I can easily figure out how to move them to the upper 4 strings, etc.) for your basic "extended" chord shapes:
m6, M6, 7th types, 9th types, 11th types, and 13th types, maybe 6/9 as well.
And I'm looking for ones that are "the most common". For example, I know that:
x
5
2
5
3
x
Is a C6 that fits the criteria above, but I see far more people play it like:
x
1
2
2
3
x (plus the reach on the former is uncomfortable to me).
So I'm looking for your "go to" grips for these chords, as well those that are often used. Like what are the two most common voicings for each type of chord. 4, 10, or millions won't help with the process of elimination.
For example, out of all the 7th chord possibilities on those inner 4 strings, it seems that by far
x x
3 7
5 5
4 7
5 5
x x
are the two most common and "useful" (and by the way, I'm not elminating inner 4 string "barre" chords from use).
What I'm loooking to do is find shapes - like that A13 and D9 E9 combo above that give me I, IV and V (and others) in a very compact space (i.e. stay within a few frets of each other).
Personal advice is great (like, "I've found these to be useful") and links to sites are ok - the only problem with those is I typically find them overly exhaustive, or too rudimentary.
Thanks for any help guys,
Steve
By "inside" here I mean, on the inner 4 strings, like for comping.
This will get long, but I feel I need to explain, so please bear with me...
I spent a long time a while back going through possible permutations of chord shapes - those with 6th string roots, those with 5th string roots, those with 4th string roots, and skipped string shapes, etc.
And so you'll know, I know the theory behind making any chord and am not just playing "by shape".
But here's something I came across - a 13th chord like:
x
10
11
11
10
x
In all my permutations, I didn't come across that possibility (though I never expected what I was doing would exhaust all possibilities) but in playing it, I find it to be a very "familiar" sounding voicing.
When you couple this A13 with D9 and E9 like:
x
10
9
10
9
x (and the E9 is up two frets of course)
I find I get a set of voicings that are very familiar sounding - Route 66 (in pre-JM versions) come to mind.
I know that this D9 voicing is rootless, and the A13 is 7th, 3rd, 13th, and root from the bottom up.
So these seem to be "common" or "choicy" voicings. Of course I can play them in other ways, but what this has gotten me wondering is, what are the most common ways you guys play these voicings?
I can easily come up with an A major 9th chord like:
x
5
4
7
4
x
But I don't feel that that's a common "rootless" voicing of a major 9th, not to mention it sounds so strongly like C#m7 that it appears guitarists avoid using a voicing that strongly implies another chord, despite a different root.
I've been through all inversions of chord shapes too - but only for four note chords - realizing of course a m7 for example can be the upper 4 notes of a "rootless" M9 chord.
However, that 13th threw me because it has it's root, but is "5thless", "9thless" and "11thless".
Of course that means it had only what it needs to make it a 13th - root, 3rd, 7th, and 13th.
So what I'm looking for are four string chords - inner 4 strings (I can easily figure out how to move them to the upper 4 strings, etc.) for your basic "extended" chord shapes:
m6, M6, 7th types, 9th types, 11th types, and 13th types, maybe 6/9 as well.
And I'm looking for ones that are "the most common". For example, I know that:
x
5
2
5
3
x
Is a C6 that fits the criteria above, but I see far more people play it like:
x
1
2
2
3
x (plus the reach on the former is uncomfortable to me).
So I'm looking for your "go to" grips for these chords, as well those that are often used. Like what are the two most common voicings for each type of chord. 4, 10, or millions won't help with the process of elimination.
For example, out of all the 7th chord possibilities on those inner 4 strings, it seems that by far
x x
3 7
5 5
4 7
5 5
x x
are the two most common and "useful" (and by the way, I'm not elminating inner 4 string "barre" chords from use).
What I'm loooking to do is find shapes - like that A13 and D9 E9 combo above that give me I, IV and V (and others) in a very compact space (i.e. stay within a few frets of each other).
Personal advice is great (like, "I've found these to be useful") and links to sites are ok - the only problem with those is I typically find them overly exhaustive, or too rudimentary.
Thanks for any help guys,
Steve