thumb chords

chopstick

How often do you guys use those big voicings with regular rythm playing?

I'm trying to incorporate these traditional gypsy chords in my playing but I'm having trouble with the "double stop". I can get the thumb up there but I always end up muting some notes when i try to play two notes with one finger.

any advice? do you bend the first joint of your middle finger or flatten it?

I was thinking it might be easier if I had a fatter finger

any help would be gladly accepted!

Barengero

chopstick wrote:

How often do you guys use those big voicings with regular rythm playing?
any advice? do you bend the first joint of your middle finger or flatten it?

I use them as often as possible. If you are familiar to that big voicing chords you will find that you can play rhythm for hours quite loud and with full sound without getting tired.
I never paid attention to that until now. Let me see:

I bend the first joint of every finger when I play the following chord:

- - - 3 - -
- - - - 4 -
- - 1 - - -
- - - 2 - -
- - - 2 - -
- t - - - -

I bend the first joint of the middle finger, but flatten the one of the ring finger when I play that chord:

- - - 3 - -
- - - 3 - -
- - 1 - - -
- - - 2 - -
- - - 2 - -
- t - - - -

I bend the first joint of the middle finger and flatten the ones of the first and ring finger when I play that chord:

- - - 3 - -
- - - 3 - -
- - 1 - - -
- - 1 - - -
- - - 2 - -
- - - 2 - -

Same in the following chord:

- - - 3 - -
- - - 3 - -
- - - 3 - -
- - 1 - - -
- - - 2 - -
- - - 2 - -

o.k. So my result is: You always ought to bend the first joint of the middle finger, because otherwise you would mute the higher strings.

Good luck!

Barengero

Barengero

I was thinking it might be easier if I had a fatter finger [/quote]

One thing I forgot to mention: Of course you will have to eat one and a half pigs with mustard every day.

Barengero

dennis

i think there's a typo in the last chord did u meant to write C9?

anyway i agree with you said... but something simpler would be:

do whatever it takes to get the chord to come out clean (without injuring yourself of course!)

the whole thing about traditional gypsy voicings is interesting, nowadays the standard voicings today are mainly based on the ones used by django, but during his time his accompanists used different voicings (even more basic), if you watch the joseph videos on djangobooks.com you'll see what i mean.

The basic rule is to follow your ears, it's definitely a good idea to work on the full django voicings, but in practice, different things happens...

certain notes (ie the thumb bass) are sometimes omitted according, sometimes an inner note is ommitted sometimes the high e is left out:

i've seen numerous variations (from top quality rhythm players) on the following django chord:

5
5
4
5
5
3

i've seen:

5
5
4
5
5
x

ias well as

x
5
4
5
5
3

as well as

x
5
4
5
5
x

as well as

5
5
4
x
5
4

you get the idea.... everyone has their own way of approaching these voicings..

but it's good to get the full voicing down as an exercise before leaving certain tones...

D

Jack

dennis wrote:

The basic rule is to follow your ears, it's definitely a good idea to work on the full django voicings, but in practice, different things happens...

certain notes (ie the thumb bass) are sometimes omitted according, sometimes an inner note is ommitted sometimes the high e is left out

Agreed-I've found that with a bassist, the thumb notes aren't as important (I'll often play just the middle four on a six chord), but if you're playing in a duo setting, they tend to be a bit more neccesary. Ideally, I think you should be able to play the full chord, even if you don't always do it.

Best,
Jack.

Barengero

dennis wrote:

i think there's a typo in the last chord did u meant to write C9?

Yes I meant to write a 9th Chord as f.e. C9 but there is no typo. If playing the "g" on the high e-string, why not on the low E-string, too?

I have a guitar chord book that was published 1961 in germany in which all these chords are suggested. I don´t think they are especially Django´s invention.

Barengero

dennis

the typo is that u have 3 notes on the wrong frets ... the chord u have typed is actually Bmaj7#5b13/F# .... a nice funky chord... i'm sure boulou would love it

but there are very good reasons for not playing G on the bass in general.... but it doesnt apply to the pompe and to this style where thick bass is preferred, those are the ones i use as well

dennis

ah nevermind i understand now, you were not using tablature, those were the fingerings, it gets confusing reading it that way without lines to separate the frets

chopstick

okay, keeping the middle finger bent does help!

i still have trouble changing chords, i'm so used to chords that came out of the nolan books. it's nice to know that i don't have to play all the notes in those 6/9 chords!

playing these voicings changes the way i think about soloing. i'm not at the point where i really analyze the notes in a chord( i should start) but i like to see patterns to follow, gives me new ideas.

back to practice...:)

zav

i've seen numerous variations (from top quality rhythm players) on the following django chord:

5
5
4
5
5
3

Dennis, so finger bend is used for this chord, in a way similar to what Barengero's written?

Milo_TheGodfather

I have very small hands for a guitarist, so what is one to do when their thumb cannot reach the strings! I Try to play traditional voicings, but find that if I thumb a note, my other fingers cannot reach the strings at all. This has been very annoying, so I was wondering if I should just play more simplified chord shapes or something....