multipurpose chord shapes

billyshears

hey there
i am new on the forum and lovin´ it
i´m working on the book and have made good progress so far...
my knowledge in music theory is not that big, but i also learn regularly.
however i don`t know what to do with page 48 (multi chord shapes).

i understand that the different chords are made up of the same notes just in another order, but i have no idea how to use them or memorize them (sometimes no root note!) to apply them in songs, as it is rather confusing to me.

is it linked to chord substitution??
any explenations are very appreciated.

greetings from vienna
herb

MichaelHorowitz

Hi Herb,

I would just memorize them and use them when ever you can. The point of those is to demonstrate how you can play some very complex harmony doing something that is physically very simple. One exercise is to try and play an entire song using just one or two shapes.

Good luck!

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crookedpinky

Hi there, welcome to the forum - I think Michael's right learn where they are and try them out and dont worry too much about why or how they work - do the theory later. Sometimes the multi shapes work well as they are and other times they need to be used in some sort of context. For example - one of my favourtite shapes is the half dimished shape - see the following page from some teaching material I'm trying to write



if you played the half diminished shape as a G on its own then because there's no root note it's not clear what it is. If you play a G shape with a root first then this half diminished shape - eg where a bar has four beats of a G chord play two with a "normal" g shape, then two of the half diminshed shape giving you a rootless G but with a progression from G in the bass to B - your ear would recognise it as some form of a G chord in that context.

All of the multi shape chords rely on the the context, the chords played before and after them, to give them a deinifition - if that makes sense.

One thing I enjoyed doing was to take that half diminished shape and try play a song - Douce Ambiance for example - using the half diminished shape as much as possible. That way you get to know where the shapes work as different chords.

I hope this helps and doesnt confuse you further, as soon as I get the time I'll write out the chord sheet for Douce Ambiance which will show where you can use these multi purpose shapes.

Alan

billyshears

hi
thanks for the reply´s so far.
cleared some things up for me, so now i just have to keep practising.

@ alan: the info material you attached is very compromised( in a good way ) and understandable. where can i find the whole thing when it´s finished??
i also would love the to see your douce ambience chord chart, i think i now undertand how to use these ideas - but just to make sure

greetz
herb

crookedpinky

I'm still working on the teachng mateial when I can find some spare time - but any time writing about it is time not spent practicing...

I will do a grille for Duce Ambiance over the next two days and post it up.

Thanks for yor kind words

Alan

bbwood_98

Alan,
Great post-
The first shape has more uses then that as well, though. I use that as a g7 sometimes (with b9), and very occasionally as a fm6b5 . . . though that mostly not with gypsy jazz players . . . favorite trick with those two shapes is to work on dark eyes and see how many you can fit (start on the first shape with C# in the bass - 4th fret on the a string) and move it around a bunch before you change to a dm6 (the second shape) and so on.
Cheers,
Ben

steven_eire

another thing to note is that you say the half diminished can be moved every 3 frets. but this doesn't work unless you want to add notes that didn't belong to the original chord.

in your example you have B 1/2 Dim, move this up 3 frets can you will have a C note in there.

however the full diminished chord does work every 3 frets

crookedpinky

Hi there, thanks for the comments, I use the half diminished shape on Dark eyes a lot.

Regarding moving up in three steps I did say it gave an interesting progression I didn't mean it gave an inversion of the same chord.

The page I posted comes from something I plan to write for beginners in the Hot Club of Glasgow to explain a bit more about chords/shapes with an emphasis on getting them to move the same shape over the fingerboard.

Alan

swing_gitan

billyshears wrote:

hey there
however i don`t know what to do with page 48 (multi chord shapes).

i understand that the different chords are made up of the same notes just in another order, but i have no idea how to use them or memorize them (sometimes no root note!) to apply them in songs, as it is rather confusing to me.

I agree with Michael that you don't need to worry too much about theory and that you had better focus on memorizing these chord shapes. This will take some time, but it isn't that hard. I would suggest that you make up some exercises such as the following:

1. Play the Gm6 chord up and down the neck using the fingerings in the first line of p.48 (for simplicity, you could initially restrict to just the top 4 strings and use the first shape without the G in the bass, the fifth shape without the E in the bass, and the seventh and eighth shapes). Repeat in other keys.
2. Do the same for the C9, Em7b5 and F#7b9b13 shapes.
3. Make up simple chord progressions using the above chords and try to play them in a single area of the neck. For example, try to play the following progressions in the areas near the 3rd, 5th, 8th and 10th frets:
Fmaj7 / G9 / | Gm6 / C7b9b13 /
Em7b5 / A7b9b13 | Dm7 / G9 /
4. Play the same chord progressions, now using the same shape for all m6, 9, m7b5 and 7b9b13 chords.
5. Apply steps 3 and 4 to complete songs.

Such exercises had helped me a lot when I was learning these chord shapes.

Also, one word of caution: the shapes with notes other than the root or fifth of the chord in the bass register don't sound "right" in all situations.

klaatu

If you want some multipurpose chord shapes, learn the 3-note chord voicings, as in the Freddie Green style. Django probably would have used a lot of 3-note voicings due to his left hand disability.

This is an excellent book on big band swing rhythm:
http://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/ecom-prodshow/Charlton-Johnson-SWING-AND-BIG-BAND-GUITAR.html

MichaelHorowitz

klaatu wrote:

Django probably would have used a lot of 3-note voicings due to his left hand disability.

that's a bit of a myth actually...if you listen to what Django is playing he's usually using 4, 5, or 6 chords whenever he can. The 3 note chords were used more for quick passing chords. So many people have assumed this over the years but if you transcribe what he was actually playing it's a lot more than 3 note chords.

Take a look at some of the transcriptions in the Gypsy Rhythm or Unaccompanied books. You can see what Django was playing...some of those chords are so thick that people with fully functioning hands have trouble!

Because the guitar is the primary chordal instrument in this genre, the rhythm players are usually going for as much sound as possible. Hence, the use of large voicings of 4 notes or more. Freddie Green was in a completely different situation. He was trying to fit into a big band with tons of chordal activity from the piano and horn sections. The 3 note chords were perfect as they insured he wouldn't step on any toes!

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