multipurpose chord shapes

Jazzaferri

My duet partner plays rhythm usually using the biggest chords he can...... for effect other chords get used at special times

I use dyads and triads at times playing the solo part ... good emphasis and much less chance of stepping on his notes.

Djoe

Alan-
The half-dim shape (or "grip") is a beauty! I love the flexibility... play it over the II chord and then move it up 3 frets and play it again over the V7 for an nice altered sound. And of course, the m7b5 arp works everywhere the shape does. How cool is that?

Perhaps I'm confused on one issue... In your diagram you show it on the 3rd fret as a rootless G13, but without a 6th, wouldn't it be a G9?

crookedpinky

Re the 13th, you could be right - I have no idea where I got the G13th from, to be hoenst I'm still getting my head round the chords used in this style - I've never needed to play chords as colourful as these.

I have another sequence which I play - I;m not claiming it's original, it's probably been done before but I came across it while noodling around. I'll draw it up in diagram form and explain how I use it when I get some free time

Alan

Djoe

Not to be too picky, but the Am6 shape shown on the right doesn't really equate to a dim chord, but a half dim. As shown in the diagram it's an F#m7b5 (with the F# root on the D string).

As I understand it, the half dim (or m7b5) = 1 b3 b5 b7, whereas the dim = 1 b3 b5 bb7 (or every 3rd note).

What's really cool is that whether you use that m7b5 grip as a 9th, a m6th or a m7b5, any arpeggio, scale or lick that fits one will fit the other too! In other words a Bm7b5 arpeggio also perfectly describes a G9 or a Dm6. I'm still learning this stuff but it's exciting and fun to share!

crookedpinky

Not to be picky either but the Am6 shape is frequently referred to as a Dim shape in the Robin Nolan gig book, maybe we should tell Robin he's got it wrong as well.

To be honest I hadn't/don't analyse the notes in the chords too much - if it fits the progression it'll do for me.

Alan

kimmo

crookedpinky wrote:

Not to be picky either but the Am6 shape is frequently referred to as a Dim shape in the Robin Nolan gig book, maybe we should tell Robin he's got it wrong as well.

Maybe. I haven't seen the Gig Book, but Djoe is right: if you use all 4 notes of a min6 chord, then it's not diminished but half diminished (Amin6 = F#min7b5). If you only grab three notes, you get a shape, which could be either dim or min6.

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If you want fuller dim chords based on the shape above, these would be your diminished options (on 5th fret this would be Bbdim). The latter has an added 13 on top, so it could also be called (again 5th fret) A13b9. It's very commonly played on Bbdim so I added it here.

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