7 Things to Do to Get the Most Out of Your Guitar Chords

By Mike P Hayes

People respond to the three basic elements of music in this order: rhythm, melody then harmony. Firstly, rhythm – if we don’t like the rhythm of a piece of music our interest in that music stops there.

Secondly, melody – the melody is the tune of the particular piece of music, it’s the part we hum or whistle.

Thirdly, is the harmony – this is where chords come into the picture and the vast majority of people have difficulty with this aspect of music.

Often, when learning the guitar we often experience a musical brick wall while trying to learning to play chords. I have set out 7 tips to help you avoid the common traps.

1. Make sure your guitar is set-up properly: If your guitar is too hard to play your hands will become tense and tire quickly. Please keep in mind that when you buy a guitar the action of the guitar (the distance of the strings away from the guitar fretboard) will need to be adjusted, regardless of the brand or price range. This true for both new and pre-played instruments.

2. Learn the names of the notes on the guitar: Guitar players generally think in terms of lead guitar or rhythm guitar playing, when in reality chords are simply combinations (vertical stacking) of notes. Each chord has a specific spelling, once you know how to spell a chord you can create many different ways of playing that chord on the guitar … if you know the names of the notes and their location on the guitar fretboard.

3. Create four string grids: By dividing the six strings of your guitar into four string grids each grid consisting of three strings. Grid one – first, second and third strings. Grid two – second, third and fourth strings. Grid three – third, fourth and fifth strings. Grid four – fourth, fifth and sixth strings.

4. Learn the triadic and scaletone seventh versions of chords: By learning both the triadic and scaletone seventh chord structures many chord substitution possibilities will become obvious. Following is an example of the triadic (three note) chord structures in the key of C major – C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B dim. The scaletone seventh (four note version) of the same scale would be: CMaj7, Dm7, Em7, FMaj7, G7, Am7 and B minor 7th flat 5.

5. Pay attention to the strumming hand: The most common mistake guitarist’s make is to focus all their attention on the chord fingering while neglecting the picking hand. Many times the chord formation is correct however unwanted notes are being played by the strumming hand. For example often guitar players incorrectly strum five strings for a D major chord, while this chord sounds fine the sound you are producing with this five string chord is a D/A chord (D major chord with and A bass note.)

6. Learn to play slash chords: A great way to increase you chord vocabulary is to play simple triadic chords with different bass notes. For example a simple chord progression such as A///|E///|D///| could be made more interesting by playing an “A” note in the bass for each chord: A …|E/A …|D/A …

7. Learn to recognize chord progressions: The fastest way to learn to play guitar “by ear” is to train yourself to recall the sound of chord progressions. Many songs are based on standard chord progression templates such as the one, six, four, five chord progression. In the key of “G” this progression would look like this: G///|Em///|C///|D///||

A great many people give up playing because of a poorly set-up instrument or because they can’t seem to get the same sound they hear on the recordings of their favorite artists, by applying these simple tips you will hear (and feel) immediate results.

Mike Hayes develops systems and products to help you succeed in your guitar playing. Find out more about how to learn guitar fast with his popular free ecourse, available at: => http://www.guitarcoaching.com

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