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Lesson 15 - Essential Chord Shapes Part 2
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Hi there
As promised last time this is the 2nd part of the chord shapes lesson. Hope you did well with last time’s part 1 as this will build upon it! So review any problems that might have occurred so you can tackle this one properly.
Knowing very well ‘your’ triads is essential for two prime reasons. First because nearly all the music we have around us is built upon major and minor chords. Secondly because 75% of the 7th chords are actually triads! So today we’ll only have to look for that 25%...wise eh?!
The tab/standard notation shows 5 different 7th chords which are Major 7 Dominant 7 Minor 7 Minor7b5 and Diminished 7. Now there are a lot of short hand around concerning these chords some of which are…
Major 7 - M7, Maj7 or Δ
Dominant 7 – Dom 7 or 7 Minor 7 – m7,min7 or -7 Minor7b5 – m7b5 or ∅
Diminished 7 – dim7 or ο
Be very sure to learn the sound, location and shape. Memorizing the fingerings would be essential for you to create a photographic memory of them in your mind. Play them off one root to see the ‘changes’ in the degrees as the quality alters from chord type to chord type. That is an incredible way how to master them. After you get comfortable with them learn them everywhere on the fret board using the Diatonic Chord Harmony using 7th chords. Formula for them goes something like this although it can be altered to use different types of chords and extensions. But let’s stick to the traditional one for now…
Maj7 2. Min7 3. Min7 4. Maj7 5. Dom7 6. Min7 7.Min7b5
So if you choose the GMajor scale i.e. GABCDEF#G these 7th chords will result…
GMaj7 2.Amin7 3.Bmin7 4.CMaj7 5.D7(or DDom7) 6.EMin7 7.F#Min7b5
Now go and learn them in a ‘family’ like this. Use last time’s lesson hints to try and move them around as much as possible in the beginning so that you can ‘prove’ to yourself you know them very well. Then try to find them in a very close position i.e. in one area of the fret board. But we’ll go in detail on that in a future lesson.
Maybe you’re wondering ‘and the Diminshed 7 where does it fit or where I’m going to fit it?’ Like you’ve seen it’s not part of the Major scale harmony because it has a harmony of its own. But it’s so important to know very well that I’ve included it too. Reason is that the Dim7 chord has a quality no other chord has and can be used anywhere and in anything when used with taste. It can join progressions together, it can be used to create a walking bass...it has a lot of functions! So do learn it too please!
With these two lessons we’ve covered a very powerful harmony tool that will eventually help you become more expressive in your rhythms. When you move the chords around even the sound texture of the guitar will change and the highs and lows of certain registers will push you to play in a different manner that you usually do. At least that’s my aim here! Trying different types of strumming shuffles, time shifts plus muting techniques with both hands can add ‘that’ something to your ‘rhythm chops’. This in return will be the bonus as you’ll become more artistically unique in your compositions! So go ahead and master the triads and 7th chords all around your axeJ
See you soon!
Jean
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