pass on your tips

[flatlander]

I've been playing a long time, and it didn't come easy. Not as talented as I was full of desire. So it's taken me a long time to get decent. Along the way, just by digging and playing around I've found things I wish I would have known when I was much younger. Things you may not see in books. For me that usually means easier ways of doing things so you can do more. In other words chord fingerings that allow you no add notes and runs while still holding chord or simple movements that can walk into next chord. Here's one. If this thread gets interest I'll add more.
A chord that's rarely in books and I use all the time, especially up neck. (it'd be so cool if there was a blank chord diagram you could click on, and then fill in) let me put it in words. Make an open D. lift up ring finger from 2nd string and put middle finger there. Put ring finger on 4th string 4th fret.  depending on where you are on neck you mute first string or let it ring. now besides having a chord that sounds especially good up neck
when you can let E ring, you can use pinky to add notes. 1st to mind comes basic rock and roll lick by putting pinky down next to ring on 3rd string
(6TH)then pinky up a fret (7th) then back down a fret.  or walk the pinky up and on the last beat grab the next higher chord form for that same chord. Also you'll find IV and V chord very close by. If you use a certain 9th you barely have to move your fingers.
another open D based chord. Again we're gonna use 2nd,3rd and 4th string and abandon first if needed. make basic D7. Move it up 2 frets so we're making an E7. ring finger to 3rd string 4th fret.middle finger to 2nd string 3rd fret. now take 1st finger to 4th string 2nd fret. I think this is a very cool and warm sounding 7th. Move it up to where it becomes an A chord up neck. VERY cool as open strings ring. Slide up to it from half step down. Heard that before? Also ptetty easy to slide into that E7 from a regular open E . even if you just get 2nd and 3rd string for 7th.
Anyway got any tips on things youv'e discovered. Maybe it won't have to be years between my simple discoveries. I think this could be a great thread if averybody shared tips. I've got more if people interested. thanks.

[imwjl]

A chord that's rarely in books and I use all the time, especially up neck. (it'd be so cool if there was a blank chord diagram you could click on, and then fill in) let me put it in words. Make an open D. lift up ring finger from 2nd string and put middle finger there. Put ring finger on 4th string 4th fret.  depending on where you are on neck you mute first string or let it ring. now besides having a chord that sounds especially good up neck
when you can let E ring, you can use pinky to add notes. 1st to mind comes basic rock and roll lick by putting pinky down next to ring on 3rd string
(6TH)then pinky up a fret (7th) then back down a fret.  or walk the pinky up and on the last beat grab the next higher chord form for that same chord. Also you'll find IV and V chord very close by. If you use a certain 9th you barely have to move your fingers.
another open D based chord. Again we're gonna use 2nd,3rd and 4th string and abandon first if needed. make basic D7. Move it up 2 frets so we're making an E7. ring finger to 3rd string 4th fret.middle finger to 2nd string 3rd fret. now take 1st finger to 4th string 2nd fret. I think this is a very cool and warm sounding 7th. Move it up to where it becomes an A chord up neck. VERY cool as open strings ring. Slide up to it from half step down. Heard that before? Also ptetty easy to slide into that E7 from a regular open E . even if you just get 2nd and 3rd string for 7th.
Anyway got any tips on things youv'e discovered. Maybe it won't have to be years between my simple discoveries. I think this could be a great thread if averybody shared tips. I've got more if people interested. thanks.

Try putting them here:

http://www.jguitar.com/chordname

[flatlander]

That tool is cool but for that 1st chord example I gave (D) it gave me
f#m#5
a6sus4/#5
and d/f# major
I try to keep it simple man! It's still a simple d triad. all I did was move f#(3rd) from 1st string to 4th string.
1-3-5 notes from d scale.
the E7 was better. It said E7 omit 3rd, which was right.
I like it though for the various names it gives you. when you strip chords down/drop root or 5th they can become more related to more chords. I think I can get some substution idea's by what it spits out.

[unclrob]

OK here's a good tip.

Don't try to walk thru a doorway with your guitar in playing position.It will damage the wall and p*** off you wife and damage the guitar.





Also Never eat the yellow snow.


Don't play the electric acoustic or any other electric guitar in the shower.

[Dale_I]

There is a free shareware program called NutChords that is also very handy for chord structures as well as scales. You can probably search the net for it. But, if anyone would like a copy, just send me your email and I can send you the zip installation folder. I use it all the time because I can insert chords into lyric sheets.

[brimc76]

Also Never eat the yellow snow.

That's one of the first lessons we learn growing up in the north unclrob. It's right up there with "Don't touch your tongue to a metal post when it's freezing outside."

Brian

[Denis]

OK here's a good tip.

Don't try to walk thru a doorway with your guitar in playing position.It will damage the wall and p*** off you wife and damage the guitar.





Also Never eat the yellow snow.


Don't play the electric acoustic or any other electric guitar in the shower.

How about don't fry bacon without a shirt on?

unclrob?  How often do you see yellow snow in Tallahassee?

[unclrob]

I use to live in NY.

Never beat the bass player with the headstock end of the guitar.It just breaks off and you bass player still not any smarter. ,I also double on bass.

[flatlander]

Tip for self. don't expect serious responses to this thread. I might add one more later to make sure no one is interested. Yes yellow snow has a different meaning in FLA.

[unclrob]

Flatlander please forgive me,sometimes I can't help myself.



Heres a real cool guitar playing tip:

I went out and bought 12 million guitar chords book and practice playing song with dfferant chord voices,what I got from this is the ability to move my fingers to form chords smoothly.It taught me more fingerboard knowledge then playing scales.

[flatlander]

Ok heres another simple GUITAR related tip. Make open G with pinky on 1st string and ring next to it on 2nd string.( a tip in itself if you don't already do that, rings and helps with that wierd open b) slide pinky and ring up to 5th fret, then ring to 7th fret(same string) and middle to
1st string 6th fret. You can let open 3rd string play. You just moved between 2 g chords and it was easy and gave movement. A lot can be more can be done if you continue up playing thirds or whatever. But just doing that movement by itself is cool and you can simply drop back to open G chord if you want. Same type of thing can be done with other chords once you get hang of it. Open D, then 1st finger 3rd fret, ring 5th fret, then slide up 2 frets with that same fingering to another d chord. may want to add 3rd string 7th fret at that point. When you get the D thing down, you can apply it to any D shape chord up neck like G at 7th fret or A at nineth. After a while you can do melodys using that teqnique and have your guitar heard more that just single string. same can be done on middle strings, but a little more difficult. Anybody intersted? Got anything for me?

[flatlander]

Flatlander please forgive me,sometimes I can't help myself.



Heres a real cool guitar playing tip:

I went out and bought 12 million guitar chords book and practice playing song with dfferant chord voices,what I got from this is the ability to move my fingers to form chords smoothly.It taught me more fingerboard knowledge then playing scales.

please don't cry! No forgiveness needed. At this point I just like sharing things it took me forever to dig out and hoping people can share things they've found, especially, but not confined to making things easier or doing cool things that aren't hard.
Yes chord books are great and understanding how chords are made. A good tip along those lines is know where the root is and realize that if you
drop it one tone it's major 7, 2 and it's flatted seventh, 3 and it's 6th, 4 and it's aumented 5th. Of course you may have to change string.
But the most useful thing for me was just understanding how they were made, and finding my own which are stripped down versions that aren't such a stretch and free a finger up to do hammer ons or adding notes to form in any fashion. All those notes don't have to be there for my level of playing and I can moves between chords quicker.

[jimmy buffett]

Never beat the bass player with the headstock end of the guitar.It just breaks off and you bass player still not any smarter.

Nothing like personal experience to make one wiser.  Who else but unclrob could pass on this gem for our collective benefit!

jimmy

[flatlander]

Nothing like personal experience to make one wiser.  Who else but unclrob could pass on this gem for our collective benefit!

jimmy

Acually decent bass players are too rare to beat. When I find one I chain them up in basement. Then feed them and most importantly give them beer, which keeps them loyal.

[Caleb]

A few things come to mind with me.....

For a great strumming sound, use as thick a pick as you can find, but angle it to where it "brushes" up against the stings instead of digging in head-on like with a lighter pick.  You can get a really great...and really loud....strumming tone like this, but you can also use the thick pick to really dig into some lead lines when needed.  I gave up on thin picks a long time ago once I figured out this technique, which is probably old news to most of you here.

Also, I find that using the C/G chord, or as I call it "the full C" sounds so much better in most cases than just a regular C chord.  You can not only grab that great alternating bass line with the G note, but you can also strum all the strings while doing a C, which makes the chord ring so much better.

And most importantly for me, I always use the heaviest strings I can find and keep my guitars tuned down a whole step.  This is good for many reasons, but most of which are the various keys you can use on the fly by keeping a capo handy.  But most of all, to me, there's nothing like the low end growl of a dread strung heavy and tuned down. 

[flatlander]

Thanks! lets keep em rollin. Also with "full" C you can do little walk just by hitting 6th string, then lifting ring off of 5th string, then putting it back down. bom bom bom. add pinky to 1st string 3rd fret while making that chord. sometimes that's good and you can leave that note to ring,drone, while changing to G.

[12barBill]

flatlander, your first example with the D major chord is a D9 (with first string played open). 

[flatlander]

flatlander, your first example with the D major chord is a D9 (with first string played open). 

That's right. you can let first string ring or mute depending on where you are on neck and if you want that note in there. making an A on 9th fret you can hit all strings if you wish and still have a straight A.    2nd 3rd and 4th string make triad. But the real thing about that chord is that it allows you to use your pinky to add notes and gives you an easy,flexible chord to use up neck.

[unclrob]

Here's something I've gotten into doing.On Tuesday nite scotch and guitar night we have a guy who play's constant lead thru all the songs,it started as a goof but its increased my lead ability.I play all my leads in the form of chords.This has made chord/melody playing easier to understand for me.

[flatlander]

Here's something I've gotten into doing.On Tuesday nite scotch and guitar night we have a guy who play's constant lead thru all the songs,it started as a goof but its increased my lead ability.I play all my leads in the form of chords.This has made chord/melody playing easier to understand for me.

very cool. I play leads usually with 2 strings maybe 3 and working into those stripped down chords I mentioned earlier, but I would really be getting there if I could use fuller chords that way. I love western swing or that old chunky jazz rythm where those cats can change chords every beat.Fats wallers guitar player is a good example. ....we have whiskey and gospel night. feels alright.....