General Music Chat

I found out that, for me, anyway, when I hita a plateau . . . i'm actually just bored with hearing the same songs over and over and over and . . . .
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. . . just need something new for a while . . . .
That's when it's time to write a new song, learn a new rhythm, or learn a new chord . . .
Sometimes I'll take a couple chords that I NEVER use in any song I play, and write them into a song.
Then I take the time neccessary to convert it from 'a song' into a good song.
There's no telling what style of song I'll end up with. And, I don't really care, as long as it's a good song, and I like it.
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How many toh chords do you use?

Bump.
GuitarAnatomy, here's a good thread for you to read . . .

For newer folks, just minus 7 from anything above 9 and it shows you the place in scale.
Us fretboarders should learn horizontal and vertical scale patterns; they won't change patterns unless you change tuning "drop D, open E, open A etc..." then it's like learning all over again.

its taken me a month to comb through this thread, but i did it
i reached the last page! i was doing pretty well until i hit Nancy Weaver's posts, where i got lost on the material! (nothing against Nancy, of course. her information is above my head since i dont have the fundamentals down).

my piano days as a kid proved very useful in understanding some theory when i took up guitar but bear with me and my retarded questions:

-can you form a 7th, or a 9th, etc. from, say, an A or a C in bar form? (my guess is no).

-say you took one of Rhythm Man Blues' complex songs. COULD you replace all the 7s and 9s with the standard chords (eg play a C instead of a C7, an A instead of an A9). you COULD, but would just lose a more pronounced effect, correct? the song would simply be blander, right? my reason for asking is to have answered many other questions related to this one.

-someone brought up bass. this may be the most assinine question i may post in my life, but hey, i gotta find out somewhere.
if a song calls for a seventh chord, what does the bassist do? hit the root, then arepeggio the other notes that make up the seventh? (im lost with bass, but might have to learn in a hurry for a band im messing around in).

-why ARE they called fifths, sevenths, etc? i think i was taught that that is the number of notes actually strummed in your chord. but then, how can you have a NINTH (unless you have both a natural and its sharp or flat)? (and my E5 has, i think, four notes).

this is all drivel to most of you, i know. time is so fleeting nowadays, as most of you can attest to (this thing called "a job" is getting on my nerves). it takes hours to comb for information like this. if i can get it here instantaneously, id be very grateful. sorry if this post is long. well, no one is not free to just skip over it, i guess. thank u.

MRG2U says , yes i can and do play 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, plus flats, minors, sharps and diminished chords. Wanna know how I learned them all? I had an instructor when |I was young who had me start at the top of the chord chart and write and play boogie patterns for each key !!! took about three years|!! |Wanna learn about some of these chords|? Get out |Robin Trower, Bridge of sighs and play that album. |You would also learn some great lead technique too!!! |I still love playin that stuff.

My favorite 9th is Beethoven's 9th.

Gi, you asked, "can you form a 7th, or a 9th, etc. from, say, an A or a C in bar form? (my guess is no)."
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YES.
Yes, you can, and quite a few other ways, too.
I'll just give you one easy variation.
Get your guitar, I'll wait . . .

Play a regular open E.
You're holding 3 strings. Release the middle string and play it open, and it's E7.
(See, you probably already knew it.)
Slide that E7 to the 1st fret & its an F7. 3rd fret & it's G7. 5th fret=A7, 7th fret=B7, 8th=C7, 10th fret = D7.
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Pretty easy, huh?
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Aww, ok, here's another.
Go back & hold the E7 again; 2 fingers.
Now put your little finger on the high E string, 2nd fret. That's one way of playing E9.
It's not too bad too hold, eh?
1st fret = F9, 3rd fret = G9, 5th fret A9, etc, etc . . .
Off the top of my head, I can think of another 4-5 ways of playing E9, but we don't need to get too carried away, here, eh?
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But wait! There's more! Act now and you'll get a 2nd FREE A7, at no added charge!
. . .uhh, yeah, where was I?
Here's another way of playing an A7.
Play a regular open A (holding 3 strings). Relese the middle string & you're holding an A7. Barred on the 2nd fret is B7, 3rd=C7, 5th=D7, etc, etc . . .
Off the top of my head, without a guitar in my hands, I can think of another 7 ways to play A7.
I think a whole lot better w/ my guitar in my hands . . .
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But - if you picked up even a few new chords here, you just gained the ability to play another 5,000 or 10,000 songs, man . . .
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Try playing a song that calls for 7ths, but slip in a 9th once in a while; I think you'll appreciate the difference . . .

My Favorite 5th is Seagrams.

A5th:
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String ..... Fret #
High E ..... 5
B ............. 5
G ............. 2
D ............. 2
A ............. Open
Low E ..... Open
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Use your 1st finger to bar all 4 strings on the 2nd fret.
Use your little finger to hold the 2 strings on the 5th fret.

A5th:
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String Fret #
High E 5
B 5
G 2
D 2
A Open
Low E Open
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Use your 1st finger to bar all 4 strings on the 2nd fret.
Use your little finger to hold the 2 strings on the 5th fret.

I like that A5 chord, I saw it the other day used by Jerry Cantrell in, I believe it was, "Rooster," by Alice In Chains. But when I play it I am more comfortable using my pinky and ring finger to hold down the 5th fret notes and my pointer finger to bar the 2nd fret notes. Just personal preference I guess.

My new piece uses I believe a Cm7, and another piece I have been learning uses the Bm7, at least that is the chord that most fit when I ear tabbed it.

Note: I am still studying those things, so I know the chord names and even where a lot of them are on the fretboard, but the music theory portion I need to work on.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

GA, try alternating the Bm7 w/ D, and listen . . . .

Alright, I will try that man. But in this song I am learning I think I have done that already, well, I used I believe a Dsus2.

RhythmMan_BluesRockFolk, thanks a lot!
i know about sliding bar chords, but i thought for some reason that logic wouldnt work for anything but the open E and A standard chord forms. not using my head here.

- but in your example in creating the e9:

"Go back & hold the E7 again; 2 fingers. Now put your little finger on the high E string, 2nd fret. That's one way of playing E9."

you are hitting an F#. why? how do you know that note is in the chord? something to do with the "whole whole half...." mnemonic?
if you were up the neck and wanted to create an E9, would you form an E7, then look for the next higher F#?

- to Guitar Anatomy (and is that dude working hard or what?!), you suggested alternating a Bm7 with a D. why?

thanks- i promise this is an end to my incessant questions. i will look for websites this weekend that can give me information like how to know the key signature for a key, or even what notes are in what chords, etc.

RhythmMan_BluesRockFolk, thanks a lot!
i know about sliding bar chords, but i thought for some reason that logic wouldnt work for anything but the open E and A standard chord forms. not using my head here.

- but in your example in creating the e9:

"Go back & hold the E7 again; 2 fingers. Now put your little finger on the high E string, 2nd fret. That's one way of playing E9."

you are hitting an F#. why? how do you know that note is in the chord? something to do with the "whole whole half...." mnemonic?
if you were up the neck and wanted to create an E9, would you form an E7, then look for the next higher F#?

- to Guitar Anatomy (and is that dude working hard or what?!), you suggested alternating a Bm7 with a D. why?

thanks- i promise this is an end to my incessant questions. i will look for websites this weekend that can give me information like how to know the key signature for a key, or even what notes are in what chords, etc.

Lol. Gi, in regards to the "incessant questions" portion, that is okay. It is alright to ask for help, trust me, you will get to those sites and still find confusing things. I have probably a billion sites I use and still I lack in my understanding. When I had to learn all of that minor second, major second, minor third, etc... I was very confused (And it is not that hard, I just could not grasp it, I still am missing a couple of things I think in there, but I am better at it).

You have got to ask for help sometimes, and though the guys here are not hired teachers, they are always willing to lend a helping hand, and they are very generous about it. So never be afraid to ask a question or two. If it were not for these guys here I would still be perplexed with half of this music world.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

Gi,
Here's a page that'll help. Grab your guitar . . . Take the phone off the hook . . .
If you drink coffee - you might want to start a whole pot brewing.
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http://www.jguitar.com/chord?root=E&cho ... &fingers=4
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This page shows E9 chords, and will get you started.
But take these samples with a grain of salt. Except for the 1st one, I rarely use these particular E9 chords.
However, I DO use four other, different E9 chords . . .
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And, you should DEFINITELY check out the main menu on the left of the page.
Have fun, guy . . .