JPsuff
Blackstar Artist
See, here's a thing about theory that makes it both maddening and leaves me with the feeling that much of it is created by people with way too much time on their hands.
I'll use two songs to illustrate my point.
The first song is "Baby I Love Your Way" by Peter Frampton and the other is "Over The Hills and Far Away" by Led Zeppelin.
I enjoy playing both because they're great "noodlers". I love the progression of Frampton's tune and the complexity of what Page did with his.
In Frampton's tune, it starts with a basic G chord and then adds a descending feel by next playing a D/F# and then to an Em and so on.
The D/F# is a four-fingered chord with two 'open' strings and all six strings are played together.
It's a simple chord, played mostly on the 2nd fret with a simple name: "D/F#" which is just your basic three-fingered D with an F# bass note added and its tab is: 2 0 0 2 3 2
OK, so now let's look at a three-fingered chord (actually two chords because there's a slide to a resolve) in Zep's tune.
It's played at the end of the 'skiffle' progression and it starts on the 1st and 3rd frets and resolves to the 3rd and 5th frets and then the progression repeats.
The tabs for both are: X 1 3 0 3 0 (then slide to): X 3 5 0 5 0, they're both played on just five strings and all strings are sounded.
But here's the thing.
The first chord HAS EIGHTEEN FRIGGIN' NAMES!!!
EIGHTEEN!!!
For a three-fingered chord!
I kid you not and here they are:
A#6addb11add#11omit3 A# 6th Add Flat 11th Add Sharp 11th Omit 3rd
A#6addb11addb5omit3 A# 6th Add Flat 11th Add Flat 5th Omit 3rd
A#6add#11 A# 6th Add Sharp 11th
A#6b5add5 A# 6th Flat 5th Add 5th
F6sus2add14add11/A# F/A# 6th Suspended 2nd Add 14th Add 11th
F6sus2sus4add14/A# F/A# 6th Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th Add 14th
FM11sus2add6/A# F/A# Major 11th Suspended 2nd Add 6th
FM7sus2sus4add6/A# F/A# Major 7th Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th Add 6th
G6add#9add#13omit3/A# G/A# 6th Add Sharp 9th Add Sharp 13th Omit 3rd
G7#9add6omit3/A# G/A# 7th Sharp 9th Add 6th Omit 3rd
Gm6add#13/A# G/A# Minor 6th Add Sharp 13th
Gm7add6/A# G/A# Minor 7th Add 6th
Dsus2#5add#9add11/A# D/A# Suspended 2nd Sharp 5th Add Sharp 9th Add 11th
Dsus2sus4#5add#9/A# D/A# Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th Sharp 5th Add Sharp 9th
Dm#5add2add11/A# D/A# Minor Sharp 5th Add 2nd Add 11th
Dsus2sus4#5addb3/A# D/A# Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th Sharp 5th Add Flat 3rd
Edimaddb2add#13/A# E/A# Diminished Add Flat 2nd Add Sharp 13th
Em7b5addb2/A# E/A# Minor 7th Flat 5th Add Flat 2nd
Mercifully, the second chord (still just the same three fingers except three frets up) manages to get by with only three names:
C C Major
G6sus4/C G/C 6th Suspended 4th
Em#5/C E/C Minor Sharp 5th
So why is it that a four-fingered chord played over six strings can have one simple and effectively descriptive name while two, three-fingered chords, share TWENTY ONE names between them???
Who invents this bullshit?
I mean, were the people who think this stuff up regularly duct-taped to their gym lockers back in High School, or what?
Do they have some kind of axe to grind with the rest of us?
Seriously --- why does ANY guitar chord "need" to have EIGHTEEN NAMES?
I honestly can't think of anything on this planet that would require that kind of nomenclature.
(and then people wonder why so many other people don't care for theory)
Jeez Louise!
I'll use two songs to illustrate my point.
The first song is "Baby I Love Your Way" by Peter Frampton and the other is "Over The Hills and Far Away" by Led Zeppelin.
I enjoy playing both because they're great "noodlers". I love the progression of Frampton's tune and the complexity of what Page did with his.
In Frampton's tune, it starts with a basic G chord and then adds a descending feel by next playing a D/F# and then to an Em and so on.
The D/F# is a four-fingered chord with two 'open' strings and all six strings are played together.
It's a simple chord, played mostly on the 2nd fret with a simple name: "D/F#" which is just your basic three-fingered D with an F# bass note added and its tab is: 2 0 0 2 3 2
OK, so now let's look at a three-fingered chord (actually two chords because there's a slide to a resolve) in Zep's tune.
It's played at the end of the 'skiffle' progression and it starts on the 1st and 3rd frets and resolves to the 3rd and 5th frets and then the progression repeats.
The tabs for both are: X 1 3 0 3 0 (then slide to): X 3 5 0 5 0, they're both played on just five strings and all strings are sounded.
But here's the thing.
The first chord HAS EIGHTEEN FRIGGIN' NAMES!!!
EIGHTEEN!!!
For a three-fingered chord!
I kid you not and here they are:
A#6addb11add#11omit3 A# 6th Add Flat 11th Add Sharp 11th Omit 3rd
A#6addb11addb5omit3 A# 6th Add Flat 11th Add Flat 5th Omit 3rd
A#6add#11 A# 6th Add Sharp 11th
A#6b5add5 A# 6th Flat 5th Add 5th
F6sus2add14add11/A# F/A# 6th Suspended 2nd Add 14th Add 11th
F6sus2sus4add14/A# F/A# 6th Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th Add 14th
FM11sus2add6/A# F/A# Major 11th Suspended 2nd Add 6th
FM7sus2sus4add6/A# F/A# Major 7th Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th Add 6th
G6add#9add#13omit3/A# G/A# 6th Add Sharp 9th Add Sharp 13th Omit 3rd
G7#9add6omit3/A# G/A# 7th Sharp 9th Add 6th Omit 3rd
Gm6add#13/A# G/A# Minor 6th Add Sharp 13th
Gm7add6/A# G/A# Minor 7th Add 6th
Dsus2#5add#9add11/A# D/A# Suspended 2nd Sharp 5th Add Sharp 9th Add 11th
Dsus2sus4#5add#9/A# D/A# Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th Sharp 5th Add Sharp 9th
Dm#5add2add11/A# D/A# Minor Sharp 5th Add 2nd Add 11th
Dsus2sus4#5addb3/A# D/A# Suspended 2nd Suspended 4th Sharp 5th Add Flat 3rd
Edimaddb2add#13/A# E/A# Diminished Add Flat 2nd Add Sharp 13th
Em7b5addb2/A# E/A# Minor 7th Flat 5th Add Flat 2nd
Mercifully, the second chord (still just the same three fingers except three frets up) manages to get by with only three names:
C C Major
G6sus4/C G/C 6th Suspended 4th
Em#5/C E/C Minor Sharp 5th
So why is it that a four-fingered chord played over six strings can have one simple and effectively descriptive name while two, three-fingered chords, share TWENTY ONE names between them???
Who invents this bullshit?
I mean, were the people who think this stuff up regularly duct-taped to their gym lockers back in High School, or what?
Do they have some kind of axe to grind with the rest of us?
Seriously --- why does ANY guitar chord "need" to have EIGHTEEN NAMES?
I honestly can't think of anything on this planet that would require that kind of nomenclature.
(and then people wonder why so many other people don't care for theory)
Jeez Louise!