Chords up the neck

RickRussell

El Kabong
I'm wondering if there's a cheat sheet of chords on all positions up the neck somewhere. I saw someone playing an F chord somewhere in the middle of the neck, and it got me thinking. It sure would be nice to play the same chord someone else is playing, but somewhere completely different, and be able to go right to it, without figuring out how to build it on the fly. I got a chance to sit in with my brother's band lately, and I hate having to stick with the bottom half of the neck, mostly playing open chords to join along. Mostly just blues songs, so 7th and 9th chords would be preferred. Major and minor also.
Has Griff covered this, and I've either missed it, or haven't gotten to it yet?
Thanks!
 

ervjohns

Blues Junior
Rick,

You are seeing a C7 shape moved up the neck with your first finger on the 5th fret is an E7, one fret up and its an F. When playing the E you can use all strings since the top and bottom string are all E, but anywhere else you should mute or not play the high E string. This is sort of related to CAGED, but Griff covers it somewhere in BGU 2. hope that helps,

Erv
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Caged is the course for you if you are looking for movable shapes. Other "stacked" chords 911th, 13th, 7#9... are stuck in in various courses.
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
Just a few thoughts:

The barred E and A shapes are obviously moveable. You will need to know the notes on the 6th and 5th strings. If you want to play a C chord using an E shape barre chord, you need to know that the root note on the 6th string (where the barre is) is at the 8th fret.

A lot of people find the full 6 string barre hard to do. You can play "little chord" versions with only the 3 or 4 treble strings if you mute the others.

Other shapes like D or D7 are also movable as long as you just play the 3 treble strings. Slide a D7 up 2 frets and it's an E7. Just only play the 3 treble strings

The 9th chord with root on the 5th string is a blues workhorse. You need to learn the notes on the 5th string to know where, for example, to place an E9 (root on 7th fret).

Or you could use a capo but that would be cheating :)
 

BoogieMan

Blues Junior
Another suggestion would be to learn the triads, particularly on the top string sets (1, 2, 3 and 2, 3, 4). For each string set there are only three unique shapes (one for each inversion) for a triad, each with its root on a different string of the set. If you know the notes on the fretboard, you can easily find the inversions of a chord as you move up. Then you don't need a cheat sheet.
 

RickRussell

El Kabong
Just a few thoughts:

The barred E and A shapes are obviously moveable. You will need to know the notes on the 6th and 5th strings. If you want to play a C chord using an E shape barre chord, you need to know that the root note on the 6th string (where the barre is) is at the 8th fret.

A lot of people find the full 6 string barre hard to do. You can play "little chord" versions with only the 3 or 4 treble strings if you mute the others.

Other shapes like D or D7 are also movable as long as you just play the 3 treble strings. Slide a D7 up 2 frets and it's an E7. Just only play the 3 treble strings

The 9th chord with root on the 5th string is a blues workhorse. You need to learn the notes on the 5th string to know where, for example, to place an E9 (root on 7th fret).

Or you could use a capo but that would be cheating :)

Thanks, David! I've never used a capo, because I want to get good at barre chords. ;)
 

RickRussell

El Kabong
Rick,

You are seeing a C7 shape moved up the neck with your first finger on the 5th fret is an E7, one fret up and its an F. When playing the E you can use all strings since the top and bottom string are all E, but anywhere else you should mute or not play the high E string. This is sort of related to CAGED, but Griff covers it somewhere in BGU 2. hope that helps,

Erv

Good call! I see it! Thanks, Erv!
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Thanks, David! I've never used a capo, because I want to get good at barre chords. ;)

Nothing wrong with using a capo. Lots of great players use(d) them, as long as you aren't using them to avoid barre chords.
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
I was kind of joking about the capo, since he was asking about playing other chord shapes up the neck. But a capo has it's place
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
CAGED Unleashed won't be just a chord encyclopedia.

Griff will introduce the 5 major chord shapes, then take you through how to "modify" them by lowering the 3rd, adding the b7 or 7 for Dom7 and Maj 7, respectively, and the b7 to the minor shapes.

Then he goes through them all again as arpeggios.

Then he'll show you how to add the 9, 11 and 13 to make "any chord you could ever want".

So you are actually learning how to build them "on the fly", but without the pressure. :)
 
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david moon

Attempting the Blues
CAGED Unleashed won't be just a chord encyclopedia.

Griff will introduce the 5 major chord shapes, then take you through how to "modify" them by lowering the 3rd, adding the b7 or 7 for Dom7 and Maj 7, respectively, and the b7 to the minor shapes.

Then he goes through them all again as arpeggios.

Then he'll show you how to add the 9, 11 and 13 to make "any chord you could ever want".

So you are actually learning how to build them "on the fly", but without the pressure. :)
Agreed, knowing how chords are "built" is important. But you still need to know the notes on the 5th and 6th string to know where to play the chord. Where is a Bbm7?

Don't forget the #9 :) !
 
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