Use of chord substitution will enhance your guitar playing - I guess make it stand out a bit. There's a ton of theory into chord substitution (some of which u'd probably have to go to music school to understand and not a whole lot of us have any such inclinations!), we'll skip over all that and go directly to what needs to be done. Say you have 2 bars of G chord (8 beats). G / / / / | / / / / | Playing the G Major chord over 8 beats can start to become boring and monotonous. One way to make it better, is to use different strum patterns, arpeggiating the chords, playing partial chords etc. Another way is to substitute. Try this chord progression (sounds neat) G G6 Gmaj7 G6 / / / / | // // | For those not in the know (G6 is how you write G major 6, but Gmaj7 is how you write G major 7 because G7 is G dominant 7 - yeah! its a tad confusing, but I didn't make up these things ) Use different combinations of this e.g. Gmaj7 G6 G G6 (ending on a major 6th lends a nice sound). Basically, the rule for substituting major chords is that they can be substituted by major 7th and major 6th chords. For those that are not aware of Gmaj7 and G6, here's how you do it (I will use the barre G chord in the 3rd position as the starting point). Tablature G (barre chord 3rd position) E--3 A--3 D--3--4 G--3--5 B--3--5 E--3-- Gmaj7 E--x A--3 D--3--4 G--3--5 B--x--5 E--3-- G6 E--3 A--3--5 D--3--4 G--3-- B--3--5 E--3-- As with barre chords, this can be moved along the fretboard for any other major chord. Try it with all major chords. BTW, this is also an introduction to jazz guitar. Depending on interest, will post more on dominant 7th and minor substitutions. Sure, its a bit more complicated that playing straight chords bcos of the more frequent chord changes, but that's what makes it a bit more interesting too. I am just going to start figuring out if this fits well with Hindi songs - experts could chime in here and suggest if they do fit and where they fit.
hey how come there werent any responses in this thread?...this post was very nice....c'mon u guys...comments!!!
ya.. this post is real nice... post some more plzz... givin u reps.. hope J, banbaaja, ehsaan respond 2 this thrd.
ya me 2 thought so but bein a newbie n possessin so little funde abt complex chord posns like the 6th n 7th.. thought it bettr 2 play dumb. hope he chks the chord chart.. els ananth pls post wht u think is the right chord chrt.. nyways nice post..
Read dennis' post about intervals. Basically, maj6th for C is A, maj7th for C is B In any country or bluegrass style picking u normally see the sequence G-A-B-C chaka chaka and all that nonsense (u know what I mean if u listen to that kinda music) which are the perfect 5th, maj 6th and maj 7th notes. They generally sound good over a major scale tune. I am not sure abt their applicability in a general sense. Anyway, G major is: E 3 B 3 G 4 D 5 A 5 E 3 maj 6th on G is E, so u can play: E 0 (open) B 3 G 4 D 5 A 5 E x maj 7th for G is F#, so Gmaj7 is: E 2 B 3 G 4 D 5 A (both A, E strings optional, u can fret say second on A and E which ) E (is easy to play with a barre on the second fret ) Its easy to change between these chords if u strum only the last 4 strings, without using barre. I personally think they sound good if used sparsely, for instance a rhythm pattern like: G % % % | G % % % | G6 % Gmaj7 % | G % % % also the notes sound better if they r the bassy notes (lower octaves) rather than higher.
I figured this was too much pain for ppl to try and so no reply. I did make mistakes in the chord chart. Tx for picking up this - I just make stooopid mistakes in putting down what I mean ! No excuses though, please point out these mistakes. When I am writing it down, I am writing EADGBE, but putting tabs in the opposite direction - dumb me !! :cen: So, let me be correct : G maj (I put 333333 all the way to show that I barre the 3rd fret, but it can be confusing, so I removed it and made it cleaner). E--3 (G) A----5 (D) D----5 (G) G----4 (B) B--3 (D) E--3 (G) Gmaj7 (I screwed this up so badly !! geez :cen: ) E--3 (G) A--x D-----4 (F#) G-----4 (B) B--3 (D) E--x As ananth has pointed out, Gmaj7 = G B D F#. Hopefully I haven't made any more stupid mistake this time. ananth - your chord position works fine, I was trying to play chord positions that "relate" to the Gmaj barre chord. Just another way to interpret (different voicings too). One potential difference in what I am suggesting and yours ananth is which note is in the bass. In this position, its always root in the bass (which would be the case if you played only the 4 strings but when you barre the 2nd fret as you suggest in optional fingering, you add an F# in the bass). Also, minor difference, the position I suggest can play a Fmaj7 - purely bcos the chord doesn't extend over 4 frets. Gmaj6 (again, as ananth pointed out, its G B D E - this actually requires a very simple change from the Gmaj barre chord, move your pinky from the 4th string to the 2nd string - that's about as easy as it gets). E--3 (G) A----5 (D) D--x G---4 (B) B----5 (E) E--3 (G) Finally, note that the 6th string (bass) and 1st string (top) are the same, so even though I put "x" sometimes and play it other times, that is purely for convenience of fingering and bcos if u arrange the fingers in that way, its far easier to mute a certain string vs. playing it and vice versa). How u use this is really up to ur imagination, ananth suggests sparse use, a jazz player will change on every beat, I change once in 2 beats (and only if it fits, not change every time just bcos I can change). I like to end on the major 6th though - so I'll play G Gmaj7 G G6 / / / / / / // subro and liquid - hope this clarifies and please point out my idiotic mistakes (its easier to play than to write this out !!). Look for my other thread on dominant 7th substitutions. I'll go and double check my post in that thread (probably needs a rewrite ).
hey, hs.. it was an excellent post. Mistakes happen, especially when writing down tabs .Cool post,gave me some cool ideas to spice up my rhythm.
nice...im gonna read this a bit later....look pretty cool though.... i need sleep...its :...g'nite all..
