Hi Folks,
 
In this post we will take a quick look at two chords, 9th and minor 7b5. When based off the fifth string they are actually two chords with the same shape. Here is it below.
 

 
At the second fret that chord form can function as either a G9 chord or a B minor 7 flat five. Those chords are considered enharmonic. Lets break it down.
 
From the fifth string down the notes are B, F, A, and D. Treating the 5th string as the root its a Bm7b5, which contains the root, in this case B, the third D, a flatted 5th F, and the minor 7th, A. Like all the other chords we have been looking at recently this one is movable, slide it up one fret and its a Cm7b5, up two frets from that and its a Dm7b5. Pretty cool.
 
But it also functions as a G9 chord, lets look at that. So keeping the chord in the same position at the second fret we have thenotes B, F, A, and D. As you can see no G, which means this chord contains no root. So in this case the B note on the 5th string will be the third of the chord. A G9 chord contains the notes, G, B, D, F, and A. So minus the root G, which is not totally necessary, we have the same notes at the Bm7b5. And thats how you can have two different types of chords with the same notes. Just remember that the 5th string is now the third of the chord, not the root. So you slide it up two frets and its an A9, two more frets from there and its a B9 etc.
 
Next time we will look at few more movable chord forms, which should give us a nice bunch of chords to use.
 

Playing guitar can often times seem like a huge endeavor. No matter what stage you are at there is so much to learn, different chords, scales, right and left hand techniques, lead playing etc.
 
One thing i try to keep in mind is improving one percent per day. Imagine if you kept that up every day you would be 365% better at the end of the year. It doesnt have to be much. A new chord, new appregio pattern, new lead lick, or working a few measures through a difficult piece. Every time you pick up the guitar for a practice session, in addition to reviewing what you already know, try add something new to your bag of tricks. Keep track of what you learn, and by the end of the year i bet it will add up.

Hi Folks,
 
Continuing on with the movable three note chord theme, here are couple more shapes i use around the neck often. They are handy if i am playing a chord form high up the neck, and if next chord would normal be voiced lower on the neck, i can just play one of these versions so i dont have to move my hand as far. Its all about being effecient and lazy.
 
First lets revisit the three note voicing below. It contains the notes G, E, and Bb. Thus it can be used as a Gminor6 chord, but also a C7 chord, since that chord contains the notes C E G, and Bb. Notice if its used in that context there is no C in the chord, but thats ok. When playing three note chords the root and fifth are optional, depending on how you want to voice the chord.
 

 
I will base the other two voicings i am going to show around a G chord, though keep in mind the same shape can be moved around the neck to play a variety of chords.
 
Next up we have a very similar chord, except we are moving the Bb up a half step to a B. This gives us the notes G, E, and B. That is a G6 chord, rather than Gminor6, since the B is no longer flatted. However, it also gives us an E minor chord, since that also contains the notes G, E, and B, though this version would be with a G in the bass. It sounds different than your basic E minor chord at the second fret, but its always good to have different options. With this form the E note on the 4th string functions as the root, so if you move the whole shape up one fret it becomes an F minor chord, two more frets after that its a G minor chord, etc. This is a pretty handy voicing.
 

 
This next shape is again similar, except we will be moving up to the seventh fret. Check out the diagram below. That gives us a B note on the 6th string, a G note on the 4th string, and a D on the 3rd string. Just the right ingredients for a G chord. This would be called a G with a B in the bass. Notice that the note on the 6th string is the one that determines the flavor of the chord, drop it back one fret and you get a Bb, which gives us a G minor chord, the same shape as the chord above.
 

 
Thats about it for this post. Check out those voicings, move them around to different positions on the neck, and see what you can come up with.

So in this blog post i want to look at some condensed voicings for the chords we learned earlier. When playing a tune at a fast clip with two chord changes per measure those finger voicings can be tough. Alot of players will use three note voicings that are much easier when switching fast. Especially if you are playing with another guitarist or a bass player, these chords will sound fine.
 
When learning how to voice these chords there are certain notes of the chord that are not totally necessary. The third degree of the chord is usually needed, as it determines if the tonality of the chord is major or minor. Likewise if you want to play a 7th chord the 7th degree is necessary for that sound. Roots and fifths however, are not always needed, as we will see later. If its a three note chord you are trying to play usually the root or fifth is left out, though usually not both. Lets look at some three note voicings for Dominant 7 and Minor 7th chords.
 
This Dominant 7 voicing uses the root on the 6th string and includes the root, 7th, and 3rd notes of the chord. The example i have is a G7, so those notes are G, F, and B. As you can see there is no fifth.
 

 
This three finger voicing works nicely, and is easy to slide up and down the neck depending on what chord you need. Note the muted strings, make sure not to strum those.
 
Next up is a three note minor chord voicing that again contains the root, third, and seventh. Its the same shape is the Dominant 7th voicing above, just shit your fingers down one string.
 

 
Its really easy to switch from the Dom7 on the sixth string to the minor 7 on the fifth string, which is handy for fast tunes.
 
Last up for this blog post we have a three note chord that can be used in a variety of ways, here is it below.
 

 
Treating the sixth string as the root its a G minor six. G is the root, the Bb note makes it a minor chord, and E is the sixth. This is a common chord for gypsy jazz, and is moved alot up and down the neck.
 
But this chord can also function is a dominant seven chord, though there is no root. Recall this shape below, Cdom7, with the root on the 2nd string.
 

 
If you notice the top three strings are the same voicing as the Gm6, so this shape will also function as a Cdom7 chord, containing the 5th, 3rd, and 7th scale degrees, which G, E, and Bb respectively. So this is one of those chords that does not have a root. This is handy thing to know in a tune with fast and quick chord changes.
 
So there we have a few three note voicings that can be moved up and down the neck. Give them a shot, and for the next blog post i will look at a few more.

I am not sure how many folks read the blog who are interested in making a living playing music, but musicians Danny Barnes has some great advice here on his blog. I have a read it a bunch, so i felt i had to post it. I think it applies well to anyone who is self employed, or just people in general.
 
http://www.dannybarnes.com/blog/how-make-living-playing-music
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Its a very worthwhile read.

Hi folks,
 
One more quick chord form that i forgot to include. Then i will get into more three finger chord forms in the next blog post.
 
This chord form is another dominant 7th, except this time the root is on the second string, the fifth string is muted, and we are fretting the sixth string.
 

 
Compare this to the very similar C7 below.
 

 
Except for the placement of the third finger both chord forms are the same. The difference with the first is that muting the 5th string, and fretting the G note on the 6th string makes the root of the chord that C note on the second string. The fretted 6th string now functions as the 5th of the chord, since G is the fifth of the C chord. This is a nice chord form, slide it up two frets and you have a D7, to more frets and its an E7, one more fret and its an F7, etc.
 
I hope you all can add that chord to your collection, and the next blog post will deal with three note versions of some of these chords. They come in handy when playing fast swing tunes with lots of changes.
 

So in the last blog post i covered some super simple movable chord forms. Major 7, Minor 7, and Dominant 7. These might be what people refer to as “jazz” chords, though in reality they come up in all kinds of music. But they are associated with a jazz tonality.
 
In this post i want to cover two more movable chord forms, diminished and augmented.
 
A diminished chord creates tension, and often wants to draw us back to the one chord, if its used as the IV chord in a progression. A diminished chord consists of the root, a flatted third, flatted fifth, and double flatted seventh, or sixth degree of the scale. So a Cdim7 chord would contain the notes C, Eb, Gb, A. Another way to think of it is to make a dominant 7 chord, and then move the root note up a half step. So if you finger Cdom7, then adjust your fingering to raise the C note on the fifth string up a half step. Check out the example below.
 


 
The first chord, a dominant seven, contains the same notes as the chord below it, except that note on the fifth string is moved up one fret. Pretty cool. The other form for a diminished chord is with the root on the sixth string, show below.
 

 
The next chord up is the augmented chord. All the augmented means is that we are raising the fifth of the chord a half step. The chord tones are 1st, 3rd, sharp fifth, and flat 7th. So in the key of C that would be C, E, G#, and Bb. Check out the diagrams below for movable forms on the fifth and sixth strings. The augmented chord has kind of an ambiguous sound.
 


 
So there we have two more types of chords. So far we have covered maj 7, min 7, diminished, augmented, and dominant 7. In a future blog post i will go over some more efficient, three note versions of these chords.
 

Hi Everyone,
 
Today i wanted to talk about some simple jazz chords for guitar. I guess jazz chords is kind of a wrong term, chords are chords. These are no different than the simple first position guitar chords you learn when you first pick up the instrument. These chords are just fingered at different places on the neck, and have some additional notes in them that give them that jazz flavor.
 
The one unique thing about all these chords is that they contain no open strings, which means a string that is not fretted. Also called movable chords, the fact that they contain all fretted strings means that you can move the chord shape up and down neck depending what chord you want to play. You can’t do that with a simple A minor or G chord. Very often these movable chords will require you to mute a string, so when you strum the chord the open string does not sound.
 
So we will look at movable forms of the major 7, minor 7, and dominant 7 chords. With all these forms the lowest note of the chord is the root, and thus designates the chords name. So to play a G major 7 you would use the form with the root on the 6th string, 3rd fret, which is a G note. Slide it up two frets to the 5th fret and it becomes an A major 7.
 
I am not going to get to much into music theory and chord construction on this blog post. I am just going to list some movable forms with roots on the 5th and 6th string. This is probably old information for alot of people, but for intermediate players coming from a primarily folk background with open chords learning this stuff can often be the next big step.
 
Major 7th Form
First up is the major 7th movable chord form. It contains the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th of the chord. So in the key of C that would be C, E, G, and B. That would be notated as Cmaj7. Below are the chord forms. The major 7 is a kind of a dreamy, spacey sounding chord, as you will hear when strum through it. The version with the root on the 6th string is pretty straight forward. You want to make sure and mute the 5th string with your index finger, and dont strum the first string. With the root on the 5th the barre can be kind of challenging.
 


 
Minor 7th Form
The minor 7th form is pretty common in funk and jazz, and will probably sound familiar. It contains the 1st, flat 3rd, 5th, and flat 7th of the chord. So in C that would be C, Eb, G, Bb. The root on the 5th string form is pretty straight forward, just one finger difference from the major 7th form. The root on the 6th string can be challenging. I use my second and third finger, though some people use their first and second. Basically you want to mute the fifth string with whatever finger is fretting the sixth string.
 


 
Dominant 7th form
This is the last form for today. It is often notated as just 7, so G7, for example. Sometimes you would see Gdom7. Its a cool chord, common in many sorts of music. The chord tones are the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and flat 7. So in C thats C, E, G, and Bb. The root on the 6th string form is pretty easy, again, you want to make sure and must the fifth string with you index finger. The root on the 5th string form can be fingered in two ways, i prefer the first.
 



 
Next time we will look at some easier, more efficient voicings for these chords.

Hanging around on guitar forums i often see discussions about the price of acoustic guitars. Topics such as “best guitar for $xx?”, or “Are $5K guitars really worth it?”, or “Who needs such an expensive guitar?”.
 
I want to ramble a bit about what you get at different price points, and show how all guitars are not necessarily created equal.
 
The pre World War II Martins are sometimes called the Golden Age of Lutherie. Guitars from that era can command six figure prices. I don’t know if it was the craftsmanship going on in the Martin factory, plus the availability of Brazillian Rosewood and Red Spruce at the time. I have never played any specific guitars from this era, but tons of players say they sound outstanding.
 
There are many, myself included, that say the present is the second Golden Age of Lutherie. They are now more independent and small shop guitar builders than ever before. When I open Acoustic Guitar magazine i see ads for a ton of builders i have never heard of. Thanks to the internet and the ease of information exchange guidance for how to build an acoustic guitar is readily available online, at certain schools, and in a myriad of books. And there are a ton of talented builders out there.
 
Acoustic guitars are generally manufactured three main ways.
 

Factories are the big time manufactures. Folks like Martin, Gibson, Taylor, Larrivee, as well as locations over in Asia. Guitars in factories are built assembly line style. Every top, back, side, brace, neck, and other part of a particular model guitar is milled to the same dimensions and thickness. They have found dimensions that work for a particular model, and each guitar that comes off the line for that model is crafted to those dimensions. These places churn out hundreds of guitars a day, so there is no time to evaluate each piece of wood for density, stiffness, or tap tone, and then decide if its better suited to type of guitar or another. For example, two guitar tops that look identical can differ in density and stiffness. A stiffer top might be better suited for a larger guitar that is going to be strummed hard, and a less stiff top will be better suited for a smaller guitar played by a sensitive fingerpicker. But in this type of production model there is no time for this. So with factory guitars some of them will be exceptional, some of them will be not so good, and most of them will be right in the middle. There is nothing wrong with that, I have played some great Martins, Taylors, Gibsons, and Larrivee’s. This style of large production makes it possible to get into a well made acoustic guitar for a much lower price point than a small shop or one man builder. Its all economics.
 
The next step would be a small shop. This can be anywhere from 5 to 30 employees, so obviously a much smaller scale than the factories mentioned above. Examples include makers like Collings, Santa Cruz, and until his recent downsizing, Goodall Guitars. The smaller scale here means more individual pieces of wood can be evaluated. Heavier tops will be thinned so they respond well for the desired instrument. Lighter tops might be set aside for a small parlor guitar. Bracewood will be organized by weight and density. Generally each worker in a small shop will have a bench, with different folks doing different parts of the process. The head of the shop will perhaps float between each station, checking work and making sure things are done correctly. Guitars from small shops are much more consistent, and due to economies of scale, generally cost more as well.
 
The final step is a one man shop, or perhaps someone working with one assistant. At this level its possible to scrutinize each piece of wood, and spend alot of time making sure the right wood goes into the right instrument. For example when i had my guitar built, i went to the makers shop, played for him, and we spent some time, going through his wood stash and finding a responsive top for my lighter touch. Its also easier to customize things at this stage, such as a custom neck profile, scale length, or string spacing. Accordingly guitars built by a single reputable luthier are usually more expensive than a small shop, due to the time and labor that go into them.
 
So those are the three main scales at which acoustic guitars are built. Factories have made guitars good beginner guitars available for as little as a few hundred dollars. For $1200 or so from a factory you can get good instrument, made with all solid wood, and ebony fingerboard and bridge, and something that will last you a lifetime. Get up into $2500 and you are looking at small shop guitars. To get a guitar from a single luthier you are looking at at least $3000, up to as much as you want to spend.
 
So that bring me to my next topic. Folks often say, why do you need a $3000 dollar guitar, my $600 guitar sounds fine, and i love it. First off, that statement is relative to the player and the sound they want. When i was first starting out i did not know the difference between a $600 guitar and a $6000 guitar. Being new to the instrument my sensitivity to tone, playability, volume, sustain, etc were not developed. Over the years as i have become a better player and experienced more guitars i have a better idea for the sound i like and what works for me. In the end i had to go to a solo luthier to get that sound, and felt fortunate to be able to be in the position to do so. I think you should keep trying guitars till you get the sound you want, whether its in a $1500 guitar or a $5000 guitar. I truly feel that small shop or guitars built by one person offer a remarkable difference from a mass produced guitar. The attention to detail with the wood and voicing just takes things to that next level, to me. I suppose its like anything else. My computer speakers sound fine for music to me, but an audiophile would scoff at my setup, saying i am missing out so much of the music. My Toyota Matrix gets me around fine, and i don’t feel i need anything else. Other folks are going to want the luxury of a high end BMW. Its all about what you like, and want to spend your money on.
 
Does that mean a beginner should go i and spend a $1000 on their first instrument? Probably not, i say pick up a decent beginner instrument and if you think are you are going stick with it get something better a year down the line. But if you have the expendable income then go for it.
 
I am just lucky i don’t play violin, cello, or piano. Those guys have to take out a mortgage for a professional level instrument.
 
Anton