Chord theory...need some tips

veji

Active member
Need some ideas for unique and cool sounding chords. For song writing.
Playing basic chords sounds dull and uninspiring...what do guys do to spice it up and make it cook sounding..

For example..
Popular C F G chord progression... Just chunk c5 , f5, g5...we heard that over and over again.,,how would you Ip are those chords and progression better and fresh
 
Personally, there's nothing wrong with a good 1, 4, 5 chord progression but you're right; playing 5ths is pretty boring!
I'm loving the 'foo fighters' approach to guitar playing; try to come up with complementary melodies & hooks that support the other elements of the song (bass & vocals) rather than just playing the basic chord.
Perhaps start with some simple 2 note melodies using the C major pentatonic notes (C D E G A)?
 
Ever heard of Ted Greene? Just look through this website. More than any "normal" guitar player could ever use, IMHO.

It really opened my eyes to using inversions and different voicings of chords to "jazz it up" a bit.

http://www.tedgreene.com/
 
Here are some ideas, try these voicings for the common 1-4-5 in C major. Sound great with distortion as well as clean

------------------------
--3--------1--------3------
--5--------0--------2------
--5--------3--------0------
--3--------x--------x------
--x--------1--------3-----
 
I'm what might be charitably called an advanced beginner. For the past couple of days, I've been trying this exercise to better understand chord structure and memorize the fretboard: play major triads in each of the three common shapes up and down the fretboard. For example, I'll play all the common C-chord triads in every position on the neck and confirm the component notes as I play it. It's been a surprising challenge (because I'm an idiot), and I feel it's been very helpful to learn the fretboard and different chord voicings.

You might also want to try playing 6, 7, 9 and 11 variants of your current chord vocabulary. You could play many of the same progressions but it'll add some spice.
 
carl roa":378lrcvl said:
Here are some ideas, try these voicings for the common 1-4-5 in C major. Sound great with distortion as well as clean

------------------------
--3--------1--------3------
--5--------0--------2------
--5--------3--------0------
--3--------x--------x------
--x--------1--------3-----
 
Your going to have to learn, teach yourself some basic theory. Intervals. Major/Minor Triads.. Root 2nd, 3rd inversions.


Start on the first three strings, 1,2, & 3.

Find the inversions for both major and minor triads.

Then move on to 7th chords and do the same, find their inversions.

This will open up not only the chords to you, but will now appear arpeggios all over the place at your disposal.
 
use extended chords. add 7's 9's and 11's and mess with mode mixture. you'll get all kinds of cool sounding progressions. cheers.
 
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