Not taking chords as offered - making them as you like'em

I took a shot at commenting this the other day and this person does a much better job, quickly and with a video short. So, if don’t like the chord shape and pitch - this addresses that (you can keep the same key even!, or change that too:

  • They didn’t have this when I was a kid - I walked to school up hill, in the snow both ways : )
1 Like

Great video, thanks! This is what I do. I still haven’t learned to bar and chords. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

1 Like

Yes, I remember.

Barring chords on an acoustic or any guitar is not that (imo) important to do.

The important part (imo), is that it is a “reference” image for which you have “land marks” to locate Notes, or where you are on the Neck.

That’s why there’s “Fret-markers”, 3, 5, 7 dots on the neck - 3rd dot is the “G-dot”, so to speak : ) (fun fact? - prior to really “playing” the guitar - I built them; violins, et alia., amplifiers too - so, could “play” to “test/QA” them and play lots and lots of scales - but never any songs; folks would ask me to play for them and I’d say, for what purpose? : ) lol! to hear scales… so, I dove in a bit further - again. There was a period of about 10 years I gave up all music and got back to it with building and other stuff facilitated it - married a woman that loved to sing Hymns and etc.).

Anyway - when one Barrs a chord, or bridges all 6 strings with their pointer finger, they are “Replacing” the “Nut” - at the top of the fret-board, like that Capo does.

If you printed out a sheet of Blanked Guitar Necks on a page (neck w/strings) and just wrote in the Note Names - like on the Fat-E or “low” E string, you’d have E of course : ) then F, F#, G, G#, A from Nut to 5th-dot/fret : )

If you learned that much, see-say-do, by Friday, then by next week or so, you could know all the First Position Notes, all 6 strings from the Nut to the 5th Fret.

If you start to really really really look, you will start to see PATTERNS - since all instruments are simply sonic math generators : )

You don’t need or even want to Barr a G-chord, but you can easily locate it and just play the lower 4 strings. If (IF) you played the open A string, 5 strings, you’d be playing a G9th chord. Or, you could even just (JUST) play the lower 3 strings only! Slide that up to the 5th Fret and you’ll have another “A” chord (compare it to your 2nd Fret A-chord and “hear” it.

When that “box” opens up in your head - oh my - it’s gonna be “big”.

Some might agree that an Acoustic Guitar is “about” open strings that ring out in “sympathy” and can create some pretty wondrous Tones! Just slide around on the middle three strings with part of your C-chord and see/hear.

  • Learn to play the instrument itself (ask your teacher - no more songs, just the guitar itself musically).

Many pieces will fall into place quickly. I tell folks when asked, if one wants to learn, they can pretty much “learn Guitar” in 3 months. If not, then, they didn’t want to or may need a different teacher : ) at $20 - $50 for 30-45 minutes, it pays to learn how to “self-teach” at some point.

One can’t upload jpegs here, but if could I would - nonetheless just “stare” are a G-chord single picture diagram - print it out, how many “chords” or positions can you see.

  • I realize you may not care to know any of that and I hear folks say, “I just have these songs I like to sing and that’s all I want”. However, too - I don’t remember anyone, when “got it” - how a guitar neck is set up sonic-ally in “half-steps”, two getting them to the next Note - were not pretty happy about it : )

Anyway - glad that help someone! (The video short - esp for “here” to cover tracks more readily!)

1 Like