Hi a Q to do with guitar chords. What do you reckon ?

Question:OK I have been playing guitar for about 35 years now, so would like to think I know all the chords & variations, but I don't.
A mate of mine, a songwriter started making sounds that I don't recognise, when jamming together.
I enquired, and he just said "ther is no such chord on paper, I just make them up a lot of the time"

Well, no wonder I cannot get to grips with some contemporary music !

Do you stick to the 100 odd standard chords, or just invent one ?

Bob

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: OK I have been playing guitar for about 35 years now, so would like to think I know all the chords & variations, but I don't.
A mate of mine, a songwriter started making sounds that I don't recognise, when jamming together.
I enquired, and he just said "ther is no such chord on paper, I just make them up a lot of the time"

Well, no wonder I cannot get to grips with some contemporary music !

Do you stick to the 100 odd standard chords, or just invent one ?

Bob

Learn some chord theory; it's not really very hard to understand, especially since you already play. Then you can make up chords as you need them, when a standard one doesn't quite do it for you, or when you want extra chords in a song to make it move along. When you know your theory, you don't have to look in a book for that Eb13 with the raised 9th, and the chord shapes are easier to remember when you can see their structure.

For example if you know E9, but need Em6/9, you can drop both the third and the 7th by one fret, but only if you know where they are in the shape of the E9. ( x7677x becomes x7567x )

Whatever sounds good, is good. You can experiment and find a shape that works. The theory is still useful for naming these home-made chords, which helps other musos know what to add, and sometimes gives you further ideas.

Mainstream contemporary music isn't as harmonically complex as jazz. If you like the sound of Jazz guitar, start with Mickey Baker book 1 which is already quite challenging. The first lesson gives you about 70 chords to memorize!

But take warning from the old saying: "If you want to play Rock 'n' Roll, the less you know about Jazz, the better"

Learning Japanese might make you look clever, but is not of much use if you plan to settle in Denmark; know what I mean?

I've played for 47 years, and still find new chords all the time. Even discords have a place.

So to summarize, feel free to make up chords, and consider learning some chord theory as well.

The theory is a map, but you can go where you want, and explore without the map when you want to.

why limit yourself to standard chords, music is all about imagination and invention, i make em up all the time.

Hate to burst anyone's bubble, but do you think your friend is SO advanced that he has invented even one more than the existing 42,000 guitar chords?

His chord is most likely indeed, "on paper." The only thing he's making up is that he claims ownership of it.

Think about this logically:

Chords are comprised of notes.
There is a set number of notes in Western music.
If you can't invent more notes, how can you invent more chords?

Just to get an idea of what some of these 42,000 chords are, I suggest you check out the following site:

http://jmdl.com/howard/guitarchords/inde...

Near the bottom of the page is a paragraph following the subhead, "How many chords?" Read it. Then have some fun with this site, and take advantage of some new chords!'

Kabum

Hi, I'm DAZ3626

I'm sure there are very VERY few chords that haven't got a name or symbol. The likelyhood is that he's played it and hasen't heard it before, or dosen't know what it's called. Also, some of the chords may just be inversions of 9ths 11ths 13ths etc. but sound odd when the notes are played around the same octave.

I Hope I've Helped :D

It's not so much that they're odd, they're just not your usual major/minor/7th chords.

The chords that I've used a lot of are still recognizable - just with odd notes added in. Suspended 2nds and 4ths play a large part in my noodlings, as well as diads and octaves over a drone. And we can't forget the add2 chords...

I know that many people will take chord shapes or partial chord shapes and send them up the fretboard to get unusual voicings. Similar chords, unusual voicings.

A large part of what I play is just "what sounds good" but I try to be as informed by theory as I can - i'll learn as much theory as I can, but as soon as I play I try to forget it and go with what I'm feeling, and only rely on the theory when I'm stuck.

I'm learning how to go outside of tonality safely so to speak... mixing major and minor, that kind've thing. Playing a major riff then throwing in a minor third with a slight bend.... pull it off right and it's got style, y'know? Something that tweaks the ears.

I have a feeling, though, that your mate is playing "real" chords, he just doesn't know what they're called or how to classify them. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it really hinders communication between musicians.

I've got a friend of mine, for instance, who plays a lot of metal, and plays most of it by ear. He'll play these crazy riffs that have these odd noises but he couldn't explain why they sounded good or how to accompany them - they were dissonant, but in a consistent way, if that makes sense. Eventually I managed to figure out that he was switching between riffs with tritones in them and riffs in a harmonic minor scale. Crazy stuff, y'know?

Just reminds me that music is so much bigger than one's self....

Saul

I've been playing guitar for about 50 years and I STILL watch the player's left hand for something I have never seen before... then figure it out.

NOBODY knows all the chords and NOBODY knows all about playing the guitar especially the people who claim to know all about playing the guitar.