Step 3: Learn Power And "Flower" Chords.

GO HERE TO START FROM STEP 1 Due to how Blogger is structured, the last post always becomes the front page.
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Chords are the main ingredient of music. As a guitar player, especially a backup or rhythm guitarist, chords should definitely be one of the first things you really try to learn. Not only will learning them first help you with your fret-hand technique, but also with your strumming and even rhythm. It will also put you on the fast track to learning scales and music theory.

"Power chords" are the easiest to learn. All you have to do is learn where your fingers are positioned, and it's the same all over the neck of the guitar.

"Flower chords" are more detailed in their hand and finger positioning, but are still easy to learn. By the way, I call them "flower chords" because they sound all pretty and "flowery."

Scroll Down for a complete list of all 12 Major and Minor Chords.

For me, the hardest part of learning the major chords was training my hands to accurately shift between them and immediately put my fingers on the right strings and the right frets in an instant. If your favored style of music involves playing songs with a sequence of these chords, you will definitely need to practice this.

Power Chords

Like I said, the easiest thing ever:

This is an Open E Power Chord. The Open E string is the root. If you think of an open string as being the "0th fret," then the finger positions on power chords down the strings make more sense.



This is a Power Chord with the root on the 2nd fret:



This is essentially a "3 note" Power Chord with an Open E string involved. In this particular example, I would like to point out that the only reason that the Open E works with this power chord is because the 7th fret is an E note, too. It's just one octave higher than the Open E. I'll discuss this in a later lesson.



In this example, I want to show you both how the 1st and 2nd strings are tuned differently in relation to the 3rd - 6th strings and how you fret them to accomodate:

Flower Chords

These chords are dominant in the guitar world. They also require a lot of music theory to put together and explain, so I will spare you all the boring specifics.

There is actually a pretty huge list of chords, although there is really only 12 root notes. Now remember, roots are the individual notes from which the chord is based on. When you see a chord listed by name, an "A chord" for example, the root is the "A" note.

The types of chords and how they are listed in chord diagrams and in music notation are as follows: (Along with the Flat or Sharp Note Equivalent for A Chords)

• Major: A -or- A#


• Minor: Am -or- A#m


• Augmented: A+ -or- A#+


• Suspended Fourth: Asus4 -or- A#sus4


• Added Ninth: A(add9) -or- A#(add9)


• Minor Added Ninth: Am(add9) -or- A#m(add9)


• Fifth: A5 -or- A#5 (These are actually power chords)


• Sixth: A6 -or- A#6


• Minor Sixth: Am6 -or- A#m6


• Sixth, Added Ninth: A6/9 -or- A#6/9


• Minor Sixth, Added Ninth: Am6/9 -or- A#m6/9


• Seventh: A7 -or- A#7


• Diminished Seventh: Aº7 -or- A#º7


• Seventh, Suspended 4th: A7sus4 -or- A#7sus4


• Major Seventh: Amaj7 -or- A#maj7


• Minor Seventh: Am7 -or- A#m7


• Minor, Major Seventh: Am(maj7) -or- A#m(maj7)


• Major Seventh, Flat Fifth: Amaj7(b5) -or- A#maj7(b5)


• Minor Seventh, Flat Fifth: Am7(b5) -or- A#m7(b5)


• Augmented Seventh: A+7 -or- A#+7


• Seventh, Flat Fifth: A7(b5) -or- A#7(5)


• See if you can name the rest of these by comparing them with the chord types listed above:
  
  1. B7(b9) = Seventh, Flat Ninth
  
  
  2. D#7(#9) = ?
  
  
  3. A+7(b9) = ?
  
  
  4. C9 = ?
  
  
  5. F#maj9 = ?
  
  
  6. Em9 = ?
  
  
  7. F#11 = ?
  
  
  8. Bm11 = ?
  
  
  9. B#13 = ?
  
  

Answers provided below

There you have it. All 30 different chord types and variations. Don't worry though, you don't have to memorize all of them. (most of them don't even sound that good) I'm just going to give you the majors and the Minor chords, which are the popular ones.

Now remember, there are 12 notes. 7 of which are the "letter notes" (A-G) and there are 5 sharp/flat notes between the A#B C#D#E F#G#A. Refer to Step 1: Tune Your Guitar for that information if you need to.

Here are the Major Chords for all 12 Notes

Here are the Minor Chords for all 12 Notes

Remember that "0" is an open string, and "X" are strings that are not picked

Here's a video where I show you the 7 Major Chords, and link them together to show you how to make a song.



There you have it, folks. Chords are actually pretty easy.
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Answers.
2. Seventh, Sharp Ninth
3. Augmented Seventh, Flat Ninth
4. Ninth
5. Major Ninth
6. Minor Ninth
7. Eleventh
8. Minor Eleventh
9. Thirteenth