Tag Archives: chord shapes

Barre chords are an important part of a guitar player’s repertoire and really expand your ability to navigate the fretboard beyond open chord playing. That said, they can be a bit of a pain to get down as they require a good bit of hand strength and dexterity to play well.

Sus chords, or suspended chords, are variations to traditional major and minor chords. While the name might seem unfamiliar, you’ve undoubtedly heard them many times and would recognize them immediately in popular songs like “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen and many others. They have multiple uses and really help to add color and movement to chord progressions, particularly around a single chord.

In previous lessons we’ve explored both major triads and minor triads, which are two of the most commonly used triads. In this lesson we round out the triads of the major scale with a look at diminished triads.

Seventh chords are chords that include the root plus the 3rd, 5th, and 7th intervals above the root. Another way to think about it is a seventh chord is a triad plus a 7th interval.

If you’ve been exposed to at least a bit of guitar theory, you’ve most likely heard of the CAGED system. It’s a system that allows you to visualize the guitar fretboard by using common major chord shapes.

Learning to apply the guitar number system to chord progressions will literally kick down the door to mastering the guitar fretboard.

Playing chord progressions by position is a great way to familiarize yourself with the different chord voicings found all over the neck. It helps open up the fretboard and reduces dependency on only playing open chords and basic barre chord shapes.

The power chord. If you’re new to guitar, you may not know what it is, but you’ve surely heard it. It’s the sound of rock n’ roll. These simple two-note chords have been used to create some of the greatest riffs and chord progressions in rock history. In this lesson we’re going to look at the basic power chords for guitar, from construction to the various ways they’re played.

Guitar chord inversions allow you to create different voicings for a given chord. These voicings can add a little flavor and variety to the typical chord sound. While “chord inversion” may sound complicated, it’s actually quite simple.