Hi all quick question, withe the 151 tuning its fairly straight forward to get the power chords and although I know the fingerings to get major and minor chords but as im still learning playing slide mostly I was wondering if its possible to substitute the major and minor chords with single note from top and bottom string?
For example instead of playing a G major chords I just pluck the bottom string in a GDG tuning, same applies for A major chord except this time press the second fret on bottom string? Etc
For minor chords the same as above except use the top string?
I am aware it wont sound perfect but with a bit of distortion to help was wondering if anyone else has done this starting off!
Thing is the more I play the more I want to learn more but when things get difficult I dont play as much, so if I get a few songs done in an easy to play fashion I know ill want to progress more ie getting the major and minor chords properly!
Thanks in advance for any help!
Replies
D*#$ it!
I leave town for 24 hours, and you guys invent more new tunings.
I'm hard at work on a 4-string so I can try Phrygian Kid's Open G. I think I can wrap my mind around it based on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings of a traditional tuning plus a bass note that I can play with a barre.
Sam's idea caught me totally off guard. I gotta' think about that for a while.
Thanks to everyone for the input. I'm really enthusiastic about examining as many tuning possibilities as possible--either for good of for evil. However, it must be awful for musical newbies to hear all of this indecision. My apologies to any who're perplexed more than helped.
I've been using it in gigs for about three years. It's a really simple way to fatten up the sound of a solo act without having to learn all the cord shapes. I used to play traditional 6 strings, but my fingers don't work so well now, I can manage a note/chord system that gives me Majors, minors (partial?) and 7ths with a barre and only one moving part.
Hi Kid,
Sorry if I gummed up the works. I took a music theory class about 45 years ago, so I have forgotten what little I knew. That said, what I suggest seems to work in a solo playing environment. I wouldn't even think of trying it in ensemble playing or if the endeavor required reading music.
the best,
Sam
Cheers Sam, I try to take in all I can so apprciate all advice given, some advice I might not even fully understand now but the more I learn and then go back and reread all the posts they make alot more sense the second time around!
;;
The answer is easier....if you change the problem.
You can go with the 2 string in the bottom position, and tune the guitar G-D-B for a major chord (1-5-3). To get a minor or M7, you then detune the bottom string 1/2 step to a Bb. You can then play music with a mix of minor/M7/Major chords by barring the chord for the minor and M7 chords and fretting 1 position ahead of the barr to form a major chord.
I do this all the time on 4 string CBGs to make much more interesting play and have done it on 3 string CBGs when that was all I had and wanted the musicality.....
well this has sure gone bezerk eh ?
I'll just add this, obviously having written a couple huge blogs on the subject, I'm not a guy who thinks you can unravel all the mysteries of harmony in a nice short, trite answer...
Theres truth in all these answers here, 'oh to make a chord minor you just need to "♭" the "iii" .....'
yep, this is spot on.
But it's not really how minor chords come about. I'd argue that its a (very common) misconception to consider a Gminor chord a G chord at all. Its (Gm) actually a B♭ chord. How did I find that note? (B♭).. Well its the iii note that other bloke was talking about, after we '♭' it.
You see each chord has a minor counterpart, called its relative minor. The relative minor is three frets below its major brother, and it should be seen as the minor flavour of that major brother. (working harmony the way most of us do, tertian harmony, see the i see threes blog for more info) A chord is made up of every second note in the scale. So the (i) chord is (i) (iii) (v), the (ii) chord is (ii) (iv) (vi).. etc.. If you follow this all through you'll find the (vi) chord is (vi) (i) (iii). Compare that to the (i) chord for a second. See the common ground? So another way to look at it is 'to go minor from any major chord you take the (v) note and raise it two frets to the (vi) note. This way we go minor without actually changing key, we remain in the same scale. Of course playing your GDG guitar in Gm is entirely possible and this is the key advantage of that tuning, but as soon as you add that B string then this stuff is def worth knowing, cos in Gm that B string is the 'devils note', a ♭ii.
Sorry its not simpler :(
You can't equate a minor chord with its relative major, they share some notes, but they're not the same! One is major and one is minor for a start, they have different root notes.
And in Gm the B is the diminished 4th. (It's Gm not Bb)
Its simple enough for an irish idiot like myself, lol
Yes I do understand what you mean, took a few reads but I got there!
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