Strange guitar chords
 

Im starting to practice some worship songs in anticipation of when I start to lead worship whenever that will be. But i have noticed some pretty strang chords in the worship songs in the books I have on my shelf. Chords like:

E2(no3) and E/G#...except that the E is over the G# like in a fraction. I just couldnt type it like that on the computer cause the computer wouldnt cooperate with me. I have been trying to look these chords up in my chord dictionary but cant find them. And was thinking that one of those planet waves electronic dictionaries might have them. but I dont want to invest in one until I know that they have those listed. Almost all worship songs have a chord like the ones mentioned above or something similar. I just cant play a worship song without them. Just how do you finger these chords any way? what are they called??

E/G# is an E chord with a G# as it's root chord..

soo.. instead of 022100 (with E as the root chord on the low E string,) you could do 422100..a little bit of a pinky stretch but you get used to it. :) of course.. 479x00 is more fun to play.. but alot more stretchier..

as for the E2 no3 or whatever.. i'm not sure which one number 3 is :) , but... here's a couple E2s I know: 024100, 022102, 079(11)00. second chords are chords that have the second degree of that chord in them (so, for the E chords it adds an F#..) hope that all makes sense

of course, all of those are open position chords, if you want barres to we could be here all day. hope that helps.

If you have a bass player in the band, you can relax a little. When there is a "slash" chord, like "E/G#," the bass can play the G# and the guitar can just play an E chord. The result is the same. It is usually done this way when there's a bass in the band.

There is an excellent reference/tutorial in this forum by idick that may help, as well. Click on his icon and go to his website. I believe the tutorial is still available there.

I've been struggling with E/G# lately as it appears in "Bell Bottom Blues". The fingering is 4x2450. This is awkward at first but is considerably easier to deal with on a short scale guitar. It is a very common chord in CCM and is often cheated with a cut capo.

"E2 no 3rd" would be spelled E F# B. It can also be called Esus2. Here are some possible voicings:


--0----0---0----0-------------------------
--0----0---0----7-------------------------
--4---11--11----4-------------------------
--4----9---9----4-------------------------
--2----7---9----7-------------------------
--0----0---0----0-------------------------

I like that chord and use it for certain fingerstyle songs, i.e. Tears In Heaven, Signe, ... but on Bell Bottom Blues it is used in the rhythm guitar part and is meant to be strummed. Sure looks like I'm spending a lot of time on Clapton, doesn't it?

If it helps, I play E/G# 422400. Works well for strumming.

Tom

I've seen this chord described by tholmes played with a 'hinge-bar'...that is the A and D strings are barred at the second fret with the first part of the the first finger, letting it rise above the open B and E strings. Takes practice.

I can reach the E/G# OK in first position but typically play it

X 11 9 9 9 X

If you go to

http://www.looknohands.com/chordhous.../index_rb.html

click on E for the chord and display note names, the program will show the notes in that chord ( one of which is g# ) over frets 1-12. This may give you ideas for several ways to play it. ( Several of which have been described in the previous posts, this link may help visually explain them as well)

Exactly!! I should have explained it a little better, I guess! :)

Tom

Why on earth didnt the people who wrote the music fro this book call it that Esus2? I know what that chord is.