what are these chords?

[theMRAZfan]

hello guys, i'd appreciate if someone could tell me what chords he's playing here from 4:37 . probably 5 chords. starts with A major i guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...CMhuKEYw#t=279

[rick-slo]

G D Em C G when disregarding the Capo on the fourth fret, other wise B F# G#m E B

[stanron]

Using dropped D tuning at least.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by stanron

Using dropped D tuning at least.

Standard tuning

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by stanron

Using dropped D tuning at least.

Hi stanron...

Yes he is tuned to Dropped D…

[ljguitar]

Hi theMRAZfan…

As I said before, it is indeed in Dropped D (run it on high rez and blow it up to the full screen mode and can observe him playing the bass note 'G' on the 5th fret of the 6th string and the bass note 'E' for Em on the 2nd fret of the 6th string)

At 4:37 which you asked about he begins repeating the chord progression and about every other time he plays…

| G | D/F# | Em-Em/D | C | G/B | Am7 | D |

The other phrase is:

| G | D/F# | Em | C | G/B | Am7 | D | The phrases are nearly the same, he doesn't walk the Em down to Em/D every time…just hangs out on the Em.

He's obviously very comfortable with the progression and is playing around with it, not repeating it exactly the same every time (he's busy interacting with the audience and gaining their participation).

The bass note for the G chord in dropped D is played on the 5th fret about the capo on the 6th string. I suspect after watching it several times he's actually muting the 5th string on the G chord with the pad of the fretting finger.

He's really using a lot of very thin fingerings/voicings which is nice actually. No need to finger every note since he's not playing every string.

Hope this helps...

[rick-slo]

Took another look. Not standard, not dropped D. Looks like an odd tuning of DGCGBE

[stanron]

The only thing I could tell for certain is that the lowest string was tuned down to D. His fingering is pretty sparse and the tuning might be dropped D, double dropped D, or something else. I'm not particularly motivated to give it more time.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by stanron

The only thing I could tell for certain is that the lowest string was tuned down to D. His fingering is pretty sparse and the tuning might be dropped D, double dropped D, or something else. I'm not particularly motivated to give it more time.

I am with you there. Given more time going over it I might change my mind, but like you, and the OP apparently, there is other stuff to do.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Took another look. Not standard, not dropped D. Looks like an odd tuning of DGCGBE

Yes, that's it.
It means he needs some awkward stretches for some of those chords.

(I've given this some time, because I have a student also interested in this tune .)

Basic chord shapes (measured from capo):

"G"
-3-
-3-
-2-
-2-
-0-
(0 or x)

"D"
-2-
-3-
-2-
-2-
-2-
-0-

"Em"
-0-
-0-
-0-
-4-
-4-
-2-

"C"
-0-
-1- (he often pulls off to the open string)
-0-
-0-(or 4)
-5-
-x-

At 4:37 he plays the following variation on the sequence, adding passing chords:

  G      D/F#     Em7             Cadd9   G/B      Am(add9)G/B C     D/F#
|-3-------2------|(0)------------|(0)-----(0)-----|------------0------x----|
|-3-------3------|-3-------------|-3-------3------|-1---0--3---5------x----|
|-2-------2------|-0-------------|-0-------0------|-0---2--0---5-----(2)---|
|-2-------2------|-2-------------|-4------(x)-----|(0)-----x---x------6----|
|-0-------x------|-x-------------|-5-------4------|-2---2--4---5------2----|
|-x-------4------|-2-------------|-x-------x------|-x-----------------4----|
  1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 .  1 . 2 . 3 . 4 .  1  .  2  .  3  .  4  .

(That's just the shapes - as close as I can get - not the rhythmic detail. The brackets show notes that might be there, but not significantly audible.)

[theMRAZfan]

JonPR thank you so much. it's amazing, really. How can one just come up with these chords? even not chords, but rather this strange tuning?

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by theMRAZfan

JonPR thank you so much. it's amazing, really. How can one just come up with these chords? even not chords, but rather this strange tuning?

Your welcome.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by theMRAZfan

…How can one just come up with these chords? even not chords, but rather this strange tuning?

Hi tMfan...

Noodling - and lots of it. At least that's how it works for me.

It's a discovery process, not a matter of mental computation of notes, chords and inversions. Just taking something rather 'average' and making it 'better'.

I start with a progression and try it in several keys, then start with Dropped D, or Double Dropped D, and see where the bass lines lead and work from that. Then I try different styles, different tempos, different 'feel', sometimes a different meter (3/4 or 6/8 as opposed to 4/4 or 2/4). Other tunings I know.

Alternate tunings can be worked out by experimentation, adapted rather quickly to the chord structure I am shooting for, and with an hour's noodling I can find the basics. Sometimes I'll casually noodle at it for a week or two and discover if I raise or lower a string or change the key, the fingerings and voicings fall better.

With another hour and a half they can be elaborated sufficiently that I'm not bored to death with a repetitive chord progression.

After I've spent a month working with what I've worked out, I'm fairly fluent in another tuning. After 6 months of using it, it feels 'normal'.

And the nice thing is I start somewhere along the line considering other songs to modify or adapt to what I'm noodling with.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by theMRAZfan

JonPR thank you so much. it's amazing, really. How can one just come up with these chords? even not chords, but rather this strange tuning?

It's an unusual tuning certainly, but easy to imagine that one can start with drop D, then maybe open G (DGDGBD), various others like DADGAD or drop C (CADGBE), and this one could easily emerge by a bit of trial and error.

The task then is to work out the new shapes for the common open chords. Naturally this tuning ought to be good for chords like D, G or C, less so for E or A.
Knowing the notes you need in each chord obviously helps.

BTW, I've just realised that the chord I called "G" is really a Gsus2.

To be honest I don't feel like going back and checking exactly what he does play, but here's the choices:

G (G5)
E|-3- = G
B|-3- = D
G|-0- = G (or just mute this string)
C|-2- = D
G|-0- = G
D|(0) = D (mute if you want G as bass)

Gsus2 (looks like he plays this)
E|-3- = G
B|-3- = D
G|-2- = A
C|-2- = D
G|-0- = G
D|(0) = D

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by JonPR

It's an unusual tuning certainly, but easy to imagine that one can start with drop D

Hi Jon...

For the song that was posted, simple Dropped D works fine…in fact it's pretty easy. I played it along with the video yesterday and it covers all the bases needed to execute the entire song.

The only change is playing the "C" in the progression on the 3rd fret of the 5th string instead of the 5th fret.

I've watched Jason play that song 'live' several places, and it's not always the same as the last time he played it. It has a fun little beat to it...