Do you have a preference - open chords vs. barre chords?

[JonPR]

There's definitely a certain appeal to the resonances of open strings on an acoustic guitar. It's a totally different issue to chordal harmony, the shapes and voicing principles that (mostly) concern jazz players (in the same way they concern pianists).

That's why so many acoustic players, especially in folk, get drawn to open tunings, drop D and DADGAD. It's those sonorities you can achieve when you can allow as many strings as possible to sustain while playing others, letting notes ring across one another, producing drones and accidental passing harmonies; and all with that special sonority of the acoustic guitar.

(One jazz player who does think in this way- creating guitaristic sonorities rather than worrying about harmonic functionality - is Bill Frisell.)

In a sense, we getting something (a tiny amount) of the effect of the sympathetic strings on a sitar. 12-string players can get even closer, if they use open tunings.

Contemporary percussive players go even further, making maximum use of open string resonances, natural harmonics, etc.

Pianists can obviously do something similar by holding down the sustain pedal, but then they really have too much choice. The 6-string limitation of guitar is a benefit here, because we can select the notes we want on our open strings (by choosing to play in a specific key, or by re-tuning), so as to not risk bum notes. With only 6 strings, the sound will never get muddy, as it will quickly when you play a piano with the sustain pedal down. (That what's behind the concept of the "prepared piano", where you control and limit the natural resonances of the instrument by stopping individual strings in certain ways.)

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Guitar Slim II

That's why jazz chords don't fit very well into the whole CAGED/bar chord system.

"Jazz chords don't fit very well into the whole CAGED/bar chord system" in the same way an original Van Gogh doesn't fit very well hanging on the fridge next to a 4 year-old's stick figure crayon drawings.

[Bikewer]

Depends what I'm playing. I still enjoy flatpicking first-position open chords in a country-bluegrass tune. Just sounds good.

However, the bulk of my playing currently is jazz chord-melody stuff and for that I seldom use barres, almost all the chord-forms I employ are four-finger items with the unused strings damped out or simply not played. (Easy when using fingerstyle.)

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Guitar Slim II

jazz chords don't fit very well into the whole CAGED/bar chord system.

Well, they do in the sense that - as you said earlier...

Originally Posted by Guitar Slim II

Jazz harmony is all about adding extra notes to your basic three note triad chords.

Every single chord shape that it's possible to play on guitar can be traced to one of the CAGED shapes (including the 3 minor ones), because jazz harmony is (basically) a process of extension or alteration.

IOW, CAGED is just the way the fretboard IS - in EADGBE that is. We can't escape it.

[SouthpawJeff]

I guess I don't have a preference, whatever it takes to get the song out is what I'll use. I do a little fingerpicking, though still fairly new to it, and most of the songs I've learned so far have at least one barre chord in them. Jim Croce's Operator starts and ends with a barre G. Sound of Silence an F, of course you could substitute open chords, but it does change the sound just a bit. And if the barre was good enough for Jim, it's good enough for me😁

Most of my playing is strumming though and I know one thing is for sure.... I'd be lost without them!

Jeff

[TBman]

If a tune is fun to play it doesn't matter to me what type of chords are used, but playing finger style it's not really a chord as much as it's just a momentary position.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by SouthpawJeff

I guess I don't have a preference, whatever it takes to get the song out is what I'll use. I do a little fingerpicking, though still fairly new to it, and most of the songs I've learned so far have at least one barre chord in them. Jim Croce's Operator starts and ends with a barre G. Sound of Silence an F, of course you could substitute open chords, but it does change the sound just a bit. And if the barre was good enough for Jim, it's good enough for me[emoji16]



Most of my playing is strumming though and I know one thing is for sure.... I'd be lost without them!



Jeff

It's always good to know different voicings. Sometimes I like a play a barre even if the songs asks for open just to change things a little.

[ctgagnon]

Aren't barre chords just open chords with a movable nut?

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by ctgagnon

Aren't barre chords just open chords with a movable nut?

In essence yes. But because you're moving the "nut" you're also using a different voicing. A barre G sounds different to an open G even though both chords use the exact same notes.

[Pitar]

No preference.

[Guitar Slim II]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Well, they do in the sense that - as you said earlier...

Every single chord shape that it's possible to play on guitar can be traced to one of the CAGED shapes (including the 3 minor ones), because jazz harmony is (basically) a process of extension or alteration.

IOW, CAGED is just the way the fretboard IS - in EADGBE that is. We can't escape it.

I agree with this 100 percent -- in the abstract. If you,re playing triads, you,re playing CAGED chords by definition, that,s just the way it works. Insofar as jazz chords are alterations and extensions of the triads then, yeah, they would fit also. In fact, CAGED is as good a way as any to construct and understand sophisticated chords -- start with the basic triad shape and alter it or add the extensions to create the richer harmony.

But once you get beyond triads and sevenths, the CAGED perspective starts to get less intuitive and harder to manage in real time -- for me, at least. And most jazz players I know don,t conceptualize jazz chords from the CAGED perspective, even if they can be understood in CAGED terms.

The CAGED point of view works best for triads and sevenths. I actually find it useful in analyzing classical guitar pieces -- most classical music is mostly triads, after all...

[Mr. Jelly]

I do like open strings. I play chords up the neck at times and when possible I like to find ways to have open strings. Chords don't have to be played in the first position to involve open strings.

[woody70]

Open strings tend to have a fuller, more complex sound so good if you play music where you can let them ring for some time. Barre cords is naturally better if you want full controll of the length of each note or play rythm guitar. Generally, less effort needed is a good thing so i often prefer open chords. But then i also play alot of slow music.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by ctgagnon

Aren't barre chords just open chords with a movable nut?

They are. But they are fixed shapes. Changing between barre chords usually involves breaking the flow, even for a micro-second, as the hand finds the next position (the exception would be where you can keep the index clamped on the same fret for all the chords).
When using chords with open strings (even with fretted notes high up the neck), those open strings can stay ringing as you change, which is a different sound.
Not better or worse, just different. In a way, it's a specifically guitaristic sound, because you're exploiting a unique characteristic of the instrument. You're not thinking of it as an arbitrary "blind" tool for the job (creating some given chords), but as a tool which brings it own qualities to the job; qualities you can exploit as positives, rather than as negatives you have to try and compensate for. ("Hmm, I need to mute those strings in case they ring by accident."