First of all, realize that I play acoustic guitar, not electric. I dunno if that matters. I've been playing for decades and I can play just about any chord I need to play. Not every single one but enough I can get by just fine to play most any song. (My focus is songwriting but I play lots of covers for pleasure and at gigs.) I can play majors, minors, sevenths, diminished, augmented, barres, whatever, in general. Some jazz chords might challenge me but there's always a workaround.
I could sum up my question by pasting something I just saw on an ad for guitar lessons that popped up on my screen -- "How to play any chord anywhere on the neck by understanding chord movement." That kind of sums up what I am after.
I should also mention that I am a singer-songwriter and I play solo a lot, so, making arrangements sound interesting is appealing. It's often just one voice, one guitar.
I often see artists play a song and it takes me awhile to figure out what the heck they are playing. I might hear the chords, I might pick them out pretty easily, but they are playing some strange chord shape. And it sounds more interesting than my cowboy chords.
So, my question is... how do guitar players get to this point? Did somebody show them this? Did they just naturally think to themselves, "I wonder how I could play this and it won't sound like the normal cowboy chord shapes, what would sound cool?" Are guitar players who do this a step above in innate talent, just some natural skillset that is inherently above the rest of us? I don't say this in jest, it's a real question.
So, what say you guys about this, it's very appealing to a solo dude wanting to spice up the sound. I use alt-tunings and also partial capos to get cool sounds, and it does inspire me for songwriting. I also noodle around on the guitar and find some gems but, in general, the subject of this thread, I am not proficient at. I guess I could sign up for that online lesson! Thanks if you have any insight!
EXAMPLES, if you care to read further...
An example would be watching Paul Simon play "Scarborough Fair." Another example...
If you watch Gordon Lightfoot play "Sundown," he has a capo at fret 2. Now, relative to the capo, you see that he plays a chord that sounds like an E-chord shape. Again, that is relative to the capo. The actual chord would be F#. Go back now relative to the capo. So, if I play a cowboy chord shape, 022100, that's the chord. Except he is playing what appears to be 022400, with the A-string and D-string being barred with his index finger. The next chord, relative to the capo is a B-chord. Except he doesn't play a cowboy chord shape, such as a barred 224442. He simply moves his finger to the D-string at fret 4 (relative to the capo) and plays what appears to be 024x00. Sounds to me like he is muting the G-string to get the B-chord sound. It took me awhile to be able to play these chord shapes fluidly but I think I got it now. Cool!
What prompted this thread was this video of Sir Paul playing "I Got A Feeling." I think he is tuned down a whole step and playing an unusual A-shape, adding a couple of fingers to get an unusual D-shape. Since he's tuned down, it's G and C. Point is, the fingered shapes are not cowboy chords. It sounds way cooler than what a G-shape and C-shape (tuned E to e) would give.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg8dFvAQF4c