How many chords do or should one know?

[shawlie]

Originally Posted by slinco

This is kind of along the lines of what I was thinking after reading through this thread.

I agree, because you also have those who play three chord songs to millions... guitar-barbarians... the very nerve...

"How many chords does your favorite songs have" - once you know that many, you'll be set for a while.

[jasperguitar]

I"m in the Beaumont camp. I seem to learn a chord shape every few days. I do like the shapes I can move around, as I find that they are more useful, and my little brain can't remember every chord shape ....

If you sit and noodle. Think about how to form a certain chord, then form it, you will sometimes be amazed at what you discover.

Of course, this will lead to crazy time.

That is when you are playing a very simple song, and decide to play all the chords above the fifth fret, ... which is so much fun. ha ha ha ..

Then? You move to the 7th fret .. which is even nuttier.

Eventually you will be hunched over, playing bar chords above the 12th fret, which are so high in pitch they sound like squeak chords, and your fingers are falling off ...

And you are so happy..

Guitar, the drug that keeps on giving and giving and giving.

[bizirk]

3 chords and a good capo....

[EnglishGuy]

Hey Slinco - I was only kidding. No offence.

[Thrillhouse]

As many as you need to make the music you want to play.

[jasperguitar]

L J Guitar .. Larry wrote :.. "In addition you should know how to play the same chord as an inside 4 string chord, and the inversions of the basic major and minor of the chord on strings 1-2-3 and strings 2-3-4 at least 3-4 places up the neck.
And that should be for any note in the chromatic list of notes, focusing as a solid start on all the chords in keys of C-A-G-E and D.
So you need to know:C, Cmaj7, C9, C11, C7, C6, Csus4, Csus2, Cdim, Caug, Cm, Cm7, Cm7flat 5, Cdimished, and know these in open position (first 3 frets) and at least in 5 positions up the neck. "
===========
Larry .. I agree, and disagree with your posting. The disagree part? There are only so many hours in the day, if I spend all my time learning all the different ways of making, constructing a chord, I'd never play the guitar. That said, I am learning new chords, shapes, etc, each day.
I looked at your C chord list; Maj, min, 7th, dim, maj 7th .. I am good to go on most of these, may need a minute to think on some. The 9, 11, aug, they kinda throw me. I must sit, think of how to construct.
One part of the posting though .. the inside chords. Can you explain this more. I got thinking on this. I am not quite sure what constitutes an inside chord. For example. If I play the C shape, or the C 7 shape.. that uses the 5,4,3,2 strings. I can move that shape up the fretboard.. C sh, D, D sh, E.. blah blah .. is that an "inside" chord?

I like your posting. I wish I could find a teacher in my home turf who would approach the guitar like you seem to. Around my town, the guitar teachers basically are young guys who show young kids how to sound like some song they hear on the radio. big waste of time, for me anyway.

[waveform]

What do you guys think about learning a new chord every week, or month (depending on the individual)? Kinda like the word of the day thing. You might be scarring this chap. One should know as many chords as they see fit!

[jasperguitar]

"So you need to know:C, Cmaj7, C9, C11, C7, C6, Csus4, Csus2, Cdim, Caug, Cm, Cm7, Cm7flat 5, Cdimished, and know these in open position (first 3 frets) and at least in 5 positions up the neck. "

Larry.. I just took your test .. and guess what .. I passed !!! I finally got a B .. first time in my life ..

I started out with C maj. Played it using my C A G E D method shapes, up the neck. Got my open plus four shapes. The G is tough as my fingers are not as long as an octopus.

Played the C maj 7. A shape, F shape, at least that is what I call it ..

C 9 . big folk music chord.

C 6 .. not too hard .. kinda like a A min .. in a way.. and I can move up.

Anyway.. got ya covered .. B plus on the first test. Not bad for an old guy with ADD.

===

I do have a problem. When I start to play the jazz chords, I go into my late night FM station frame of thinking. So, I am sitting here with a highball and a cigarette, in my lounge jacket, wearing horn rimmed glasses, with brill cream in my hair, and my body covered by Aqua Velva lotion .. and there is a hooker in the dining room. Do you have a chord to make this all disappear?

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by jasperguitar

I do have a problem. When I start to play the jazz chords, I go into my late night FM station frame of thinking. So, I am sitting here with a highball and a cigarette, in my lounge jacket, wearing horn rimmed glasses, with brill cream in my hair, and my body covered by Aqua Velva lotion .. and there is a hooker in the dining room. Do you have a chord to make this all disappear?

C7#11. Chicks hate bebop.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by jasperguitar

I do have a problem. When I start to play the jazz chords, I go into my late night FM station frame of thinking. So, I am sitting here with a highball and a cigarette, in my lounge jacket, wearing horn rimmed glasses, with brill cream in my hair, and my body covered by Aqua Velva lotion .. and there is a hooker in the dining room.

There's only one chord that can have that effect...

-x--
-7--
-8--
-9--
-10-
-0--

Originally Posted by jasperguitar

Do you have a chord to make this all disappear?

Any power chord should do the job, esp with a good dose of distortion.
The lounge jacket and glasses should disappear, to be replaced with leathers, shades and tattoos. The brylcreem will evaporate as your hair grows straggly and your chin sprouts stubble. The highball will turn into a can of beer, or maybe a bottle (not a glass) of jack daniels.
The hooker might still be there, but she'll be the cheaper variety.

[budsy]

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

The only answer is, of course, ALL OF THEM. But that's not where you start. If I can remember back that far (45 years or so), I think I learned the major chords first ... A, C, D, E, F, G ... B came later. Then some minor chords ... Am, Em, Dm ... the others came later. Then sevenths ... all of 'em. Sooner or later you'll want all the relative minors (other than those I mentioned above). Then you'll get into barre chords, and that's when the fun starts. Diminished (they're quite simple), major7, minor7, susp4 ... now you're cookin'. The 9ths come after a while too.

As you learn to play songs, you'll find you want to play those "fancy" passing chords, and your arsenal of available chords will grow. Sounds like a lot, but once you start playing barre chords you'll find you know many more chords than you think you do. For example, if you can play an F barre, you can play every chord from F through D# (and higher) just by sliding up the neck a fret at time!

I agree entirely with the ^^ post as im also learning and in a way we all here are learning all the time some of us myself im able to play some songs without booklet in front of me although only a few songs and i learnt basic chords some major chords like RustyAxe mentions above though i found i had a touch of trouble trying to get the F Chord which i only managed with a bit of practice in doing such by barre chording the F only

and then some minor chords also as ^^ learn ..Songs you like and many basic chorded songs were your all time best sellers of records of all time remember

Ye i agree with above poster regards learning the Guitar Enjoy the ride

[jgs]

I'm not trying to answer your question as much as I am sharing my experience. I am a newbie and have been playing consistently for about 4 months. I started out generally following Justin Sandercoe's beginners lessons and drifted away here and there as I wanted to learn a particular song.

Although I'm getting a lot more comfortable, there are still some things I have to work on to pull off any new song. For me, the real test is whether I have it down well enough to play (and sing) it for somebody else. For example, I feel like I can play Pancho & Lefty in my sleep but found myself forgetting the (simple) progressions, lyrics, and trying to get my voice not to quiver the first time I played it in front of a couple of family members. (Played something really, really simple for them and then came back to it to do a much better job.)

To do that, I have to have a halfway interesting strumming or finger pattern, keep my rhythm, sing in time, and transition smoothly in/out of chords. I'm getting to the point where I am adding some expression into some songs where I have the other stuff down.

I honestly don't know what type of player I'm training myself to be but, at this point, I'm finding a lot more "bang for the buck" focusing on some of the other things - rhythm, singing, volume, strumming/finger patterns, very feebly adding expression to a song by adjusting any of the aforementioned things within a song.

When I want to learn a new song, picking up a new chord or two isn't that big of a deal. I drill myself on the transitions enough to muddle my way through it on my own. The heavy lifting seems to come in the other areas and then tightening up the overall presentation. If a particular song starts to get a little stale, I play around with hammer ons/pull offs in a particular position that's already familiar - i.e. Sus'ing a chord (if that's a word).

Not saying that learning new chords isn't important, but it seems to be the last thing on my mind right now. Right now, I'm wanting to get some basic theory under my belt, explore some new finger/picking/strumming patterns, improve the accuracy of what I'm already doing, and writing a couple of songs.

[JonPR]

^ sounds like an excellent set of priorities. That's what the experience of performance does for you!

[jgs]

Appreciate the feedback. I thought I knew some chords and songs before my first living room "performance". It's one thing to play around and sing in falsetto under your breath while people are around, or even strum along to a complete song on youtube. It's quite another to have someone turn down the T.V., stop talking, and stare at you as you work your way through a complete song. Areas that need to be improved really identify themselves. (I won't call them "weaknesses" yet as that would insinuate I have "strengths" after 4 months.)

[Gtrfinger]

Three basic chord shapes; E A and D. Then learn to barre them, up 12 frets, that's 36 chords.

Then learn them as minor chords, and do the same, that's another 36 chords.

Then there's E7 A7 and D7. You can put the seventh on different strings here, eg with A7 you can play the 7th on the G string or on the E string. You can partial barre if you want.... there's another 36.

The principle is knowing what makes a type of chord, eg. a major chord,and then by moving the chord and keeping the pattern the same, you have a major chord in a different key.