Cowboy Chords

[guitar george]

I think that some people use the term "cowboy chords" to imply that someone who uses only those chords is not a very skilled guitar player.

[Nymuso]

Originally Posted by guitar george

I think that some people use the term "cowboy chords" to imply that someone who uses only those chords is not a very skilled guitar player.

Well, lessee, I play cowboy chords, I use a capo . . . . aw, but I finger pick! If I was a dedicated strummer, I could be a triple threat of unskilledness.

Don't worry about about the implications. Just use what ever tools you choose to play the music you want to play.

[menhir]

I rarely ever used the term myself, but I always took it to mean the basic chords on the lower frets. I've seen the term used as a simple description and other times clearly used in a derogatory manner. Like anything, it's just depends on how it's stated.

I'm perfectly comfortable with barre chords and have been for years. I'll play up and down the neck to get whichever voicing or alternative fingering best suits me or the music...

And that includes "cowboy chords." Let 'em ring.

[varmonter]

hm as i am not a cowboy i can't think of a reason
to think it as derogatory. If i play in B Flat with a capo
on the third fret in g position . Am I still playing cowboy chords??

[littlewing1208]

Originally Posted by varmonter

hm as i am not a cowboy i can't think of a reason

to think it as derogatory. If i play in B Flat with a capo

on the third fret in g position . Am I still playing cowboy chords??

Yes you are.

[L20A]

"I think that some people use the term "cowboy chords" to imply that someone who uses only those chords is not a very skilled guitar player."


You are right!
I'm a proud player of Cowboy Chords and have been for over 40 years.
I have no desire to get past them for the music that I play and sing.

If someone needs to degrade my playing style to make them feel better about themselves, I'm OK with it.
I play for me not them.

[valleyguy]

Cowboy chords versus jazz chords just shows the versatility of the guitar. I think that explains its popularity. It can be used as accompaniment to singing, or complicated chord voiceings. It's beauty is it is not difficult to get up and running, but you can carry it to many heights, think Segovia.

[TBman]

Some may use the term to mean that a person's knowledge of guitar chords is limited to the open chords.

There's a lot of good music played with "Cowboy chords". I don't think the chords used are the problem, I think it's a testosterone problem, lol.

[Billkwando]

Originally Posted by TBman

I think it's a testosterone problem, lol.

LOL That's so funny, because my examples of cowboy chords and non cowboy chords were both going to be ladies!


The Indigo Girls' biggest hit was cowboy chords with capo (with one C formation, slid up a few frets):




but here's a song with them playing some terrifying non-cowboy chords. Funny story about this song. When I was a kid, I took a couple lessons back in the 90's, and my teacher quickly realized that I was not lesson material (too lazy), so he asked me to bring him a few of my favorite songs, which he would learn and teach me, in order for the lessons not to be a total waste of money.

One of the songs I brought him was this one......and he just couldn't figure it out. I learned a couple great R.E.M. songs though! (Still can't play the song below, LOL)




You can play great music with hard chords, easy chords, DADGAD 9th fret chords strummed so fast that your arm catches fire.....so much room for expression on the guitar.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Jukie

Not sure if it was Tommy Tedesco or Chet Atkins who first said "there's no money to be made above the fifth fret".

I always heard it attributed to Lester Flatt, which makes a lot more sense.

[StevenL]

In my scholastic pursuits, I learned all sorts of fancy numerical manipulations that I thought were going to propel me to the heights of human achievement. Impressive statistical models, numbers approaching infinity, even imaginary numbers. In my actual working life (bookkeeping, accounting, easy governmental auditing), I've never used a quadratic equation or approached infinity. 99% add, subtract, multiply, divide, occasional solving for X. Of course, you can't get to Mars that way, but how many of us are going there or even want to?

Steve Howe can do incredible things all over the neck of a guitar, but I'm not going to sit and listen to him for very long (solo anyway). Soon, I'm just longing for some Needle and the Damage Done or Heard it in a Love Song.

[gfa]

Originally Posted by guitar george

I think that some people use the term "cowboy chords" to imply that someone who uses only those chords is not a very skilled guitar player.

I agree. And some others use it as a term of endearment. It's implied in the songwriter mantra Three [Cowboy] Chords and the Truth!

[Mr. Jelly]

A person can change the world with three chords and a cheap guitar. The rest is vanity

[SunnyDee]

I don't think of it as derogatory. As a descriptor it does describe open chords, but it's most often used in a description of level. I don't think it's negative, though. Guitar is the most popular instrument in the world. The vast majority of players are at the open chord/strumming/campfire song level by choice. I think saying "just cowboy chords" seems to mean you are at that hobby level, rather than a more serious musician, but it doesn't mean you couldn't be better if you wanted to be or that there's anything wrong with the chords themselves or the music made with them. It's just a distinction between a huge group of hobby players and a huge group of more sophisticated players all on the same instrument.

[dave42]

I don't think of it as derogatory, either. I use it to quickly describe where chords are played. For example, if we are working out a Steely Dan song, for example, I may tell the other guitarist 'I'll play that part in the cowboy chord area and you play it up there'.

I don't see it as anything to get worked up about.