What Open Chords To Learn?

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by OliveCorduroy

I know my open chords and I can make the changes adequately

So why are you asking "what open chords to learn"?

But check you know all the following, in case some are missing:

Triads: C, G, D, A, E, Am, Em, Dm

Sevenths: G7, D7, A7, E7, B7, C7, Am7, Em7, Dm7, Bm7 (open shape)

Less crucial add and sus chords (useful in lots of rock songs): Cadd9, Asus2, Asus4, Dsus2, Dsus4, Esus4.

Easy "jazz chords" (if these are your taste): Cmaj7, Fmaj7, Dmaj7, Amaj7. E7sus4, A7sus4, D7sus4.

There are more, of course, but all of those are open position shapes -including open strings- and (therefore!) fairly common in guitar music. (And there are one or two alternative shapes for some of them.)

Naturally there are common barre chords too: F, Bm, F#m, C#m, Gm, Cm, and so on. It can be hard to find song without at least one of those, even if you use a capo to make the key as easy as possible

But as for "direction to go in", Italuke had the answer: Learn songs.

I.e., why did you want to learn the guitar in the first place? Not to amass a whole load of chords, or get impressive at playing scales, right? I'm guessing you wanted to play music. So, do that.

There's really no point in building a collection of chords you might never find in the songs you want to play (I mean, even if there are lots of the above that you don't know yet). Start (or continue!) learning songs you like, now. If you do come across a song with a chord you don't know - that's the time to learn it.
Same with any fancy techniques, like hammer-ons, bends, etc. Don't work on them as exercises - not until you find a song where you need to use them.

Of course, if you enjoy exercises; or you enjoy counting up the chords you can play - that's fine. But I'm guessing if you enjoyed that sort of thing, you wouldn't be coming here asking advice.

In short, the cure for the sense that one has lost direction (or hit a brick wall, or a dead end) is to go back to before that feeling, and go off in another direction! We can only suggests potential alternative directions.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

It occurs to me that I don't even know the name of a good portion of the chords I play.

[mr. beaumont]

All of them.

[CollingsPicker]

Learning to do something, everything really, is a journey not a destination. Everything you’ve heard here is great advice however if you focus on what Larry said, and then what Jeff said, you will be well on your journey. Those two pieces of advice will last you as long as you want to play guitar.

[Tadmcd]

Originally Posted by sinistral

...it’s more fun to make your guitar cry or sing.

iswydt

well "played."

[mawmow]

Originally Posted by Italuke

Know what? I'd suggest flipping your process upside down. Rather than learning by building your vocabulary in the abstract, one chord at a time, try learning SONGS, rather than chords. I learned this long ago, the hard way. I knew a bunch of "stuff" but very few songs. Since I started focusing on the songs I want to play, I've learned tons of chords. Good luck!

+1 on this !

I began to play guitar as a tenager long before the internet era.
I used to buy songbooks, that were in fact "fake books" : Lyrics and chords.

I would then here and there try a new song and would discover new chords on
my path : Some easy to master, other barely reachable for me at that time.
Anyway, I would try to play the song again at some moments and as my skills
improved I came to play fluently many more chords and yes, many more songs.

After thirty years or so, I fell in the great melodies of the "50-"60 and am now
working on some jazz fingerings that had always seemed quite odd not to say
akward to me, but gently practicing every single day still makes music more fun.

So, music has to be fun.

While you discover new songs, it will be interesting to look at the dynamics of
chord progressions and music theory. If you just try to master the theory, that
curriculum is so huge, that you will miss the pleasure of playing music.

[menhir]

If you like oldies, learn...

C Am F (and/or Dm) G

...and you'll be able to play most of the 50's.

I could, should, make at list, but I gotta run.




PS: I played in an oldies band for a while right out of college.

[PhilFish]

You like Billy Strings, he does Walking Boss a three cord song that you may enjoy.
Do you sing? I listen to even the simplest songs many times, and get the melody and words in my head and sing them all day long for days, not just when I'm playing guitar
There's some good stuff in this thread guys Thanks

[rstaight]

Originally Posted by OliveCorduroy

Already these comments have helped so so much. I was bit by the bluegrass bug many months ago after listening to Billy Strings; it is literally all I listen to. Aside from his jam breaks, he always does a number of bluegrass standards. I love it, so my inclination was to learn simple versions of those like Tom Dooley and Worried Man Blues, but open minor chords aren’t used and it has been my assumption that I must learn open minor chords. From what I’m hearing, it’s okay to just play what I like regardless of what chords are used or what techniques are used. I can learn those and more along the way.

Thank you to all; this is going to be fun and seemingly less burdensome.

George

There is a book out called "The Bluegrass Fake Book". It is loaded with old songs that are fun to play. Most are in the key of G which is a main stay in Bluegrass. In the back of the book there are chord charts for banjo, guitar, and mandolin.

At the jams I attend we have a gentleman that likes the key of B. The B chord is not a natural for me, could be if I worked on it. But I just play a B7, No one has called me out yet.

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by rstaight

There is a book out called "The Bluegrass Fake Book". It is loaded with old songs that are fun to play. Most are in the key of G which is a main stay in Bluegrass. In the back of the book there are chord charts for banjo, guitar, and mandolin.

At the jams I attend we have a gentleman that likes the key of B. The B chord is not a natural for me, could be if I worked on it. But I just play a B7, No one has called me out yet.

Just capo at 4 and play in G...

B7 is really not a sub for a B major chord, but I suppose in a bluesy tune you might get away with it...

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Bob

It occurs to me that I don't even know the name of a good portion of the chords I play.

Lol, yeah, I generally know what they are before I ditch half the notes and substitute open strings, after that I dont care enough to figure out what exactly I'm playing so long as it doesnt sound bad.

While I know more chords, I think that I use most of the open major, minor, and dominant 7th chords pretty regularly. I do use some open minor 7th's, but I tend use barre chords for alot of major and minor 7ths. Most variations of the B and F chords I play the barred shapes more often than the open shapes. I also use a lot of 2nd and 4th variations in the open position, not really so much barred though for some reason.

Another thing I do, as mentioned jokingly above, is figure out various positions where I can get away with just fretting a 1 and 3, or 5th and 7th etc, or even just single notes... and just use open strings to complete the chord. Sort of hybrid's between open chords and abbreviated shapes played further up the neck. Beyond sounding cool, knowing these can sure help you fill out lead lines and solos when playing alone.

[OliveCorduroy]

Hello all,

I would really like to thank all of you for your very helpful comments; they have really opened up my eyes and they have gotten me to think outside of the narrow box that I was living in. In fact, I have probably read all of them 3-4 times. From the advice to learning songs instead of simply doing exercises to how basic open chord shapes can be changed very easily for variations to having a book be recommended, they have all been helpful. I have a pretty good direction to go in now.

Aside from practice, practice, practice, my next challenge is to find a good old bluegrass song/old folk song or two to learn. I recognize that I have my work cut out for me to ever get to performance level for a lot of these songs but it will be fun even at half the tempos at which they are played. My goal would be to find one or two that I really enjoy and that I can grow with.

Thank you so much,
George

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by rstaight

There is a book out called "The Bluegrass Fake Book". It is loaded with old songs that are fun to play. Most are in the key of G which is a main stay in Bluegrass. In the back of the book there are chord charts for banjo, guitar, and mandolin.

George, second hand copies of these two books have made it all the way over to me in Wales. Definitely, you want to concentrate on learning songs to play bluegrass. Billy Strings may be able to do all the fast fiddly bits on guitar but he also knows his songs and how to lay down a solid rhythm for the band. At gigs he will play the occasional instrumental tune - but most of the time he is singing songs, same with Molly Tuttle, Doc Watson, Tony Rice etc etc. Bluegrass is about the singing first and the instruments second.

Originally Posted by rstaight

At the jams I attend we have a gentleman that likes the key of B. The B chord is not a natural for me, could be if I worked on it. But I just play a B7, No one has called me out yet.

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Just capo at 4 and play in G...

B7 is really not a sub for a B major chord, but I suppose in a bluesy tune you might get away with it...

And definitely learn how to use a capo and what it does to the key you are playing. The "rule" within bluegrass is that the singer takes priority - if the singer wants to sing a song in the key of B then it is up to the musicians to follow that. Put on any Bill Munroe album and you find that it moves keys all over the place so each song suits Bill's voice. Even the 1927 recording of "Can the Circle.." by the Carter Family is in Ab.

Rather than learning lots of chords all over the neck you'd be better learning how to move a song from an open G chord root to an open C chord root, or an open D chord root, or an open A chord root etc etc and then use a capo to move to keys beyond as well if necessary.

.

[rstaight]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Just capo at 4 and play in G...

B7 is really not a sub for a B major chord, but I suppose in a bluesy tune you might get away with it...

I do understand how to use a capo. I just don't really care for them even though I own a couple.

I think the next time I hear "Key of B" I will try to go back to my electric days and use mainly bar chords and see how that works. Not really sure of the voicing.

But I really do need to work on open B.

[MC5C]

I'm of the opinion that open B doesn't exist, as a chord, but I'm probably wrong. I do think Bm is an important chord, if only so you can play "The Weight", I play it as a four note chord so not really a barre chord, not an open chord either, just a chord. It's moveable so you also know Cm if you know Bm. I think of open chords as quite specialized, since they aren't moveable forms by themselves, so you have to learn the major, minor, 7th form of them with open strings. Just learn them all, there aren't that many true open chords. I'd say C, D, E, G, A covers it off, that's 15 chords to learn. Then you need to add all the Maj7th chords, they might come up though rarely in a lot of simplified music, then you might as well add the m7b5's and the full diminished chords, and the 9th's and the dam has broken, you need to learn all the chords.

I do have a couple of pieces of somewhat serious advice. One is learn the chords to the songs you want to play. Then, play the songs. Music isn't knowing chords, it's knowing songs, and if I'd had that advice several decades ago I'd know far fewer chords and be a way better musician. Two is learn what makes up chords - the intervals - and where they sit on the guitar. If you play a C chord, you get C on the third fret fifth string and E on the second fret fourth string. That is a third interval, and every where on the guitar if you play one up and one back (except for between the G string and the B string) it's a third interval, and the first building block to a major chord. If you learn the thirds and the fifths, you'll have a start at almost every chord. Third bit of advice is most chords - all the "cowboy chords" for sure - need no more than four strings, and four notes. So feel free to simplify your "grips" down to what you actually need to make the sound you need. You just don't need to play all six strings every single time if you don't feel like it.