Quote:
Originally Posted by laundromatt
as i explained in a previous post, i'm a relative beginner with respect to playing electric. i'm a long time acoustic guy.
when i'm playing acoustic, and i look at a song with the chords, i know what/how to play the chords. for example, if i see a G chord, i know i can play 330023, and this is pretty universal.
my question is - what do i play if i'm playing electric? what is it that i hear on the CDs? is it just power chords? or are there other ways to play chords besides the open and power chords? i suspect that it may depend on the song, but is there a universal chord "set" out there that i can go to for when i'm playing electric?
i just don't know what and how i'm supposed to play the chords when i look at a song sheet, and i have an electric strapped around my neck.
i hope this is clear. if not, just let me know.
thanks!
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Laundromat, you can easily learn some basic expansions of your first position chords. This will allow you to vary tonailty.
I suspect you know the barre E form, since you mention the 'power chord'.
The power chord is actually just the 6th,5th and maybe the 4th string out of that barre E.
Do you know the barre A form? Move the 4th, 3rd and 2nd string notes up a fret and barre at the first fret....Bb chord. I play this chord with the index finger fro the barre and the third finger playing the 4th,3rd, and 2nd string notes. I forego the high E string....kill it with the 3rd digit. The minors, minor 7ths and major 7ths form well in both the barre E and A forms.
Form the first position C chord...01023(high to low) with your 4th finger on the low C. Move this form up one fret and barre the first 3 strings with your index finger. You can do the same thing with the basic G chord.....you might have to forego playing the high E string. That gets to be quite a stretch for some folks.
Other than this, get a chord book. The first one I bought was '44oo Guitar Chords'. There are many forms for any one chord and inversions aplenty for enhancing the tonailty of the music. You might get a scale study book, also, since scalaes are the source for chords and understanding them leads to a better understanding of chords. Good finger exercise as well as mental exercise, too.