Indie Chord Voicings

[Downsman]

Hi

I have a question for those of you who are more into playing what's generally called Indie music. Music associated with the guitar-based bands that play places like Glastonbury or the Reading and Leeds festivals.

Those festivals get televised by the BBC here and I enjoy playing along, trying to figure out songs on the fly that I haven't heard before. Can do that reasonably well with kind of single note lead playing, and from that can work out the key and what maj/min chords are in that key. But I'm now wondering what kind of voicings for those chords you might expect to find in this genre.

So for example, with Johnny Marr he loves his Major 7th chords (along with billions of other highly creative ones with open strings further down the neck). Anyone else have favourite go to chord voicings they could share that would fit?

 

[Skyhook]

Hi

I have a question for those of you who are more into playing what's generally called Indie music. Music associated with the guitar-based bands that play places like Glastonbury or the Reading and Leeds festivals.

Those festivals get televised by the BBC here and I enjoy playing along, trying to figure out songs on the fly that I haven't heard before. Can do that reasonably well with kind of single note lead playing, and from that can work out the key and what maj/min chords are in that key. But I'm now wondering what kind of voicings for those chords you might expect to find in this genre.

So for example, with Johnny Marr he loves his Major 7th chords (along with billions of other highly creative ones with open strings further down the neck). Anyone else have favourite go to chord voicings they could share that would fit?

Ok... look at this thing:

I swear by and blatantly over-use the second one from the left.
I find it very useful for lots of stuff.
Try it on for size!

 

[richiek65]

Ok... look at this thing:

I swear by and blatantly over-use the second one from the left.
I find it very useful for lots of stuff.
Try it on for size!

If you can track down a song called High Times for the Poor by Matt Finish, that chord is all over it

Edit: https://peterspowerpop.wordpress.com/2010/08/14/song-of-the-day-matt-finish-high-times-for-the-poor/

 

[ahiddentableau]

Maybe this isn't a super helpful thing to point out, but I think it's worth saying that most indie stuff is simple. A lot of barre chords and open chords. For every Marr there're a dozen guys who hardly ever stray from the basics. Of the chords that aren't barre and open that come up a fair bit, I think sus2 and sus4 are pretty common, as is taking an open or barre chord and moving the root up or down to create a hybrid chord (e.g. D/F# 2X0232). But that's about as complicated as it gets for most of it.

 

[Downsman]

Ok... look at this thing:

I swear by and blatantly over-use the second one from the left.
I find it very useful for lots of stuff.
Try it on for size!

Thanks for that, just tried it out and found if treating that Dominant 13th as the I chord, it resolves nicely into a Major 7th IV chord. What kind of progressions do you tend to use it in?

 

[Downsman]

Maybe this isn't a super helpful thing to point out, but I think it's worth saying that most indie stuff is simple. A lot of barre chords and open chords. For every Marr there're a dozen guys who hardly ever stray from the basics. Of the chords that aren't barre and open that come up a fair bit, I think sus2 and sus4 are pretty common, as is taking an open or barre chord and moving the root up or down to create a hybrid chord (e.g. D/F# 2X0232). But that's about as complicated as it gets for most of it.

I agree, I'm not necessarily looking for complicated chords, just the ones that are most likely going to fit with what the various indie bands I'm listening to are playing. Same way power chords tend to go with punk/grunge, 7th chords with blues, double stops with early rock n roll/rockabilly etc. While trying to play along live I've just been playing basic major/minor chords and I'm just exploring ways to jazz that up a bit (in a non-Jazz way). I do listen to a lot of Johnny Marr though, where that standard barre chord approach doesn't get me very close to what he's doing

 

[Skyhook]

Thanks for that, just tried it out and found if treating that Dominant 13th as the I chord, it resolves nicely into a Major 7th IV chord. What kind of progressions do you tend to use it in?

Sorry for the late answer. I needed to find a tab editor and find time to use it before replying.

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As for where I tend to use the Dom13 chord; I'll go with a food analogy.
I tend to use it as a spice more than an ingredient but I use that spice a lot.
I'll show you some of the usual stuff I do with it. Sorry for the crappy tabs.
Also: When I talk about "sweeping up" I mean towards higher notes.

The sudden sweep (this is supposed to be a fast sweep, not a standard arpeggio):
Sweep down on the 12th fret using your index finger and right back up in the actual chord shape.

E|--12-------------------------------------14--
B|------12-----------------------------14------
G|----------12---------------------13----------
D|--------------12-------------12--------------
A|------------------12------x------------------
E|----------------------12---------------------

Some more fun with sweeps:
A fast sweep down with the index finger like in the previous figure but this time punctuated with the chord
rather than an upward sweep. Yes, the extra root note the 2nd time around is supposed to be there.

E|--12----------------------14--12--------------------------14--
B|------12------------------14------12----------------------14--
G|----------12--------------13----------12------------------13--
D|--------------12----------12--------------12--------------12--
A|------------------12------x-------------------12----------x---
E|----------------------12--12----------------------12--12--12--

Jazzy blues ending part 1:
Play this with a pronounced ritardando throughout.

E|--------------------------------8--7--
B|--------------------------------8--7--
G|--7b8--7--5---------------------7--6--
D|-------------7--5---------------6--5--
A|-------------------7--6--5--4v--x--x--
E|--------------------------------6--5--

Jazzy blues ending part 2:
Same ritardando schtick here and keep the notes on the E-string as legato as possible.
The final chord benefits from being lazily "swept up" rather than "chorded".

E|------------------------------------------17--
B|------------------------------------------17--
G|--5b6--5--3-------------------------------16--
D|-------------5--3-------------------------15--
A|-------------------5--4--3----------------x---
E|----------------------------6b7--3--3/15--15--

Walking bass:
Just hold the chord shape 100% of the time for this one.
Make sure the notes on the E-string are as legato as you can make them and make the chords a very short staccato.

E|-----11--------9--------7--------9--------
B|-----11--------9--------7--------9--------
G|-----10--------8--------6--------8--------
D|-----9---------7--------5--------7--------
A|-----x---------x--------x--------x--------
E|--9------8--7-----6--5-----6--7-----7--8--

 

[Skyhook]

I agree, I'm not necessarily looking for complicated chords

Oh dang... so this one's right out then?

 

[klasaine]

When I hear the term 'Indie' chord voicings I def don't think dom 13th (Jazz) chords.
More sus, add9, add2, m11 and open string type voicings.

Such as ...

Bm11 - X20220
Dsus2 - X57755
Fadd9 - 1X301X
Gadd9 - x 10 7 7 10 7
Aadd2 - 577600
Cmaj7 - 8 10 10 9 0 0
Fmaj7 - XX7560
F#7sus4 - 244300
Am9 - X07500
Em9 - 020032
Etc.

 

[Downsman]

When I hear the term 'Indie' chord voicings I def don't think dom 13th (Jazz) chords.
More sus, add9, add2, m11 and open string type voicings.

Such as ...

Bm11 - X20220
Dsus2 - X57755
Fadd9 - 1X301X
Gadd9 - x 10 7 7 10 7
Aadd2 - 577600
Cmaj7 - 8 10 10 9 0 0
Fmaj7 - XX7560
F#7sus4 - 244300
Am9 - X07500
Em9 - 020032
Etc.

Those are great, thank you. They're definitely the type of chords that show why Johnny Marr uses a capo so much with all those open strings ringing out. I love the sound of those. Problem is I never know what to call them if I'm just messing about trying stuff, to more easily know where they can be swapped into a progression, so these examples really help.