# General Mandolin Topics > General Mandolin Discussions >  The science behind constructing chords?

## TheBlindBard

Hello, all
I've spent a long while doing individual notes on the mandolin, because originally, I was looking to get into traditional irish music. One bit of learning lead to another and now I am experimenting with the blues, which is mostly improv. A friend sent me a video a while back of David Grisman playing Jazz mandolin. I really liked what I heard. After doing a bit of researching, Jazz uses chords.
I know how to do a movable chord shape that looks like a J, with 3 notes, but I'm rather curious: What other chord shapes are there
What is required to make a chord?
How do you go about making the different types of chords?

Sorry for all of the questions, this is just an area I really haven't explored or looked into until now and I've been curious about it for a while now.
Thanks in advanced for the replies!  :Smile:

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## Mark Robertson-Tessi

A chord is a set of 3 or more different notes played together.  THe most common chord type is the major chord.  For example, 224x is an A major chord (that's fret positions on GDAE strings, x means don't play that string).  There is also the minor chord (223x is an A minor), the dominant 7th chord (254x is A7), and lots of others.  There are lots of ways you can put the three notes together, which means there are lots of ways to play any chord.  Here's a couple of different chords, all of which are A major:
224x
2240
2245
6200
9779
etc.

One way to go about making the different chords is to get a mandolin chord chart.  Then you can look up the chord you need and it will give you one or more choices for how to play it.  Another way is to study the science behind constructing chords, aka music theory.  Then, you can construct chords by knowing what the chord symbol means.

Since this is your first entry into chords, I'd start with a chord chart.  There's one on the cafe:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/chords/ch.pl
and lots online and lots of books, too.

Start putting chords together, hear how they sound, use your ear to understand them.

Cheers
MRT

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## Pete Martin

A lot about chording in Jazz (called "comping") depends on the Jazz era you want to play and what type of voicings you want to use.  Their are some very useful shapes/voicings for each era.  Often a shape is 2 or more different chords (as the notes are the same, an example is G6 [G B D E] and Em7 [E G B D]).  As the mandolin is not a common Jazz instrument, many of us borrow sounds from piano and guitar, the 2 common Jazz chording instruments.

You can download my book "Jazz Chording for Mandolin" free at either website listed below. That will show many voicings from different Jazz eras.

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Pasha Alden, 

rb3868

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## Jim Garber

I know that Music Theory for the Modern Mandolin by Thomas Ohmsen is the best book specifically for mandolin. It is discussed in *this thread*. I don't know how you can access it without sight since it has many chord charts. I am sure that there are many excellent general music theory books, perhaps some even available on audio. 

Perhaps the very best would be to take a theory class or some lessons with teacher well versed in theory. Then again, re-reading your original post, perhaps you just need to, one by one, pick keys and learn the various chord forms in that key. I know there are prob some good exercises in Pete Martin's book mentioned above and on Ted E's site *jazzmando.com*.

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## Beanzy

I always recommend the Frank Geiger free PDF book as it's so intuitive.

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Dobe, 

Goodness, 

Killian King

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## Jim Garber

> I always recommend the Frank Geiger free PDF book as it's so intuitive.


Can't seem to connect to that link, Eoin.

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Beanzy

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## stevedenver

you have broached a topic thats really close to a few semesters in music school

to make things simple (i hope) 
to get you started 
and hoping this is intelligible 

i would learn 4 basic chord forms
major
minor
seventh (this means a dominant seventh-there are other seventh chords, such as minor seventh, major seventh, etc-but lets start simply) 
diminshed 

chords are built on notes from the scale
the key of c 
would be as follows, no sharps or flats, 
C D  E F  G A B C
this is your standard scale, do re me fa so la ti do

the major scale is built 
as follows:
first a whole step is two frets space 
a half step is one fret

a major scale has the following distance between notes, in this order
whole step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step
or from the first note you finger (any note)
home, two frets, two frets, one fret,  two frets, two frets, one fret  

an important tool is that theses notes, in the order i listed above CDEFGABC)
are given a number equivalent
C being called or referred to as one
D being two
E being three 
and so on 

so, 
a major triad (three note) chord would be C E and G
in numbers this corresponds to 1, 3, 5
minor would be 1, flat three, 5, 
C Eb(flat) G-you flat a note by lowering it a single fret space on the finger board (ie toward the nut) 
a dominant seventh would be
1, 3, 5, flat seven

a diminshed chord would be
1 flat 3 flat 5 flat 7

this topic is beyond what i can explain here, but a place to start is understanding 
first to recognize the sound of each type of chord

and a simple understanding of how they are built

often, a most simply, there is a relationship of either minor thirds or major thirds
for example 
a c major is a major third (three steps in the scale, that is C to E, with a minor third on top, that is  E to G)

the number system  above works for any key

i dont know if you can see at all, but i would be happy to send you , or post, fingerings for a few forms of each type of chord-there are many ways to make chords

for example i said a major chord is 1 3 5, C E G , for example
however you can also make a C  chord, by changing the order of these notes , for example 3-5-1, or  E G C
this helps with fingerings -this change in order is called an inversion

too much i am certain, but i hope it helps

another shape, a major, is leaving the two middle strings open and ringing, and putting a finger on the second fret of the high E string, your ring finger, and your middle finger on the second fret the low G string-this chord is a D, or also might be called called D major -it is movable-you must bar the open strings when you move it

the notes in this D, called sometimes an open  D major because of the open strings, are
in order from the fat string to the thin, A, D, A, and F sharp 
a D major chord is made up of the following notes D, F sharp, A
so you have all the notes that give this chord the D major sound, and you have two A notes in the open D chord form I described


so, going back to the C scale
and remembering that there is a whole step between C and D, and a whole step between D and E
if you move this open D shape up two frets, you will play an E major chord-dont forget to bar the two middle strings-i use my index finger to cover both middle strings-yes its hard at first

to make the open D a minor open D, move your finger , on the e string one fret toward the nut
that is your chord will now be G string at the second fret, two middle strings open and ringing, and the e string fretted at the first fret

why is this a D minor? because you have lowered the F sharp to an F, that is , in the D, F sharp, the bottom major is now a minor third , that is instead of D to F shapr, it is now D to F natural

-thats how you change a major chord to a minor chord

using your J chord shape, to make a minor, move your index finger one fret towards the nut

going back to your original J chord shape
move your ring finger two frets toward the nut
now you will hear a dominant seventh
yes i know this is a bitch-so change the position of you fingers , that is switch your middle and ring fingers - you will be making a triangle shape, with you index finger as the top of the triangle, toward the nut

whew
if this helps
we'll do more another time 
best wishes 
stevedenver

i hope someone may be able to be more succinct , and help you too

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Dobe, 

Jim, 

mandolinlee

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## TheBlindBard

Thank you very much for the descriptions, that helped me alot, I'll actually have to bust out my mandolin and play around with that.
Not to mention re-read that a dozen times or so :D
Thanks, I appreciate the help.

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## TheBlindBard

I know how the major scale works. I used to know the minor, but can't remember it exactly. I also know a blues scale.

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## TheBlindBard

If you could send me examples of how each of the chord types are made, and possibly describe how to make movible chord shapes of these types, it'd help. I'm just generally trying to get an idea of how they work. I was a bit confused, but, am gonna re-read it a couple times.
I"ve mostly been playing with single notes, so, that may be part of my confusion.

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## foldedpath

Since I don't think it's been mentioned yet, I'll recommend the second volume in Mike Marshall's "Mandolin Fundamentals for All Players - Vol. 2, Chords and Rhythm Studies."

http://www.homespuntapes.com/Instruc...-players-dvd-2

Here's a sample:



What he does here, isn't something that you can use everywhere. Some of the chord shapes are awkward, or don't "flow" in the context of an actual tune in a given key. But it's a nice approach to the fretboard (IMO). It gives you a starting point on building chords from scratch, from only a few memorized hand positions.

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Dobe

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## Dobe

Anyone ever try one of those "Geiger Tone Control Amplifiers at the bottom of the Frank Geiger free PDF book link ?  Looks interesting.

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## stevedenver

i thought id try to provide a few more chords
this will provide seven ways in which to play the c major chord only
this will be enough for you to chew on and memorize, i hope,  until i get another chance to post 

the beauty of knowing these , is that it will allow you to move less on the fretboard sometimes, and each form has its own color-so you all can get artsy-just joking 


so here goes
i will list numbers, in succession.  The first number I list will be for the fret on the G string (the thickest strings), second for fret on the D string etc.  Some are only three notes on three strings, some will be  four notes on four strings.  All are c major.  All are movable.  That is, each time you learn one of these seven inversions, by sliding it up or down the fret board, you can play the other chords, such a C sharp, etc

while i list these as inversions, take that with a grain of salt, as they are really different shapes or chord forms, and not always, technically, a true inversion-i just use that so you can come back and keep your place when you hear this stuff

first position non inverted is : five, two, three-note this is what i thought bard referred to as the J shape 
inversion two is five, five, seven, eight
inversion three is nine, five, three
inversion four is nine, ten, ten
inversion six is twelve, ten, seven, eight-this form is the chop chord-learn it-its tough until your fingers get strong-dont over do it or strain-allow your fingers and pinky to build strength over time

inversion seven is twelve, ten, ten, twelve (note this is the same shape as the open D chord previously mentioned)
the last chord, again not an inversion, but played an octave higher is : twelve , fourteen, , fifteen

so now you have a variety of c chords, in different positions on the fret board 

the rest of this post changes these inversions into minor chords
however, i would stop here, and try to learn these forms, so that you can play all of them 
then proceed to the next part below-as knowing the major forms will make learning all the minors a five minute job
trust me and stop now and come back




all of the chords i gave above, can be made into C minor by moving one finger 
a c minor chord is a one, flat three, five, or C, E flat, and G
again i shall provide you with the same, that is fret on the G string first, D string second, and so on, but now listing the flattened third note to make each form a minor C chord

five, one , three

five, five, six, eight

eight, five, three

eight, ten, ten
 twelve, ten, six, eight-yes this one's a bitch

twelve, ten, ten, eleven, 

twelve, thirteen, fifteen

ill be back soon with a few more shapes for you, bard and vanilla 
the dominant seventh , and hopefully diminshed too
let me know how im doing or if i have been unclear

let me know too if you need to know which fingers to use
the time in which i can edit is limited -then the post is locked
so likely i will need to do a separate post for fingerings, but im hoping you find what is comfortable with a few tries and this wont be needed.

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## stevedenver

one more for vanilla
i will provide you with twelve basic jazz chords for mando
neat and quick-all are movable-so , you guys now have a huge chord arsenal, compared to many players

again using numbers for frets, starting with the thick G strings

C major seventh is five, two, two, three

C sharp diminished seventh is three, two, four, three

an A minor seventh is two, two, three, three

a B flat major sixth is three, three, five , dead

D minor seventh is five, three, five, dead

G seventh is four, three, five, dead

another G seventh is dead , three, two, three-my favorite-easy on the fingers -adds a bit of grit  

C ninth is three , two, five, three

G major sixth is four, two, five, three

D seventh is five, four, five, dead-this is similar the my favorite G 7-and if you move this D seventh toward the nut, or down the scale, two frets, you have a C seventh -so this allows you to play G 7, C7 and D7 all using the same little triangle form, and it has a nice strong seventh sound,  that tension or leading sound that wants to resolve to the root, or one, of the key, that is say in C , playing a G7 tells the listener youre going to the C to resolve that tension

F major seventh is a bitch-it is five, three, seven, five

D augmented is three, four, five, dead-augmented means you raise the one three five major to a one three sharp five 

and heres a graduate level chord to make you think
C thirteen minor 9 is three, two, four, five

so what is a C thirteen minor nine, you curse?
for the Key of C 
using our c major scale, that is, C,D,E, F, and so on
or 1,2,3,4,

if we count past eight, that is high C, or the octave-that would be doe, rey , me so forth to high the doe
we then have nine, ten, eleven twelve, thirteen-
nine would be a D, the same as a two, ten is E, the same as a three, eleven is F, twelve is G, and so on-just an octave higher-

so a C thirteen minor nine, in numbers 
is one, three, five , flat seven, flat nine, thirteen
in actual notes 
C, E, G, B flat, D flat, A

the notes in order i described are 
b flat, which is the same as the A sharp-this is known as an enharmonic equivalent
E
c sharp or D flat
and on the top e string an A

so in this C thirteen minor nine, the note numbers youre playing are, in order 
the flat seven, the three, the minor nine, and the 13
see, no one , no five note 
yet you can still tell its a C thirteen minor 9 




why do they use these higher numbers if the notes are the same-because is gives the chord a different color-it tells you to use , say , the high A as the thirteen instead of the low A 

and i threw this in because you will use these more complex chords somewhat frequently in jazz
it doesnt mean you must use them, but, you will have an idea on how they are constructed

so 
heres the big point of this shorter post,

and a hard one to swallow if you wish to move into jazz

it will help you to learn where every note is , by name, on each string, on the fretboard


when i refer to the terms up and down, it is always in the direction of the musical scale, higher notes move up, lower note move down-has nothing to do with ceiling or floor and the like 


remember that your strings are a fifth apart going upwards on the strings, that is G string to E string, 
but a fourth apart headed down from E string to the G string-this should help you with seeking adjacent notes-and chords you need

for example if you play the fifth fret on the A string, which is a D note -the fifth fret note on the E string is an A, and the fifth fretted note on the D string is a G, 
D to A is a fifth interval
D to G is a fourth interval 


so when you need a c major, you will know that you need a C E and G to build such a chord , and youll know where those notes are, and which note is which-not just the form but what notes , on which string, makes up that chord form

i am sorry to try to give you things so piecemeal
it is a huge topic for the sighted, and more so when so many of the resources, such as chord charts,  dont translate well

ill try to give you bits and pieces, rather than an orderly set of building blocks, and hopefully , youll be able to glean enough to get by for the time

remember too that while jazz chords are unique, if you dont know a chord, you can always try to play something simpler, like a simple minor or major, without the ninths, thirteenths etc,  and hope its close enough-even if far less articulate in musical color , or even outlining the melody-you must walk before you run, and you must know how to fake it-this is one way

for mando and guitar, since i play jazz a bit, i simply try to remember more common chord shapes, 
using the lower three or top three strings so that i can have chords that are , say a fifth or fourth apart on the scale, and not be too far away, and needing large hand movements

an example on mandolin is the little triangle shape I mentioned for G 7, move the entire from over sideways from the top three thrings to the bottom three strings and you have a C 7-move the C7 up two frets and you have D7-nice, close, tight, easy to remember.

one chord shape or form and you can play a whole bunch of songs

as a final bit for food for thought, and one worth noting
chords get thier real color from the third and seventh notes-using these notes, more than any other, you can tell if its a minor or major, diminshed , dominant, and the like


a G 7 is one, three, five, flat seven
the F, or seven note , in the key of G, is sharp
so a flat seven for the G is actually an F natural, that is you flat the F sharp by lowering it one fret

in the G7 triangle chord form, you have a G, or one,  on the top, or E string, 
on the A string you are playing the B, the third 
and on the D string, you are playing the flat seventh-even though in the G scale it would be F  natural, within the scale , it is in fact flatted , because it otherwise would be an F sharp 

notice, you are not playing a five at all-still sounds great and like a seventh
notice, you are playing an inversion, literally 7-3-1-



while the one and five are sweet, and harmonious, and great for folk and rock , country, and the like

if you play a third and seventh , with another instrument playing the basic chord behind , it has a very strong coloring, and may be all you need to use-jazz players do this a lot 

less so if you are playing and singing with the mandolin and you need to have that one sound, or as it is also called root -within the chord

or a tonic as a one is called within the key scale

a two note chord is called a diad, a three note chord a triad

i will try to give you more jazz chords next post
in an orderly fashion

its time for an aspirin for you guys ill bet
but ithought id throw these out just so you can get started, as  i had a request

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## terzinator

Don Julin's got a vid and a pdf that's pretty cool:

"324 chords in under 4 minutes"

http://www.donjulin.com/Resources/En...4_Minutes.html

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## stevedenver

great video
it is cool
great for ear training to hear the sounds
but man hes rolling fast-and i know those chords-and i can barely think them as fast as hes showing them

try learning those with sound on and the screen off
which is why i have the lengthy posts so bard and vanilla can hear, over and over, what i am describing, as my posts are trying to bypass the need for visual chord charts

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## TheBlindBard

Thank you very much for describing all of those-- in some of those, there were only a couple numbers-- is tat still from the G string? or does it move?
Thank you for taking the time to describe all of those, though :Smile:

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## stevedenver

all were either three of four note chords.
all were from a start point on the G string.

If the G string is not to be sounded, the first term i use is dead, followed by the fret numbers on the subsequent strings. 

if a string is not to be sounded, i used the term dead, or earlier, simply recited three notes, from the G string, implying that the top or E string was not to be sounded.

there are a couple of chord descriptions , where i had already provided the form, like the G7 triangle, and then described which notes , like the one the three and the five, occurred on which string.  This may have been confusing. 

But, not to worry, as those described forms were given elsewhere and hopefully more clearly above, so i think you are not missing anything.


I hope this helps to clarify things, Bard.

I know my posts were long, but i hope you can listen several times.  I was trying to build a foundation and my line of thought carried on a bit.

I appreciate the feedback.  Please feel free to criticize or suggest things that will help you.  Things that i may not realize as sighted.

In the future I shall try to have shorter chapters, to facilitate aural review.

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## EdHanrahan

Wow...  What a HUGE amount of relevant info!

My only reservation in reading much of the above is that, for better or worse, it's geared toward our specific instrument.  And because mandolins can play only 4 notes at a time, there is some, uhmm, "instrument-specific dialect" that occurs; it seems to sound like universal truth, but is not.

The fact is that the melody of most music (across most if not all genres) usually implies, and often specifically outlines, the tonality of the underlying "chord".  So even if a piece of music _seems_ to have no chord accompaniment, the "chords" are still there and registering in the listener's head, even if they are only selected important notes from within the melody.  (I almost said something like "key notes" or "major notes", but that would imply more than I'm trying to say).  

So if we sometimes leave notes out of our mandolin chords, it doesn't mean that the notes are NOT included in that chord. It usually means that the missing notes are either:
- being covered by another player in the group, and/or,
- were previously stated by our own progression thru the music and persist in the listener's perception, and/or,
- are implied by the general tonality of the piece and thus _still_ persist in the listener's perception.

Let me suggest a more "universal" approach to chords, one that I took after decades of guitar and just before getting into mandolin:  *The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory* is a surprisingly easy read and will sidestep much of the vagueness that can result from studying a single specific instrument.  (I suspect that Music Theory For Dummies, if it exists, is of equal quality based on my experience w/ other topics).

On the other hand, both Mike Marshall's and Sam Bush's 2-DVD instructional sets on Homespun are excellent and will give lots of info on understanding chords and their fingering on the mandolin.

When I first read the "science" part of the topic, I expected to be hearing about harmonics & overtones, but we'll leave that ...........

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## TheBlindBard

Over the next couple weeks, I'm going to be working on those chords hopefully. I wsa having alot of trouble actually reaching the notes and stretching my fingers. I'm looking to get into jazz a little, I rather like the sound of it. That uses lot of chords, or single notes, akin to traditional Irish music?
I can do fairlywell with single notes, but, I'll be working on chords, hopefully strengthen that bit of my playing :Smile: 
Thank you for all of the help. You've done a great job describing and have given me a truely valuable resource to look back upon.

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## Wolfmanbob

Well you got a whole course of study from the contributers above, some very comprehensive info. What you should see from this, is that chords are not just "shapes" that we learn. They are concepts that need to be understaood on both a theoretical and earwise-visceral level. Once you really have this understanding you can apply it meaningfully in a way that enables you to improvise and collaborate with others rather than just learning the shapes. It's really like the difference between a parrot imitating language, and a poet expressing his thoughts. Good luck...it takes years.

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## EdHanrahan

Just a note of, uhmm, ...

When I came storming into this _very_ productive conversation two days ago, I sure as heck didn't mean to stomp on anyone's ideas and REALLY didn't mean to supress further detailed discussion.  I was just hoping to inform to the best of my (admittedly limited!) ability.  I apologize to anyone who took my post as heavy-handed because that's the way it seemed to me when I came back a day later, especially since discussion was cut off for a time.  Sorry about that.  And more specifically...

Steve Denver:  The amount of thought and effort that you put in here is commendable, admirable, and of _great_ benefit to the community.  *Please* don't let my babbling slow you down!  I promise to be gentler next time.

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## Goodness

Now THIS is fantastic. This is the 1st thread that I've subscribed to on the forum. 

stevedenver - Thanks so much for taking the time to deliver such a wealth of information in such a useful and understandable way.

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## stevedenver

guys you make me humble
and no toes were stepped upon, i assure you

just left some time for these to be revisited a few times and more fully digested by bard and vannilla


i am so ignorant compared to so many
regarding theory...well not JUST theory.....LOL

and i know its mando specific, but i wanted to help have an immediately useable selection of chords, even if the exact theory isnt there -so songs can be played right now

thanks for the kind words
i will be back-im swamped at the office right now

ed jump in ...
i just tried to keep things really simple for a start
and let some of this stuff sink in,


when i return, i thought id try to list the number composites of chord types, the more common, 
ie major 1-3-5
minor 1 flat 3 -five etc

and slash chords, (not to play on mando, but to know what they are and mean when they show up in a chart)

and perhaps a song exercise with movable chord forms

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## rb3868

> A lot about chording in Jazz (called "comping") depends on the Jazz era you want to play and what type of voicings you want to use.  Their are some very useful shapes/voicings for each era.  Often a shape is 2 or more different chords (as the notes are the same, an example is G6 [G B D E] and Em7 [E G B D]).  As the mandolin is not a common Jazz instrument, many of us borrow sounds from piano and guitar, the 2 common Jazz chording instruments.
> 
> You can download my book "Jazz Chording for Mandolin" free at either website listed below. That will show many voicings from different Jazz eras.


Why is The Mandolin Cafe so great???

guys like Pete doing stuff like this

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## Dr H

There's a lot of very good information posted in this thread, but much of it takes an approach that, from my point of view, is overlly complex.

If you are serious about learning the _science_ of constructing chords, then the branch of music theory you need to start with is *scales*.  Because every flavor of chord is constructed from certain specific scale-tones, and knowing where those tones fall in the scale tells you a lot about how various chords relate to each other.

To give just a basic example, the simplest major chord -- three notes -- is _always_ made up of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the major scale, in whatever key you want the chord to be in.  Those three pitches may be stacked in different orders -- called "inversions" -- and you may have more than one of any of them, even in different octaves -- called "doubling" -- but at least one instance of all three *must* be there in order to have a major chord.

Learning "movable" chord shapes is a useful technical tool, but it really doesn't tell you anything about which chord to use when, or which chord leads to which other chord in a given tune.  And just learning a bunch of "shapes" is a brute-force approach, requiring a lot more memorization than actually learning the theory.  Learning the scales and how chords come from them will allow you to create whatever chord you need, whenever you need it -- even it's a shape you've never played before.

Scales, man, scales.

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## Mike Bunting

> There's a lot of very good information posted in this thread, but much of it takes an approach that, from my point of view, is overlly complex.
> 
> If you are serious about learning the _science_ of constructing chords, then the branch of music theory you need to start with is *scales*.  Because every flavor of chord is constructed from certain specific scale-tones, and knowing where those tones fall in the scale tells you a lot about how various chords relate to each other.
> 
> To give just a basic example, the simplest major chord -- three notes -- is _always_ made up of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the major scale, in whatever key you want the chord to be in.  Those three pitches may be stacked in different orders -- called "inversions" -- and you may have more than one of any of them, even in different octaves -- called "doubling" -- but at least one instance of all three *must* be there in order to have a major chord.
> 
> Learning "movable" chord shapes is a useful technical tool, but it really doesn't tell you anything about which chord to use when, or which chord leads to which other chord in a given tune.  And just learning a bunch of "shapes" is a brute-force approach, requiring a lot more memorization than actually learning the theory.  Learning the scales and how chords come from them will allow you to create whatever chord you need, whenever you need it -- even it's a shape you've never played before.
> 
> Scales, man, scales.


Agree, 110%!

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## JeffD

I am easily intimidated, and I don't delay gratification very easily. So what I would do? I would grab three chords from Don's 324. Three. Take a C and F and a G that are easy move around between. With those three, moving them up and down the neck, I am immediately ready to play anything that uses I, IV and V chords, in any key. Which is a lot of music. That will take you a huge long way down the road having a lot of fun before you ever have to learn anything else. But of course you want to learn more so take the G and make it G7. Now you can take on the world.

OK its not jazz, but in terms of every day being able to play with people, pick these three or four and get them under your fingers, and without trying to understand too much all at once, you can have tons of fun. And while having fun you can learn the other chords and inversions and the theory and what the heck sus means.

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stevedenver

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## Dr H

> I am easily intimidated, and I don't delay gratification very easily. So what I would do? I would grab three chords from Don's 324. Three. Take a C and F and a G that are easy move around between. With those three, moving them up and down the neck, I am immediately ready to play anything that uses I, IV and V chords, in any key. Which is a lot of music. That will take you a huge long way down the road having a lot of fun before you ever have to learn anything else. But of course you want to learn more so take the G and make it G7. Now you can take on the world.
> 
> OK its not jazz, but in terms of every day being able to play with people, pick these three or four and get them under your fingers, and without trying to understand too much all at once, you can have tons of fun. And while having fun you can learn the other chords and inversions and the theory and what the heck sus means.


Sure, that's fine up to a point.  And I agree, you can do that and have a lot of fun -- although it doesn't really address the OP question concerning the _science_ behind constructing chords.  When you want to play something in Gb and the only Gb chord you know is on the 11th fret, you might start thinking about expanding beyond the confines of that approach.

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## stevedenver

Here's some more information. 
I shall provide you with several forms. Technically these are inversions of the same chord.
You need not learn all, but a few will help you find changes close to each other and requires shifting up and down the board less.
first inversion would be three as the lowest note, second inversion would be fifth as lowest note, just so you know the correct term.



first example -root on top
two identical forms , using different strings 

as i mentioned , in a major chord there is the one, three, and five, 
or also called root , three, five

the root is also the name of the chord, ie D, E, G sharp

here are two forms with the root on the top ie the highest note in the chord
here are the fingerings, and i recite the fret numbers so you can get the basic form shape

dead, one, three, four

another form, moved over 

one, three, four, dead 

these are movable, and so long as you know the note on the higest fretted string , you know the chord

in my first shape, the high note is a G sharp, that is four frets up on the E string
if you move this shape up one fret, it is an A, move one more fret up , it becomes an A sharp

For the second shape, again same relative shape, but shifted over sideways, 

The top note, the root, is C sharp. 
If you move this shape up two frets, you would have D sharp.


Now ill list chords with the third on the top.

First shape-i again refer to frets, and dead means do not play the dead string

dead, two , two, four

The chord letter name is now the lowest note in this form.
So, in the this first form example of third on top, the lowest note is an E.

This form is also movable.

The second form, 
third on top:
is
two, two, four, dead

The lowest note is an A, so this would be an A major chord.


Finally, fifth on top.

The chord letter name is the middle note in these forms.
First form, fifth on top: 
dead, two, three, three.
The chord name is C.

Second form , fifth on top:
two, three, three, dead.
The chord name is F, or F major since the middle note, on the D string is an F.

Now go back and change each form to a minor, try to hear the third, and 
remember that to change the major forms to a minor, you only need to move the finger on the note lower one fret.

Every one of these forms is movable, and since there is the issue of sight, i dont know how to help you.  I suggest counting fret by fret up on the respective root string , hearing the root note, and then try to get muscle memory for knowing the distance to that note.  As  a sighted person, I used to rely on fret board markers. I don't any longer, and since i play guitar and bass and mando, I sometimes simply dont get it spot on, unless Ive been working it a bit, ie playing for twenty or more minutes, to get that muscle memory.  This why i suggest, respectfully, and not really knowing, that you first find the right root, play it, remember it, and practice getting your finger to it in one movement, then using that finger as an anchor, plop down the form.

These three finger chords are the stuff for jazz, for a starter.

More next time.

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## stevedenver

And now, sevenths

root on top -you should remember this, its favorite of mine.
form one:
dead, three, two, three
form two:
three, two, three, dead


now third on top
form two :
dead, one, three, five
or
one, three, five, dead

now fifth on top
form three:
dead, two, one, three
or
two, one, three, dead

and of course, 
seventh on the top

dead, one, three, two
this is a G sharp seventh chjord, why?
because we use the seventh on top to answer, in what key scale is the seventh degree of the scale , ie the seventh note in the scale an F sharp 

NOTE
remember that in a seventh chord, that is using the notes one, three, five, flat seven, 
the seventh degree in a dominant seventh chord is flatted, 
so we are actually playing two frets below the key signature when the seven is on the top, in these forms  

or
the other sister form 
one, three, two, dead

again these are movable

hope this helps
next time, i will try to round things out with sixths or flat five flat seven chords, bothe used frequently in jazz


what im trying to do here is help you drive the car without knowing how everything works in the car.
we will get there, but 
id rather help you play songs 
than not

if you guys, bard and vanilla especially,  are still using this thread and want me to continue please give me some indication.
steve

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## stevedenver

And now, duplicate mistake post removed!

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