# Technique, Theory, Playing Tips and Tricks > Theory, Technique, Tips and Tricks >  Guitar to mandolin chord conversion.

## Carl Clegg

Being pretty new to the mandolin and to playing music in general I'm finding it hard to get hold of Rock mandolin music but I've found a good guitar book and the chords are easy to cross over but there are a few guitar chords that I don't know what to use for mandolin. 
e.g. The F5, G5 and A5. 
What mandolin chords would best match these guitar chords?

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## fiddle5

Guitar chords do not work for mandolin chords. Guitars are tuned different and therefor the finger and chord shapes are different. Spend the 4 bucks and get a proper mandolin chord chart.

Having that said; if you understand your basic triads, they DO translate directly, as do 7ths, minors, 6ths, augmented, ect

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## Jerry Byers

Some guitar chords transpose directly to the mandolin, you just have to invert them.

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## mandolooter

Carl...try this link-
Mandolin Cafe's Chord Finder

I hope this helps some.

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## groveland

> Some guitar chords transpose directly to the mandolin, you just have to invert them.


More specifically: The fingering of the portion of any guitar chord played on the guitar's lower E, A, D and G strings translates to the four mandolin strings G, D, A and E, inverted. #A mouthful, for sure, but true.

Not the best way to come up with mando chords, but it's good to recognize.

The cafe chord link above is a better way to go, and I have a link below that may be of use in the future (build your own).

Also, as pointed out many times, the E string on the mando produces a pretty high, tinkly sound in some chords, so you may want to consider keeping your chording down to 3 select notes played on the G, D and A strings, as some recommend. Depends on the sound and the tune, and the genre. YMMV.

As for F5, G5, and A5 - I guess those are referring to fifths, no third. 'Power chords' some have called them... Those are easy on mando. Here's a thread on the topic: Chords with no thirds

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## jmcgann

G5 is a symbol for an incomplete "root and 5th" or "power chord"

F5= 53xx
G5= 00xx
A5= 2200

They do match the guitar versions and sound great, especially on octave mando!

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9lbShellhamer

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## Don Stiernberg

I always advocate keeping the voicings on guitar and mandolin seperate...you'll save time and be a better doubler by just understanding the chord functions, then finding them on the mandolin, rather than making visual comparisons of the shapes mentally. So a "G5" chord is what John dialed in above, a 
 "power" grip, usually thirdless, and that symbol devised as a timesaver for guitarists...

 Some of my students will make associations like," Oh that chord looks like such and such chord on the guitar, only this finger goes here..." I try to talk them out of that, as ultimately it leads to confusion. Even when the instrument is tuned in fifths like the mandolin(say mandola or tenor banjo) it's still easier to learn where everything is ON EACH INSTRUMENT.

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## Carl Clegg

That explains it. Thanks for the fingering of those chords. They work a treat.

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## Don Stiernberg

So sometimes you might play an F5 on your A5, or a G5 on your F5...you might even play an A5 on your A5 or F5...


 Sorry, I guess I was remembering an old Jethro bit and trying to translate it to these chords which sound like mandolin model numbers. His bit was about soundholes..

 Another confusing voicing is the "2" chord (A2, A add 2, etc)
 but I think this may have been covered in another thread.
 Sure 2 and 9 are the same pitch an octave away, but here again is a guitarist spelling for a polychord sound where rather than hearing the third of a chord, we have that 2, kind of suggesting an A chord and B chord speaking simultaneously.An A9 by contrast is a dominant chord, or A7 with a 9 added on as color..

 Does that sound correct John? Hope so..

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## jmcgann

Yes, maybe the A2 would be called a sus2. Chord symbols are not really standardized and so can have different meanings (like the way you pronounce something in Chinese can get you a friend for life or thrown in jail...)

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## Ted Eschliman

> Yes, maybe the A2 would be called a sus2.


Here and I thought an "A suspension" was the anticipation of getting on Will Kimble's waiting list.

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## Peter Hackman

> Guitar chords do not work for mandolin chords. Guitars are tuned different and therefor the finger and chord shapes are different. Spend the 4 bucks and get a proper mandolin chord chart.
> 
> Having that said; if you understand your basic triads, they DO translate directly, as do 7ths, minors, 6ths, augmented, ect


Cheaper, and more rewarding:
work out the chords yourself. That's what I did when learning
(in a far distant time when there were NO instructional videos,
no chord charts, hardly any books, NOT EVEN MANDOLIN CAPOS!)-
just looked at the fretboard and saw where the notes were, then
fooled around a bit, trying, listening.

It's important to remember, that chords are *made
up of notes* and that these notes are *extracted from scales*.
You got to know which notes are in the chords in order to understand
their relationship, when not graphically clear from their appearance
on the fretboard.

Don't put too many notes into your chords and don't forget to listen!
Three notes are usually enough.
According to Hackman's Theorem, rhythmically and harmonically
the mandolin comes on top of everything else.

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