Mandolin "L" Chords

[LEBS]

I am a beginning mandolin player. I participated in a tutorial at a recent bluegrass festival. The teacher talked about "L" chords. Can anyone tell me where I might find a printable chord chart with these chords?

[mandopete]

I think the term "L" chord might refer to a basic chord shape that is based up on the open G chord (0-0-2-3). If you picture this as a barre chord you can move it up and down the neck in closed position. I use 1-1-3-4 for an Ab and so on and so forth. I like to use this chord as opposed to bluegrass "chop" chord as it's a little easier on the left hand.

[JeffD]

The only L chords I have heard about were for mountain dulcimer.

[mandroid]

3 notes will do it, .. a GMaj can be 0023. gdbg, and 0523 ggbg (no d)
that 4 finger BG chord gets the d on the low string , at the 7th fret.
but the 2 finger one has all 3 chord notes G,B, D.

making like the gdbg with the b&g being fingered with ring an pinky finger
lets the index finger form a barre..

lots of open string chords can be re-finger'ed to be barre chords..
C 0233, D 2002, barre 2nd fret and they are D ,
pinky barres at 5th fred to form D& A notes..

FWIW note: 4224 , and 4677 are both E chords..

go to Home page and you find this:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/chords/ch.pl

[mandolirius]

Well, ya got yer A, B,C,D,E,F & G chords. Most mandolin players stop there, avoiding the tricky H,I,J & L chords but the really hip players all use them. Then there's the M chord, but that's the secret (and sacred) Monroe chord that only he could play. It goes on to the N,O,P...chords etc. but there ain't no money there.

[Josh Levine]

http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/.../ch.pl?chord=A

The chord on the right side of this is what you are talking about. The "L" shape is the basic chord shape. For this, since the A is the the at the 2nd fret, this is an A chord. This "L" shape can be moved up and down the fret board of the G and D string as a bar chord to make different chords... So if you moved it up 2 frets it would be a B chord. If you moved it back 2 frets (you would play the first 2 strings open) you would have a G. Also, you could move the "L" down a string from the A and you would have an E string.

The important thing to realize is the make up of the chord structure, which is the 1st 3rd and 5th notes in the major scale. So for A it would be A, C, and E. For this A chord, you have the A on the first string (2nd fret), the E on the 2nd string (2nd fret), and the C on the 3rd string (3rd fret).

Experts correct me if I am wrong, I have only been playing for 6 months. Once you have this mastered look up inversions as chords can be structured in many different shapes other than the "L" which is not really considered a bluegrass structure.

[Phil Goodson]

My first thought on "L" chords was the "L" shape when traversing the 1,4, 5 chord sequence that we use so much in most country and bluegrass music.

Take any closed shape and move it over and either up or down the fretboard (depending on which side of the board you start on) by 2 frets to follow the 1,4,5 sequence.

If this is totally confusing, we can elaborate.

[DerTiefster]

Three (counting Eschliman's links as the third) places that might address what the O.P. is asking about is the "survival chords" thread here:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...urvival+chords
and the "chart frustration" thread and the material Eschliman linked in his #23 entry in that thread:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...=1#post1088145

[oneeyeross]

Well, ya got yer A, B,C,D,E,F & G chords. Most mandolin players stop there, avoiding the tricky H,I,J & L chords but the really hip players all use them. Then there's the M chord, but that's the secret (and sacred) Monroe chord that only he could play. It goes on to the N,O,P...chords etc. but there ain't no money there.

I heard the "J" chord was one the Jethro Burns came up with when working up songs...

[mandolirius]

I heard the "J" chord was one the Jethro Burns came up with when working up songs...

Yeah, heard it too. Turned out to be an unsubstantiated rumour.

[CelticDude]

Well, ya got yer A, B,C,D,E,F & G chords. Most mandolin players stop there, avoiding the tricky H,I,J & L chords but the really hip players all use them. Then there's the M chord, but that's the secret (and sacred) Monroe chord that only he could play. It goes on to the N,O,P...chords etc. but there ain't no money there.

Dr Seuss discussed this in "Cat in the Hat", and all the cats A thru Z, but I didn't catch that he was talking about hep cats, and their mando playing, until now.

[oneeyeross]

Yeah, heard it too. Turned out to be an unsubstantiated rumour.

Dang rumor mill anyway....now I have to come up with a new lie...

[fredfrank]

I used to use "L" chords all the time, but my band mates told me they sounded like L.

[DerTiefster]

And fredfrank managed even to stay on topic. I stand in awe.

[swampstomper]

Seriously, for the OP's information, I had never heard the term "L" chord but the shape is a very useful one, you have all four strings with a powerful bass (1st and 5th) with no stretching at all. Much much easier than a G-chop moved up the neck for a beginner, and the chord is just fine-sounding anyway. Another advantage is that the "minor L" (I just made that up!) and the 7th and 6th chords are also easy. For example:

A major 2 2 4 5
A minor 2 2 3 5
A7 2 2 4 3 (sort of a "W" or "V")?
Am7 2 2 3 2
A6 2 2 4 2

and the "F" shape .... well, it's when I play this F chord: 5 3 0 1... and lift the unused (middle) finger at whoever is trying to steal my chords.

I often use these forms for chopping, very easy on the hands.

[Phil Goodson]

Maybe if the OP could tell us the name of the instructor, we could email him and ask 'what the L' he's talking about.

[SternART]

Looks like Phil already learned the L chord from Fred.

[Phil Goodson]

Oops! Forgot that Fred said that. Thought I was being original. (Seldom happens)

Still, going to the source seems a reasonable idea.

[mandolirius]

My first thought on "L" chords was the "L" shape when traversing the 1,4, 5 chord sequence that we use so much in most country and bluegrass music.

I would bet money this is what he was talking about, more than any particular chord shape.

[MikeEdgerton]

There is actually a video on Youtube about the L Chord. It has nothing to do with this or maybe it does. I won't post the link because it has some rough language in it.

[mandogoshen]

They're the mandolin equivalent of guitar 'barre' chords. Instead of covering six strings one covers the eight of the mandolin. There are several different forms of which the L shape is one. It's based on the open G formantion. But, one can use the D formation as well. For minor chords the Em formation lends itself well to minor 'barre' chords.

The 'chop' chords used by bluegrass mandolin players act as the 'snare' in the traditional ensemble. Accenting on the 2 and the 4 of a 4/4 beat. When the mando solos the banjo usually picks up that sound. They take a bit of getting used to as the finger stretch takes a while to develope. I compare them to learning to build and true wheels as a cyclist. While they're not necessary to be a competent mando player it's better to know and not need than to need and not know.

[Astro]

To form the L shaped A chord, for instance, when fretting the 2245, how many folks bar the whole second fret with the index and then use individual fingers for the 4 and 5 versus use individual fingers for all ? I know wide fingered folks can cover two strings (2courses) with one finger but I can't. Yet I have trouble doing the L chord as above unless I bar the second fret.

Also I find a lot of songs sound better with the 2 finger A chord than the 2245 A chord. Just depends I guess.

[Phil Goodson]

This is the first thread that I've EVER read that referred to any barre chords as "L" chords. Are you guys making this up or is their some reference to any prior usage of the "L" name????

[Laird]

This is the first thread that I've EVER read that referred to any barre chords as "L" chords. Are you guys making this up or is their some reference to any prior usage of the "L" name????

I really don't think that's what he was talking about, as the term "barre chord" is pretty universal. My best guess is that the Weatherman got it right: for an A chord, 224x, for an E chord, x224, etc.

[swampstomper]

The 2245 on the mando is not really a barre chord, it's not played in the same way as a guitar barre chord, with a flat 1st finger and the thumb presssing up under the neck and the other fingers strongly arched. The thumb still just rests, relaxed, on the bass side of the neck, pointing skywards, it does not go under the neck. The first finger presses down hard on the G and D strings but (except in the case of the A6) this is only the first joint, the rest of the finger, while across the A and E, isn't pressing down. There are two ways to play the 45, either with the 2nd and 3rd fingers (preferred -- Don Stiernberg showed me why -- the 4th finger is free for colour tones) or with the 3rd and 4th (less of a stretch)