Guitar Chord Shortcut Method

This approach is for those who know the basic chords-the majors and minors. If you don't know those chords you will need to get a book or chart which shows such and refer to it or better yet, learn them and come back to this explanation. Remember, this is a simple approach to chords but it may just possibly open your eyes to the way basic chords are constructed.

Let us consider the basic simplified musical alphabet as A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Now, imagine that you are playing the chords to a song and a D7 is called for. You don't know the D7 chord. Start at D since that is the chord we are dealing with and count up seven notes using our simplified musical alphabet. Forget about sharps and flats for now. If D is one and E is two, it follows then that C in our musical alphabet is the seventh note. If you don't understand that read it again-carefully. What this means is that you need to add a C note to the D chord. If you can't read notes you will need to get a chart and find a C note that is somewhere on the first three strings and on one of the first three frets that you can reach while holding on the D chord. The most obvious one is on the second string, first fret. This is a C note and if you add it to the regular D chord the outcome will be a D7 chord. You need to rearrange your fingers but if you follow what we just said you will be playing a D7 chord because you added a C note to the traditional D chord.

(Along with the techniques in this article, If you practice the Nashville Numbering System and work with it, like anything else, it will become commonplace and could very well become the catalyst for much of your learning regarding chords.)

If you need to play a D6 chord you must add the 6th note (B) to the D chord. It is quite alright to apply that B note by playing the second string open which is a B. Have you ever noticed "sus" written after a chord? It means suspended which is too long a word to include in the music. For that reason they use "sus." You have a suspended chord when you add the 4th note of the simple musical alphabet to the chord. In the case of D sus (sometimes written 4th) you should put your little finger on the first string, third fret. Let us calculate the notes needed to play a D9 chord. If we start at D and count up nine notes we find ourselves at an E note. The most obvious E note is open on the first string which leaves us with a D chord but including the first string open makes it a D9. Let us select a few chords at random and doing so should give you enough examples to master this system. A9 needs a B note added to an A chord. Lift your finger from the second string. When you strum this chord you are adding a B note which is the 9th.

A note here is that the minor chords work the same way. If you are playing an Em chord and want to play an Em7 count up from E (which is a one) to the seventh note (D). You have two options here: add a little finger to the second string, third fret and you will be playing an Em7 because you are adding the (D) seventh note. Another option is to find the seventh note on the fourth string open. This has to be one of the easiest chords ever. You just have one finger on the fifth string second fret-it is an Em7 chord.

Some chords such as G9 seem difficult to find. The ninth note from G is A. It is a bit cumbersome to add the A note on the third string, second fret when you are playing a G. A better way is to play the G chord using the F configuration on the third fret and by adding your little finger to the fifth fret, first string you have a G9.

If you are working with some of the newer rock music you will be asked to play some fifth chords. The fifth chord is usually an extension of the power chord. A typical power chord in A finds the first finger on the sixth string, fifth fret and the third finger on the fifth string, seventh fret. When you add your little finger to the fourth string, seventh fret you are playing a fifth chord. In general. Just add the little finger on the string below the third finger and you have a fifth chord.

The only chords we didn't touch on were the 11th and 13th chords. These chords aren't used much in Rock, blues and country so we are going to disregard them.

The other loose end we need to consider is the appearance of an Eb, Ab, Bb or some such chord. If you need an Eb chord for example, the shortcut approach would be to play a D chord and move it toward the bridge one fret.

The bottom line here regarding "numbered" chords is that when playing a nice acoustic type song in D you may embellish the song with Dsus, D9, and perhaps some of the others. You need to try it out first. That's why we practice.