Lesson 8 - chord progression II
We talked about possibility of using only two any-fret chords (one major variant and one minor variant) for almost every song. It is possible, but not comfortable. Because when you want to play G chord and than D chord with variant E, you have to jump from 3rd to 10th fret. It's not possible to do this movement without looking at the fretboard. And that's why we learn 5 possible groupings. There is no specific fret - it's up to you, where you will play. E.g. if 'I' will lay on tone 'A', all six chords are in the key of A.
Grouping around chord C:
| string | X | X | Y | Y |
| high E | ||||
| B | ||||
| G | ||||
| D | II | |||
| A | VI | I | ||
| low E | III | IV | V |
Grouping around chord A:
| string | X | X | Y | Y |
| high E | ||||
| B | ||||
| G | ||||
| D | III | IV | ||
| A | I | II | ||
| low E | V | VI |
Grouping around chord G:
| string | X | X | Y | Y |
| high E | ||||
| B | ||||
| G | ||||
| D | V | |||
| A | II | III | IV | |
| low E | VI | I |
Grouping around chord E:
| string | X | X | Y | Y |
| high E | ||||
| B | ||||
| G | ||||
| D | VI | |||
| A | III | IV | V | |
| low E | I | II |
Grouping around chord D:
| string | X | X | Y | Y |
| high E | ||||
| B | ||||
| G | ||||
| D | I | |||
| A | V | VI | ||
| low E | II | III | IV |
Roman numbers in first two columns (X) always play with E/A/D variants of chords.
Roman numbers in last two columns (Y) always play with G/C variants.
So when you try to use the grouping around chord D, you will use these chords:
| I | any-fret chord, var. D |
| II | any-fret chord, var. Em |
| III | any-fret chord, var. Gm |
| IV | any-fret chord, var. G |
| V | any-fret chord, var. A |
| VI | any-fret chord, var. Cm |
Using of these groupings have a great benefit - your left hand is at one place. So you need not to look at the fretboard any more. Which grouping you use depends on you. For example a song is in the key of A, so chord 'I' must have root note on the tone A. This tone lies on the:
5th fret of the low E
12th fret of the string A
7th fret of the string D
So you have this possibilities:
use grouping E or G where 'I' lies on 5th fret
use grouping A or C where 'I' lies on 12th fret
use grouping D where 'I' lies on 7th fret
If you want to make a song more interesting, try to replace some basic major/minor chords with seventh chords according to this table:
| I | maj | -> | maj7 |
| II | min | -> | min7 |
| III | min | -> | min7 |
| IV | maj | -> | maj7 |
| V | maj | -> | dom7 |
| VI | min | -> | min7 |
As we said in the last chapter, instead of using II, III, VI min7 chord you can use major IV, V, I chord. But rather only in the case you are the second guitarist. If you play it alone, it could sound weirdly, because there is no root note is these chords…
Exercises for this lesson:
Choose one grouping and play it consecutively: I, II, III, IV, V, VI and back. When you memorize these chords, try to play them randomly according to numbers which come to your mind :) At last, write down some chord progression, e.g. I-IV-V-IV and then play it. When you will be bored with this, continue with the song from last lesson exercise. Now play it only by numbers. Than you rewrite other songs and play them as well.
Other lessons: