Why Are Chords called.... so on..

red_ice

i am ashamed to ask this and irratated that i never looked into this more while i studied guitar, or maybe it just went in one ear and out the other (hey i was 14, i just wanted to play nirvana stuff!) but there is just a small question i wanna ask!

What makes a 6/7/maj/add9 and so on in a bar chord?

We all know (or should in some cases) we can play G as a bar chord and so on, and the layouts of how to play 6/7/maj/add9 in chords.

I was showing a bass player how to play bar chords by imagining that he was playing a bass and focusing his guitar chords on bar chords to give him any note he wanted (for rythem purpose), but when it came down to me showing him how to get other more.. emotional chords and so on, i was stump'd. I play variations of bar chords all the time, but i dont know what they are

Is there any patterns i can look out for to give me open chords on a bar chord?

Cheers

Rustar

Not sure what you mean by 'open chords on a bar chord.'
Certain open forms lend themselves well to being barred, such as E and A (as well as their minor forms), others don't, such as G and C. Fortunately, you have a wide variety of barre chords without moving around too much just using E and A. The root on the E form is the 6th string, and the root on the A form is the 5th string.

As far as the the other chord forms like 6ths and minor 9ths and so on, you can actually design your own chords (yes, they've been discovered before, but you'll have the pride of knowing you did it yourself ). For instance, let's say you only wanted to use the top 4 strings and comp on some nice light chords. First, design the chord on a staff. Then find the notes on your fingerboard using those strings. You'll want to include a root, third, and fifth at first, then modify those depending on the chord you want.

For instance, if you wanted to make a 6th chord, use the root, 3rd, and 6th notes. For a sus4 or 11th chord, use the root, 5th, and 11th and leave out the third.

You can create a 'confusion' as to whether a chord is major or minor by leaving out the third, which is nice to remember. For a strong-sounding chord, leave the third in.

You'll generally want to 'double' strings on the strongest notes of the scale first, which would be a.) Root b.) 5th c.) 3rd, in that order. If that creates a hard-to-finger chord, try doubling the next one down.

red_ice

Rustar you are an absolute legend, thanks mate - thats exactly what i was looking for, i just didnt know how to word it right!

\:v:/