In this lesson, I am going to list a few new types of chords for you to add to your chord vocabulary.

If we take the C major Chord, C, E, G and we flat the major 3rd interval (going from E to E flat), we have a C minor chord.


C minor
[A3p, D1m, G0, B1i]
[C, E flat, G, C]


We could also get a C minor by playing,

[A3i, D5r, G5p, B4m]
[C, G, C, E flat]

To play this chord, simply use your index finger and bar the 3rd fret from the high E string to the A string. Then bring your middle finger down on B4, put your ring finger on D5, and drop your pinky on G5. Some folks bar all 6 strings, noting that there are redundant G notes on E3 and H3. Thus, the chord remains minor with the introduction of these redundant notes.

Next, if we take our minor chord and flat the 5th, we get a diminished chord.

1, flat 3, flat 5

C diminished
[D4i, G5r, B4m]
[G flat, C, E flat]

normally, we are used to having the C be the first note listed in our chord structure, since C is the root note of the diminished chord we are playing. But, this isn't always necessary. As long as we have a C, E flat, and a G flat in any order, we still have a C diminished chord. It is important to be aware of this, because in later lessons we will discuss chord inversions in greater detail. If you prefer to have the C listed first, you could play C diminished as follows:

C diminished
[G5p, B4r, H2i]
[C, E flat, G flat]

Finally, if we return back to our major chord structure and sharp the 5th degree of the chord, we get an augmented chord.

C augmented
[A3r, D2m, G1i]
[C, E, G sharp]

We can also play a C augmented this way.

C augmented
[G5m, B5r, H4i]
[C, E, G sharp]

It is important to recognize that the same chord can be played in various places along the neck. It is often a good exercise to take some time to learn where these chords are. The best way to do this is to take all the notes in a chord and represent where they reside on the neck of the guitar. For example, if I wanted to know where every C Augmented was on the guitar neck, I would find every C, E, and G sharp note on the guitar neck and determine from there which shapes are C augmented chords. At first this sort of exercise may seem like a lot of work, but it is as important to your playing as practicing finger exercises. Because, the more you do exercises like this, the more familiar you become with where notes are located on the guitar neck. Also, it is important to take the time to sit down with each chord and use lesson 12 to help you map out that chord interval wise. But, ultimately, if the theory becomes to difficult to follow, you can still just use the tablature version of the chords provided above and from there start recognizing the shape of each chord you are playing. Either way you go, by way of tablature formulas or by way of intervals, you arrive at a chord that has a definite shape to it. So, if you just learn the shape of each chord, you can always go back later and learn more about the theory behind that shape when you are ready.


Corey J. Bray