Geni Swing Guitars

Pedals Lyt

If you're stuck playing chords in the first few frets near the head of the guitar, then this article is for you.

It's frustrating to be confined to the most obvious chords in the most obvious position. The layout of the guitar makes it easy to stay confused about how to move further up the neck of the guitar. However, there are some easy ways to start expanding your playing up the neck.

Maybe I should qualify that "easy." For the most part, the chords that are the easiest to remember are bar chords. If you have trouble with full bar chords, don't let that dissuade you-it's always possible to play just part of a bar chord and still get a decent sound.

To start with, let's use a standard chord progression in G: G C G D.

Normally, you'd play the standard versions of these chords in first position (closest to the head of the guitar).

However, you don't necessarily have to do that at all. And being able to play up-the-neck versions of those chords opens up different sounds that will rejuvenate even your most oft-played tunes.

So, if we wanted to play G up the neck (but not too up the neck), how would we do that?

Enter the F chord. You probably know the four-string version of the F chord (this chord often gives beginning guitarists fits. If you need some guidance, check out my article on how to play the F chord faster than you ever thought possible.).

Chords on the guitar are either closed or open. If a chord is open, this means it uses open strings in addition to fretted notes. If a chord is closed, this means all the notes are fretted-no open strings occur in closed chords.

Closed chords can be moved up and down the neck without any need of changing the fingering used to create the chord. This is very useful-it means that once you learn how to play a closed chord, you can move it around the entire guitar to play that chord with all 12 tones as different roots of the chord.

So, in the case of our four-string F chord, keep the fingering of the chord the same, but move it up two frets. This puts your index finger on the third fret, your middle finger on the fourth fret 3rd string and your ring finger on the fifth fret of the 4th string.

Where before this chord shape had made us an F, now we have a G.

How did we get a G? Well, follow the notes up two frets-if each fret is a half-step, then we went from F to F# after shifting up one fret. Shift up one more fret and that takes us from F# to G. So, what was an F chord before is now a G chord.

It may feel a little strange at first, but try to substitute this new G chord for whichever standard G chord you would normally play for our G C G D chord progression.

Notice the difference in the sound?

Now, what if we wanted to substitute a different C chord for the C that occurs in our progression?

Well, luckily the guitar makes that very straightforward. If we take the normal A major chord we play in first position and then use an index finger bar to shift that A major chord up three frets, you get a new variant on the C major chord.

And, if you're really paying attention, you're noticing that if you just shift that barred C chord at the third fret up two more frets to the fifth fret, you'll have a variant on the D major chord.

Fingering this A-shape bar chord can be tricky-if you're lucky, you can use your index finger for the bar and your ring finger to fret the three fretted. It's sort of like you're making a partial bar with your ring finger on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings. The index finger picks up the 5th and 1st strings.

If that partial ring finger bar is too tricky for you to get (it can be especially hard to get the 1st string to ring at first when you make the partial ring finger bar for the A-shape), then you can use your middle, ring and pinky fingers to fret one note a piece all on that same fret to make the A shape.

These simple bar chords open up the entire neck for you. If you wanted to, you could use the F major shape that we used for the G chord and just carry it up the neck until you got to the 8th fret (for the C major) and the 10th fret (for the D major).

Likewise, make the A major bar chord at the 10th fret and you have another G major chord variant.

There's quite a lot in this article lesson, and I don't want to overload you. However, if you're having trouble making any of these bar chords, just remember that you can only play 3 strings if you need to in order to be able to play the chords up the neck.

Do what you can at first and work patiently until the full-size bar chords become easier for you.

Come on over to Nashville guitar lessons to learn more about how to get better at the guitar.

Or pick yourself up some beautiful guitar music today!

Matt Coffman lives in Nashville, Tennessee and wants you to be the best you can be on your guitar.

Pedals $12.49 Pedals

Lyt 'm Up $26.99 "no description"

Pro Flight Rudder Pedals pedals - wired $118.99 Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals - Pedals

Gibraltar Gibralto-Lube for Pedals $3.49 Gibraltar Gibralto-Lube for Pedals

Gibraltar Gibralto-Lube For Pedals $3.49 Gibraltar Gibralto-Lube for Pedals

Momo Pedals - Stealth (Red) [Manual] $110 Momo Pedals - Stealth (Red)

Momo Pedals - Stealth (Blue) [Manual] $110 Momo Pedals - Stealth (Blue)

Momo Pedals - Stealth (Basic) [Manual] $60 Momo Pedals - Stealth (Basic)

Momo Pedals - Stealth (Black) [Manual] $75 Momo Pedals - Stealth (Black)

Momo Pedals - Stealth (Airmetal) [Manual] $110 Momo Pedals - Stealth (Airmetal)

Neuspeed Pedals - Foot Rest [Beetle] $36.75 Neuspeed Pedals - Foot Rest

Sparco Pedals - Carbon [Universal - Fits all Vehicles] $69 Sparco Pedals - Carbon

Sparco Pedals - Corsa [Universal - Fits all Vehicles] $29 Sparco Pedals - Corsa