Shape Up! G Major Chords (1)

Many of us play the acoustic guitar not only in a worship band, but also for small church gatherings, cell groups, etc. However, acoustic guitarists tend to stick with a few basic chords; hence I'll be starting a series called 'Shape Up!' which introduces new chord shapes you can use in your playing. While I'll be doing this on the acoustic, electric players should find this useful too. Enjoy!

* * * * *

One of the most common chord progressions is Em C G D, used in songs like More than Life, Ends of the Earth, and faster songs like Evermore. Rather than using open chords, try these more complex sounding ones to add sophistication to your sound:



-x-------x-----0------0----
-3-------3-----3------3----
-0-------0-----2------2----
-4-------0-----0------0----
-2-------3-----x------0----
-0-------x-----3------2----
Em7add2 Csus2 G6sus2 D/F#add2

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey...

thanks kenny..very helpful..

i wait for part 2 now :D

Anonymous said...

thanks man!
that's really useful stuff!

waiting for part 2 too :D

Anonymous said...

Good stuff!

Hope for more in this series!

JoeWolf said...

wow thanks for pointed those chords out. sound great. Em variation reminds me of a buckethead song.

Anonymous said...

what does the sustain mean in the chords...? is there any theory on it? cuz i wanna be able to apply all those rules when i'm making my own variations and judge the types of sounds it will make...

i already understand what the minors and the add7,2, etc, and the F# bass... I just need to know what the dim. and the sus mean.. :)

eyesontheprize said...

Can you just post the pictures with these advanced chords? I think it will help a lot instead of having to watch the video over and over.

Swarup said...

The 'sus' stands for suspended. Basically what happens in a 'sus' chord is you replace the 3rd in the chord with a neighbor note.

Ex, a sus2 chord replaced the 3rd with a 2nd, so you have a 1 2 5.

A sus4 (often just referred as a 'sus' chord, like Gsus) is 1 4 5.

You can also have a sus2sus4 chord, where it looks like 1 2 4 5.


A diminished chord is a minor chord with a diminished 5th, meaning the 5th note is taken down a half step as well. Remember, a minor chord has a diminished 3rd.

Minor chord: 1 b3 5
Dimished chord: 1 b3 b5

Hope this helps

DDO said...

I'm looking for the guitar chords and words to the song "Jesus Won't You Come By Here."

Now is the needed time right now is the needed time....are some of the other lyrics.

Thsnks for any assistance you might give.

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