Playing chords up the neck or open?

Busterthedog

I am joining a little jam session for the first time next week,they use well know songs from 50's etc,can I mix open chords with chords up at the tenth fret for example(I have an injury on little finger,can play most open chords but some versions are easier to play up the neck)or do I have to keep to just one area of the neck?

mike_l

Play whatever suits.

As long as you're playing the right chord, in the right place, at the right time no-one gives a flying fuck where the chord is played.

Roland

In jam sessions Ive often played up the neck because a lot of people seem to play open chords or on low frets. Do what suits you

vale

open chords can sound louder than bar chords, eg. if switching between a bar B on the 7th fret and a regular open E you will probably notice a volume increase. not entirely sure why, but they do. more string to resonate maybe.

opens & opens nice, & still mix well volume wise with bars below 5th fret.
bars above 5th fret mix better (volume-volume-wise) with other bars, but then you can use the opens for effect, to contrast & highlight important changes.

bar chords give you a bit more control over muting. open strings on open chords can't really be muted. opens have more ring & chime about them. especially when playing clean.

if you want to mix but have volume issues, consider a compressor. they all do the same basic thing (joyo does a decent one sub£30). they will compress your dynamics in a non intrusive way.

& drive, distortion & fuzz even everything out even more.

enjoy your jam.

viz

mike_l said:

Play whatever suits.

As long as you're playing the right chord, in the right place, at the right time no-one gives a flying fuck where the chord is played.

Wanted to give you a wis but ended up lolling because of your language

mike_l

viz said:

mike_l said:

Play whatever suits.

As long as you're playing the right chord, in the right place, at the right time no-one gives a flying fuck where the chord is played.

Wanted to give you a wis but ended up lolling because of your language

Sorry, I'll try not to say "chord" again.
;-)

octatonic

mike_l said:

Play whatever suits.

As long as you're playing the right chord, in the right place, at the right time no-one gives a flying fuck where the chord is played.

Pretty much this.
Play for the song, otherwise you are thinking about it backwards.

paul_c2

It depends on the musical situation, or more generally what the other players are doing - its nice to find a "space" to play so the various different instruments can all be heard and blend well rather than mushing together. At the same time a "doubled up" part (eg 2 guitars playing exactly the same thing at the same time) has a useful purpose. So experiment, try different things, etc. Eventually you can be more subtle about it too, leave notes out, use different voicings etc for added enhancement but its not "essential", there's no firm rules that say you can do this but cannot do that etc.

Rocker

In the dim and distant past, in our pub band we played the 'same' chords in different places on the neck.  We found that this gave a slightly richer sound.  We were playing Country Rock, Country and Irish Country & Western music so our experiences might not apply to your music.

mike_l

Also if one guitar is playing open chords then the second can play barres for a different yet complimentary sound.

Or if one is playing all barres (Ala Hey Joe) then the second can play partial barre chords. If/when I play Hey Joe I quite often play the chords as

xx555x   xx543x  xx777x  xx765x xx999x to give a different texture to the song.

EricTheWeary

I'd probably be playing partial chord shapes somewhere up the neck if I'm just jamming along which is either very clever ,like a Nile Rodgers type of clever ( or a @mike_l kind of clever), or very lazy depending on your point of view. Bit different if you're playing a signature part but I tend to stick to little three note shapes in the company of others.

mike_l

EricTheWeary said:

I'd probably be playing partial chord shapes somewhere up the neck if I'm just jamming along which is either very clever ,like a Nile Rodgers type of clever ( or a @mike_l kind of clever), or very lazy depending on your point of view. Bit different if you're playing a signature part but I tend to stick to little three note shapes in the company of others.

Insert Mike's smug face...........

It's a second guitar part not the main, so open to interpretation.
Another I use is playing 3rds as a second guitar part.

TheBlueWolf

Whatever sounds right in the situation so either or