Hi All
I have a feeling this a very naive question...
The first chords nearly all books / resources tell you to learn are the "standard" major and minor chords. For example those here
https://www.guitarhabits.com/the-8-most-important-open-guitar-chords-for-beginners/.
Why is it therefore, that the "standard" E major (top one here
http://www.guitar-chords.org.uk/e-major-chord.html) sounds lower than the standard C major (top one here
http://www.guitar-chords.org.uk/c-major-chord.html) when E is above C on a scale / in a given octave.
Is because the "standard E" chord's root is in an octave lower than that of the standard "C" root?
If so, why are beginners told to learn these chords? Would not make more sense to learn chord shapes that make a sound that increases and decreases in pitch as you move from A-->F and F-->A respectively (like hitting the white keys on a piano sequentially would). Wouldn't that allow you to recreate tunes more easily? For example, and ignoring chord progression rules etc:
If on a piano I made a tune that went C-->D-->E-->D-->C, the sound would go up then down. The same would be true if I played key triads with those notes as roots.
If I did the same using standard chords on a guitar it would go up from C to D but then down from D to E.
Or am I missing something?
Best wishes,
Dave
Comments
The thing is though, you're thinking of the piano, or music staff/theory and then expecting the guitar to be capable of the same things something with 88 keys can do!
A C chord contains C - E and G - it doesn't matter where or how those notes are played. If they're there... it's a C chord.
x32010
332xxx
xxx010
xx14x1315
They're all C.
The same is true of E (E G# B ) or any other chord.
Now on a piano C going to F might be
CEG to FAC
but it might also be
CEG to CFA
That second chord is still an F... all the notes of F are there... but it won't sound like it's just jumping up.
You may think of a C major scale as being C D E F G A B C, and that's right....
But it doesn't just stop! It's actually C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G etc
and it will keep going until you run out of range! There's not just one E, there are many. And you can go up for one, but you can also go down. You can go anywhere.
The guitar has a smaller range, so we work within what we have. You could play C followed by E as
x32010
022100
or you could play
x32010
xx2100
now you chord sounds like it's going "up".... but it doesn't sound as full as it could so we fill it out with more notes from the chord (E, G#, and B )
Don't think about it in the way you are. Learn those chords, and as you expand and learn more chord voicings, you'll be able to choose the voicing that suits the sound you want to paint.
Does that make any sense?
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For many of the chords, you can choose which note you want as the bass. For example you can play D in a few ways:
x x 0 2 3 2 (the D-string is the bottom note)
x 0 0 2 3 2 (the A-string is the bottom note)
2 0 0 2 3 2 (the E-string is the bottom note)
2 4 3 2 3 2 (ditto)
So, to an extent, you can reduce the amount of hopping. From E chord to D chord, instead of hopping up almost an octave and using the D-string as the bass note, you can step up by just a tone by playing 2 0 0 2 3 2 (thumb over) or 2 4 3 2 3 2. Of course you can create this effect on the piano too. It can make music flow better.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
But anyway he hasn’t returned to the forum since joining up and posing the question 3 weeks ago, so I suppose it doesn’t matter much either way!
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.