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Similarly, a lot of people think bass is easier than guitar but really it's easy to learn the basics of both and it takes even the most gifted people a lifetime to master either.
I think a lot of guitar-specific material focuses on shapes but if you take the guitar out of it and just learn general music theory it will be more about the notes etc.
When I got in to guitar I had already been in to music theory through playing keyboard and I felt it was a big advantage. A lot of it was learning the notes on the fretboard and using my existing knowledge to put them together.
I'm far from being one myself but I think that something a lot of top level rhythm players do is play some notes from chords, or even all the notes but on 3 strings instead of 6 (chords rarely have 6 different notes, when played on all 6 strings on a guitar, some notes are repeated), rather than play the whole bar chord like a beginner would.
Let's imagine a blues in Cm. To start with, there's four bars of Cm, which you could simply play:
Cm x35543
Or you could decide to be a bit more adventurous and try the classic "blues shuffle" (or Status Quo chords!), which are generally played as power chords changing between 5ths, 6ths, and 7ths:
Play two chords to the bar, repeat that twice and you've got the first four bars of a 12-bar blues.
If you didn't fancy the stretch for C7, play a C7 triad:
But what if we wanted to play whole chords instead of just diads? Also I quite fancy reversing the 6th and 7th chords:
The eagle-eyed might have noticed that what we're doing is moving around the C octave note, which starts on G string fret 5, then becomes a Bb on G string fret 3, then becomes an A on D string fret 7, then reverses back. This gives a sense of movement in the chords, whilst still remaining Cm.
With me so far?
How about instead of repeating the same thing twice, we use the same trick of moving the C note, but this time upwards? I would suggest:
Note the 2 version of C7sus2 - this adds a 7th on the top string which leads nicely into the next chord because it is the 4th of F, which begs to be resolved to the 3rd.
Hopefully some of this makes sense, and may be some help to those who are looking for some guidance of how to spice up their rhythm playing. Obviously this is just scratching the surface. If everyone gets this we could look at how to continue the progression into F.
For example in E - With variations of a 6th, 7th + 9th you can effectively play a whole scale from open position to 12th fret - So on the Top E you'll move from open, to 2nd, 4th (passing note 5th) , 7th, 9th, 10th + 12th fret - Learn to move from all of these with ease make chord melody grooves etc
so play in part chord or full chord - x22100 - x22122 - xx2434 - passing note 5th fret top E string - x76777 - xxx999 - xxx99 10 - xx12 11 9 12 also include xx6757 - all these are a form of E7 E6 or E9 - So effectively any one of these chords can be played over E7
ref above x22122 many just play this as a passing chord as xx2222
also great for jazz/blues/rock n roll - shown in E but move as required xxx 13 14 12 same shape slide to xxx11 12 10 then xxx999 same shape slide to xxx777 then xxx654 then same shape slide to xxx432 - All again are based around E dominant 7 chords
ref above slide up or down from fret above or below - loads of options
Break down any of the above into double note chords + licks as required
Then add chords to pentatonic licks/notes/ to embellish
No rocket science to the above - just learn to use it
Then learn to do the same in other keys as required
For ease of my thinking hope you don't mind if I put some names next to them:
What I really like about these is they're familiar shapes - the last four are descending E6s and 9s, but are also the top three strings of Dm and Am chord shapes. But play them with the top notes E, D, G# and F# (an E9 arpeggio in itself), and they become cool chords over E. Tasty.
That 12th fret E9 you mentioned as a 'really cool inversion' has SRV all over it - play it against the low E as well
Ref above - can make great melodic jazz/blues intros with them - Or use them as rhythm only or rhythm with lead - put an E7 loop on, then experiment with them - Then work out in A7 plus B7 as well etc if required
As you say - familiar and easy shapes - Makes you sound better than you are with out actually doing anything fancy
Thanks for additional info + help with layout
I think what you've proven is that a working knowledge of 7ths, 9ths, and 6ths (probably in that order), and then inverting them, is a really strong tool to play some world-class rhythm and lead work. In fact I've been known to say the ultimate goal of guitar playing is to blur the line between rhythm and lead playing so it's just guitar playing. All the greats did it - Hendrix, SRV, Marr... and once you break it down into the constituent parts, it's not magic, just, dare I say, common sense?
Horn players use them all the time - guys like Setzer use them all the time - I hear them in rock n roll, swing, some jazz and some blues
I understand them - I just wish I could make better use of them - Glad they have helped you
John Mayer is a good example, when he's playing licks in between the lines he's singing it could be called lead but even when he's singing he's rarely, if ever, just strumming chords, it's all fairly intricate and great sounding.
Amazes me that someone can play those parts so well by themselves, never mind while singing.
What a guy. So handsome too...