Hey Friend

As I have mentioned before, you only need to learn to play a few chord shapes to open up the fingerboard to unlimited possibilities. Once you know the various chord shapes and can play them like your fingers are on autopilot, you can move these shapes into any position on the neck and find very interesting sounds.

While guitar might seem somewhat like a coloring book where you must keep within the lines, I've found that sometimes you can take a normal chord shape and shift it over on the strings to create an interesting sound. I encourage you to try this little trick. For example, if you take the open D chord shape and shift the shape over two sets of strings (so your index finger is on the fifth string), you get a very cool-sounding chord. I'll put together more examples and tabs to show what I mean.

For now, dig into these exercises for each natural key. Remember, these aren't your only options. I haven't included sharp or flat keys in this discussion, but when you are working within  a specific key, you will have sharp or flat chords to deal with...

Look at the key of D major again. If you play the progression following the scale, you have the chords D, Em, F#m, G, A, Bm, C#dim and D. The F#m and C#dim chords come from sharp keys, so just be aware of that - there's a great big musical world out there to explore!

The file today is a bit large - 16MB, give or take. So don't be surprised that it takes a few minutes to download. 

These ought to keep you busy for a while as you play through the various shapes and keys. I hope you like them...Rock on!

Peace~

Dave

Don't forget about the power of power chords. These two note chords can be moved around the strings and neck even easier than triads to create cool sounds. I've put together over 250 power chords for you to enjoy in the Easy Power Chords PDF. Get Easy Power Chords here.