Hey Friend,

Whew! Last day of November! Hard to believe 2016 is almost history.

Yesterday, we talked a little about guitar chords that are missing a note that is normally a given - the 5 note. 5 notes are a main component of triads, and all the primary chords (major, minor, 7 chords) rely on the 5 note in their construction.

Rock, Blues and Country music use the 5 note in a chord to beef it up, not only strengthening the base sound of the chord, but making the harmonic structure of the chord sound fuller and more complete. So it's unlikely that you'll see too many chords that don't contain a 5 note. Unless you're into Jazz...

Jazz is an exercise in music theory on steroids. While much of it sounds like you're breaking theory rules all over the place, it is actually a pretty disciplined genre. As Rockers, we're still the new kids on the musical scene and tend to rely more on how something sounds rather than whether or not it is theoretically correct. Turns out, our ears (and physics) tend to keep us more on the straight and narrow, operating within most of the rules.

That's not to say that as you experiment with fingerings and shapes you won't find interesting sounds using notes other than the 5 note. 

Because of the way guitar is laid out, you can access at least a couple octaves of notes within a boxed area. So there are lots of opportunities to change fingering and find unique sounding note combinations.

I put together a sampling of C chords demonstrating some of the sounds you can get by leaving the 5 note out of the chord. Some of these chords will be a real challenge  others aren't so bad. What you should notice, though, is the unique feel you get from each one. 

Feel free to try playing them, or just listen to them to see if they speak to you at all. And with that, it's off to work for me...

Peace~

Dave