Hey Friend,
Chords is tricksy, they's is! Like nasty hobbitses, they can fools us, my Precious...
Something you'll learn the more you dig into guitar chords is that one chord can have many names. Because there are three notes (or more), you have the chance of forming all sorts of different chord with the same notes.
For example, in today's exercises, you'll be working on chord changes between A triads and C#m triads. In the first system, you work with a standard open A major chord. To change it to a C# minor chord, you simply slide your index finger up one fret to the first fret and play the triad. A to C#m Chord Changes PDFA to C#m Chord Changes MP3Now here's the thing - C#m in this exercise has the same fingering as an A7M (A major 7) chord. What makes it C#m is the fact that you don't play the open A string (fifth string). Dropping that note removes the root note 'A' that would make the chord A7M. What remains changes it into a C# minor chord.
To add more craziness to the party, the C#m shape could show up as one of the following chords: - Dbm/Fb - D flat minor with F flat in the root.
- E6 (no 5) - E6 with no 5 note.
- Eadd13 (no 5) - E add 13 with no 5 note.
- Absus4 (#5)/E - A flat suspended 4 with a sharped 5 note (E#).
- Dbadd#9 (no 3)/E - D flat add a sharp 9 (the E note) in the root.
- Absus4addb13 (no 5)/Fb - A flat suspended 4 add flat 13 with no 5 note, F flat in the root.
What the...??? There were more I could list, too!
Why all these different names? Well, what a chord is called is usually influenced by what key it happens to be in. Since we know major and minor chords (as well as substitute chords) occur in six different keys, you begin to see how this is possible.
At this point, we don't really need to know any more than the name of the chord in this key and the shape you're playing. Truthfully, you don't even need to know what C# minor is called, as long as you know where it belongs in the chord progression you're playing.
But you know me... I tend to ramble and like to get a bit obscure every now and then.
Giving you a little insight into some of the crazy chord names you'll see will hopefully keep you from freaking out when one pops up. Chords can be tricky, and you don't want to feel like poor Gollum when Mr Bilbo found the ring...
Peace~
Dave | 
