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Maybe have a couple of lessons with a professional teacher and have them assess where you are at.
FWIW 56 isn't too late- if you came and studied with me and put in the work then you'd be completely aware of how to construct chords within a few weeks.
Within 2-3 years you could be at a professional level of playing- it is a lot of work though- 2-3 hours a day at the bare minimum.
To your questions:
1. There are about 100+ different ways of voicing chords on the guitar.
Your choices with voicing chords are pretty wide- if you are playing with a bassist you can basically forget playing the root.
If playing a dominant blues you could just play the 3rd and 7th of each chord and it will still sound like a dominant blues progression.
Options are pretty endless- the trick is being able to harmonise the major scale in your head on the fly.
If you have that down then the world is your lobster.
2. It depends on what you are trying to do.
I think every musician should be able to harmonise the major scale- it isn't hard, it doesn't take a lot of work and it gives you a vocabulary with which to inform your playing and communicate with other musicians.
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2. No.
If you want to play along to a cd/mp3 and sound exactly like what you hear, then the answers may be different. But if it is just for you, then do what you find easier if you can't finger things exactly
One way to approach it is you only need to learn 5 chords - C, A, G, E and D. Once you know these, and by using your brain/memory/logic, you can work out a bunch of variations:
E major --> E minor, E7 (3 variations), Emaj7, Esus4, Em7, EmM7, E9, E#9, probably more
A major --> A minor, A6, A7, Amaj7, Asus4, probably more
C major --> C7, ummmmmm there must be others similar!! C7 can also be played in the form x323x3 and it becomes a moveable (not really a barre, but its moveable chord) eg x212x2 is B7, x434x4 is Db7 etc etc
G major --> G7, a few different variations and voicings too eg 320003, 3x0003 (easier for making it into a barre chord), 320033, 3x0033 (which is actualy G5, no 3rd in it)
D major --> D minor, D7, Dsus4, Dmaj7, Dm7, DmM7, probably more. And a few variaions of D major
So that's 33 chords from 5 "basic" shapes just by altering a note or two within the basic shapes.
In theory all those can be barre chords too, in practice some of them are harder to finger than others so you'd just go for the easiest one in the situation unless a particular voicing/position/tone was needed at that given moment.
Don't forget you could always use a capo too.
Playing metal/heavy rock, mostly power chords will get you by.
Playing pop and rock major and minor chords as well as power chords.
Jazz, (and to a lesser extent prog) this is where the chords with all the embellishments will come in.
Knowing all the chords won't necessarily make you a better guitarist, knowing where to play them will.
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Its a big subject but for now have a listen to "So Lonely" by the Police and look up its tab/chords. And have a look at this:
The CAGED system is great for learning chords and the fretboard but learn the intervals too.
As for the second question, it depends on what you want to play, so you could probably pass on the ultra fancy sounding chords. I'd suggest learning basic chord theory, to understand the basic groups of chords ( major, minor, augmented & diminished ), but how far you go is your choice.
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Step 2 : Learn the basic major and minor scales
Step 3 : Learn and use the interval formula to build chords all over the neck .... example a basic C major chord needs a root, a major 3rd and a 5th ....... if you know where all the notes are then there's about 10 different places to play the same thing
I think you need to know how to build chords in all keys and how to embellish them with added 9th's or similar. It' s not a hard thing to learn BUT it's entirely dependent on knowing where all the notes are on a guitar and this is where a lot of tab learnt players are weak as tab teach's fuck all about notes
1) Open chords:
E, A, D, G, C
em, am
E7, A7
em7, am7
C7, G7, D7
dm, dm7
B7, F (or Fmaj7)
E7 flat 10 (open and at fret 7. The Hendrix chord.)
2) Barre chords:
Power chords (E-shape and A-shape, on any fret)
E-shaped barre chords: F, G, A and their 7ths
A-shaped barre chords: B, C, D, E and their 7ths
The first couple of flat-key chords: F, Bb and their 7ths.
The main minors after am and em: bm, gm, dm, c#m, f#m, cm and their 7ths.
All remaining majors and minors as barre chords, plus their 7ths.
3) Suspended 4ths:
Open chords: Esus4, Asus4, Dsus4, Csus4, Gsus4
All other sus4 chords as barre chords on E-shape and A-shape.
4) other chords:
Maj7 chords (A-shape, eg Cmaj7, x35453)
Sus2 chords (A-shape, eg Csus2, x35533)
5) Barred inversions:
1st inv & 2nd inv chords from the bottom string (eg E 1st inv, or E/G# - 476454)
1st inv chords from the A string (eg A 1st inv, or A/C# - x4222x)
6) Ninths:
E9 (076777), A9, D9, B9
All other 9 chords
7) Jazzy chords:
Altered chords, eg G-alt (32344x)
Diminished chords
Augmented chords
3rd inversions
8) Everything else.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
1) I-IV-V (blues, bluesy-rock, 70s US rock, etc). Here, as in most of the examples in all the progressions below, any major chord followed by a chord a 4th up, such as many of the V chords, can be played as a dominant 7th: E-A-B7; G-C-D7; A-D-E7; D-G-A7; C-F-G7. In many cases you could actually play all chords as 7ths, particularly in blues.
2) All the permutations of the above, for example V-IV-I; I-IV-I-V, etc.
3) I-V-vi-IV (the ubiquitous pop-rock progression used by virtually every modern artist in his/her career): C-G-am-F; G-D-em-C; D-A-bm-G; A-E-f#m-D; E-B-c#m-A. Plus variations thereof, starting at a different starting point, or playing the chords in a different sequence.
4) ii-V-I (used throughout western music, jazz, pop, rock, classical, you name it, they've done it): dm-G-C; am-D-G; em-A-D; bm-E-A; f#m-B-E.
5) The Andalusian cadence used in flamenco, i-VII-VI-V; plus its friends i-VII-VI, and VI-VII-i (used in melodic rock, Iron Maiden, etc): am-G-F(-E); em-D-C-(B); bm-A-G(-F#); f#m-E-D(-C#); c#m-B-A(-G#).
6) I-bVII-IV (the flat 7 chord is often used in rock. This progression sometimes has a V at the end before returning to I): D-C-G(-A); E-D-A(-B); A-G-D(-E); G-F-C(-D) - see Back in Black, Sweet Home Alabama, etc.
7) I-bIII-IV (common in rock, often followed by a V, or as in Smoke on the Water, a flat V): E-G-A-(B); A-C-D-(E); G-Bb-C-(D, or Db for Smoke on the Water). Also the minor version, i-III-iv-V.
8) The minor progression i-iv-VII-III-VII-ii(dim)-V-i (eg Parisian Walkways, I will survive, etc). Instead of ii(dim) you can play iv: am-dm-G-C-F-bdim (or dm)-E-am.
9) I-II-IV: used in punk a lot. The II is major, which lifts the sound. It can be followed by a V. A-B-D(-E); E-F#-A(-B).
10) The vi-ii-V-I or VI-ii-V-I used in jazz, jazz blues, etc. It's a ii-V-I with a chord in front. The major VI version is an example of a secondary dominant: am (or A)-dm-G-C; f#m (or F#)-bm-E-A.
11) circle of 5ths back-cycling (anticlockwise). These progressions are II-V-I. They are like ii-V-I, but the II is major, and is another secondary dominant. They can be preceeded by a VI as above (VI-II-V-I): (A-)D-G-C; (E-)A-D-G; (B-)E-A-D; (F#-)B-E-A; (D-)G-C-F.
12) circle of 5ths clockwise progressions (eg Hey Joe) VI-III-VII-IV-i (played as I major) C-G-D-A-E.
13) The modulation to relative minor: I-III-vi. The III is major. The vi is the relative minor of the I, and the route to it is via its dominant. Sometimes followed by IV: E-G#-c#m(-A).
14) Minor 2nd progressions (I-bII) in metal and flamenco: E-F; B-C, A-Bb.
15) Aug4, Dim5 or tritone progressions (I-#IV), used in metal: E-A#.
16) Tritone substitutions (ii-bII7-I), used instead of a ii-V-I in jazz: dm-Db7-C (or Cmaj7). Also secondary dominants, for example II-V-I (used a lot in Bach).
Try that lot.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
The only ones I wasn't really aware of were 13 and 16 - must try and wangle them into a set somewhere.
I-III-IV-IV(min) - E-G#-A-Am
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
edit - actually it's after the transposition so it's A-E-f#m-D / A-E-f#m-F.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Unlike the Tonic and the Subdominant, the Dominant has a minor 7th. When this 7th is played, the chord is known as Dominant 7. It is the only diatonic chord that has a major 3rd and a minor 7th. That 7th is sometimes called a 'flattened' or 'flat' 7th. Perhaps that's what's meant in your book.
The ii, iii and vi are all minor chords - they have a minor 3rd. Those 3rds are also sometimes called flat 3rds. Perhaps that's also what's meant in your book?
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.