Acoustic playing

Jetfire · December 2017

So for a new project im doing acoustic versions of some more modern pop songs with some older stuff too. One song that is troubling me is this:

Main verse chords seem to be G min, E.g., F maj and D major.

What I'm struggling with is using a E major bar chord for the G minor (root on 3rd fret E) and Eb being an A shape (root on 6th fret A)

Any suggestions or advice? Potentially we can shift the key but I wanted to give it a go in its "standard" key

Lestratcaster · December 2017

I don't know the song but for typical pop songs I usually use a capo to tackle tricky barre chord shapes, esp when I teach beginners so they don't have to do them at the start.

viz · December 2017

I’m not sure what the issue is. Is it that the Eb has too high a voicing? It’ll be a bigger problem for your bassist, because he/she will really want to go downwards that 3rd to the Eb chord. For you, I don’t really understand the issue - just play the chords exactly as you’ve described - yes it means the Eb ‘sounds higher’ than the G but it’s just a different voicing, it’s an idiosyncracy of the guitar. If you’ve got a keyboard player, he/she can provide the descending line.

Other options:

Check out how Ritchie Blackmore tackles it with his 2-note chords (Man on the silver mountain, All night long, etc).

Transpose it up a semitone in g# minor.

Transpose it down a semitone in f#m and play the D thumb-over to get its bass note as low as possible - that’s probably one of the most common ways of playing that particular i-vii-vi progression. Or do it in e minor of course.

Or you could play the Eb in 1st inversion which will sound a bit odd but at least give it as low a bottom note as possible. 3 1 1 3 4 x , or the C-shape Eb/G 365343

Cleg83 · January 2018

Try playing the Gm as xx5786 (Dm shape), Eb as x65343 (C shape) that way you move down to the Eb. That may help with the sound you're after.

viz · January 2018

Cleg83 said:

Try playing the Gm as xx5786 (Dm shape), Eb as x65343 (C shape) that way you move down to the Eb. That may help with the sound you're after.

Yes, or xx5333 like Stairway to Heaven, then xx3211, then the Eb barre chord at x6888x.

ToneControl · January 2018

try xx8786 to xx8886, not as a barre chord, don't use the bottom 2 strings on that bit

DulcetJones · January 2018

There's also the "D" shaped Eb, xx5343 , and if possible you can convert it to a "C" shape by adding the 4th finger; x65343 , I bar the bottom 3 strings with the 1st finger in each case. In extreme cases you can just shift a "D" chord up one fret and only play the bottom 3 strings.

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