good morning to all, *tips hat*. i wonder if any of you could help me with, what seems (to me at least) a `simple` request?. what i`m looking for is a simple, easy reference diagram of the whole fretboard showing the finger positions for all the chords playable after the 5th fret. i`ve searched the interweb for days and whilst there are hundreds, nay, thousands of diagrams purporting to show just this, they show fret markers, root notes etc etc, all of which make my head hurt. is there a simple `map` with the chords each in a separate colour, (so red for `A`, blue for `C` etc) which would guide me all the way to the `dusty end`?. i`ve tried learning the `caged` system and have worked out a lot of the positions on the board, but no matter how i try some of them just don`t sound "right"!.
as i put in an earlier topic i have on here, when push comes to shove i don`t want to get bogged down in the theory of music, and it seems to me that an `E` chord made on the 9th fret by someone who`s spent many long hours studying the caged system by a flickering candle, sounds exactly the same as an `E` chord made by some lummox who simply memorised those positions from a diagram he got from the net...
any help would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
As an exercise try playing Hey Joe (C-G-D-A-E) but use each veriation of each chord each time through.
So First time, C-G-D-A as normal 3rd/5th position Barre chords and E at each place up the neck.
Second C each place up the neck and so-on.
Might be boring, but it does work.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
Even if you can't manage full barres (and they are easier at higher frets), the root notes for those two chord shapes are just the notes on the 6th (E shape) and 5th (A shape) strings.
Frets for natural notes:
E string
E (0), F(1), G(3), A(5), B(7), C(8), D(10)
A string
A (0), B(2), C(3), D(5), E(7), F(8), G(10)
Fret markers 3, 5 and 7 are natural root notes for major, minor and M/m 7 chord shapes for those two strings.
However you learn it (and I still hesitate if you throw a random one at me), the only way to deal with moveable chords is going to be to get the scale intervals learnt somehow. There are other chords that employ open strings that are not moveable, and there are moveable chords that aren't full barre chords. It's a bit like mental arithmetic, you can work out multiplications, but to be fast you need to know your times tables.
I'm not sure about CAGED as a way to learn notes on the board, because of the way it tries to construct a progressive structure downwards for each note, I find it easier to think of root notes on the 6th and then intervals across the board.
Intervals across the board, low string (6th) on left. I've started a row above the root note, so the first position is empty (it's just a 7).
| 3 | 6 | 2 | 5b | 7
1 | 4 | 7b | 3b | 5 | 1
2b | 5b | 7 | 3 | 6b| 2b
2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 2
3b | 6b| 2b | 5b | 7b | 3b
3 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3
This looks like a mess, but there are anchors. Two down, two across is an octave, unless you cross 3rd to 2nd string. In standard tuning every interval that spans the 3rd and 2nd string needs an extra fret. Yes it's a rule you have to remember, but it's an unavoidable fact of the tuning that it breaks the pattern there.
Two frets down is a tone, straight across is a fourth, one across two down is a 5th, two across two down is an octave. This makes I - IV - V progressions with moveable chords quite easy, start with root on 6th, go across to a chord with root on 5th string for the IV then up 2 frets for the V.
Basically, learn your moveable chords with their root somewhere and then you can shift them up and down as you want.
Yes, the most common chords are just the Root, Third and Fifth notes of common scales, so if you know the fretboard and a few common scales, you can play most chords anywhere and in any inversion.
This is one of the reasons why knowing the fretboard and a few common scales makes guitar playing easier.