Chords Lessons

Knowing how to play a chord is not just important for beginners. Even skilled players should brush up on their chord theory every so often. This page has chord guides and lessons on chords.

Diminished Chords By Logan L. Gabriel Diminished chords are very cool, and easy to understand. Diminished chords serve a cadential function just like a dominant 7. Just like all bar chords these are universal shapes and can be moved anywhere on the fretboard and you will come out with a diminished chord as long as the shape is retained.

Sevens Threes and Nines By Darrin Koltow This piece originated in two parts. Darrin had written a Guitar Tip for the newsletter while I had written a piece on ninth chords for what was to be a weekly newspaper column (don't ask). It just made sense to combine the two...

Dressing Up The Garden Variety G Chord By Mark Yodice The following is a column I wrote that appeared on several musical resource websites last spring. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to share it with the readers at Guitar Noise. So brief introductions aside, let's have a look at how we might express ourselves with a bit of harmonic color.

Guide to Chord Formation By Howard Wright This lesson gives you the information you need to be able to understand which notes make up a certain chord. After studying this lesson you will be able to work out the notes you need for any chord and work out what name should be given to any selection of notes.

Chord Theory By Paul Zimmerman This introduction to chord theory is an excellent starting point for someone who is interested in learning more than tab but doesn't know where to start.

Solo Guitar with Chord Melodies 1 - The Art of Creating Complete Song Arrangements By Peter Simms Peter Simms walks us through an introduction to the jazz style of chord melodies. And he makes it both easy and entertaining.

Solo Guitar with Chord Melodies 2 - I Got Rhythm Part 2 By Peter Simms Judging by the emails, you've all undoubtedly been working hard on Pete's first lesson. And that's not surprising since it is a lot of fun to play. Here's Part 2 so that you can put together the complete song.

Solo Guitar with Chord Melodies 3 - Chord Construction 101 By Peter Simms Peter Simms walks us through the basic steps of chord construction, which is a truly helpful thing to know when playing chord melodies, no? Learn all about major, minor and dominant chords in one easy lesson.

Solo Guitar with Chord Melodies 4 - It's Only A Paper Moon By Peter Simms Here's a nice easy arrangement on a classic standard, brought to you by the inimitable Peter Simms. Lots of fun to play and if you're really in a moony mood, check out the lesson on Blue Moon at Peter's website as well!!

The Birth Of A Chord Melody By Graham Merry Guitar Noise Forum Moderator Greybeard takes us through the steps of creating a chord melody using Auld Lang Syne as an example.

Augmented Diminished Dementia By David Hodge Just the words augmented and diminished give us pause. Do we need a special degree or extra study to employ one of these chords? Not at all! Let's examine these chords, how they're formed and the functions they can serve. If you're capable of counting to twelve, you're capable of understanding and using these marvelous chords.

Basic Music Theory By Bruce Fleming Bruce was kind enough to write out this concise article, which spells out some of the basics of chord theory. He was even kinder to include all sorts of handy charts and diagrams that should help out any beginner wanting to tackle this subject..

Simple Alternate Chord Voicings By Bruce Fleming Bruce returns to Guitar Noise with his second piece, one on the fascinating topic of chord voicings. This is a great thing for those of you who play with other guitarists to read up on and put to practice.

Untangling Chord Progressions By Tom Serb In this lesson, Tom unravels some of the mysteries of chord progressions. We'll learn about cadences, the natural harmonic series, chord extensions, secondary dominants and much more.

Extended Chords By Tom Serb Getting to the stage of playing advanced chords doesn't really require learning hundreds of new chord shapes - it only demands that you can relate new chords to old ones in a logical way. By the time you've finished reading Tom's latest article, you'll be able to form any chord extension that you want!

Altered States By Tom Serb Tom has a gift of being able to explain complicated material in a very uncomplicated manner. After guiding us through the maze of extended chords in his last article, he returns to explain altered chords and does so in such a simple way that I wish I'd had him explain it to me many, many years ago!

Chord Pedal Points By Chris Korsak A pedal point, a repeated note in a riff, arpeggio or chord sequence, is a great device to use to spice up your playing. Chris' latest article gives you an introduction to this technique that crosses all genres of music.

Chord Melodies - Finding A Latin Groove By Peter Simms Guitar Noise is pleased to welcome Peter Simms back to our pages. Peter's got a new chord melody for you with a distinctive Latin feel to it. Get ready to provide both the bass and chordal rhythm/melody and to give your fingers (and thumb!) a workout.

Building A Latin Chord Melody - Part 2 By Peter Simms Part two of Peter Simms' lesson on Latin Chord melodies is here! So get your guitars, warm up your fingers and get ready to dig in for a bit of work and a lot of fun!

Chord Substitution By Tom Serb At long last, Tom takes the mysteries out of chord substitution, giving you detailed and simple explanations that will make you wonder why you ever worried about it in the first place!

Three's a Crowd By Paul Andrews Paul Andrews returns to the pages of Guitar Noise with a primer on power chords, complete with practical examples from the music of Green Day, Nirvana, Blur, Blink 182 and (gasp!) The Kinks.

Three's a Crowd Part Two By Paul Andrews Paul Andrews makes a long awaited return to Guitar Noise with the sequel to his February lesson on power chords. Here you'll find the lowdown on augmented and diminished power chords, plus examples from everyone from Bush to Hendrix to Metallica to Eminem.

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