chord shapes higher on the fretboard

how many c's can you come with? if you count all types of c's (major, minor, diminished, augmented, maj7th, min7th...and so on and so on..)...I couldn't begin to count them all. I recommend you check into the CAGED system...the c your instructor mentioned appears to be part of the A form, 3rd position barre chord. Those notes are the second inversion c major.

Basically, major and minor chords and their 7ths can easily be played by barre chords all over the fret board that all follow similar patterns.

For example, if you play that same shape you quoted that your guitar teacher told you on every fret up the fretboard, you'll be playing major chords every time. Starting from say 3rd fret (C chord) you'll play: C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B and then we start over again.

Similarly, if you play this shape:

(Bm in this case)

----2------
----3------
----4------
----4------
----2------
-----------

You will be playing minor chords every time. There are other shapes too, I suggest you ask your teacher for some of these shapes and learn them a few at a time.

Of course (rar,rar,rar) you should be learning the notes of the fretboard at some point, so you can make your own chords. But yeah, step by step, Little Wing.

The C chord is made up of the C note, the E note and the G note. Technically speaking (I believe) that the C note should be the bass note (the lowest sounding note, or the note on the fattest string) for the C chord, which is why you don't play the fat E string in your first example.

I think if you have an E note as the bass note then its called the 'first inversion' of the chord, but as long as it still just contains C, E & G notes then its still a C chord. Again, I think if you have a G note in the bass, its a second inversion.

Anyway, as a C chord is always a C chord if it only contains C, E and G notes, then anywhere you can combine these notes across 3 to 6 strings, you are playing a C chord.

Its probably better explained with pictures. Take a look at this site:
http://sologuitarist.net/chord_speller/chord_speller.html

or http://www.chordsandscales.co.uk/viewer/

Does that help? Read some of Davids theory articles and then have a look around the music theory threads on this forum.

Apologies if I am incorrect or not totally clear, I am trying to get my head around this theory stuff myself!

Rich.

Theory ahead:

A major chord in it's most basic form is comprised of three tones, in any order, called a major triad. These are the 1, 3 and 5 tones of the scale.

On a guitar, any 1 tone, on average, can be found in 12 places on the guitar (2 octaves per string x 6 srings).

So if you're not playing any tones on the same strings, there are (2 x 6 x (2 x 5 x (2 x 4))) = 960 ways to play a major triad!!

Now, a whole bunch of those are not fingerable -- the specific notes are just too far apart. But it's kind of amazing how many of them are playable.

The C major scale is: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.

The tones in the c-major triad are: C, E, G.

See how many different ways you can find to play those three tones on your guitar as a chord. It's a whole lot more than "CAGED" will show you . . .

All,

These posts definitely help as I learn the triad theory. Something new everyday :)

So we just covered triads (all of them) in the 2 days of music theory that i was sick during... GREAT! :( Play catch up, yay.