Best Chord Dictionary- Encyclopedia?

I would say that chord software would be a better choice than a book these days... searchable, etc.

If you have Guitar Pro, you already have one built in.

I have and use a much more basic chord dictionary than you are looking for, so I can't suggest a book or software... if that is up your alley, perhaps others can suggest a good one... even an online (free?) one?

I always use this site http://www.chordsandscales.co.uk/

Great site and moreover the site is created by one of our members, Misanthrope.

I don't know what's "out there" nowadays...but I STILL have an old Mel Bay pair: "Chords" and "Chord Cycles". There's no instruction (whatsoever) in them...just chords, period. I may well say that I made my living out of those two books!

Cat

And at the risk of coming across as being both very old and stuck-in-my-ways :wink: , I'd tell you that the best "chord dictionary-encyclopedia" is your own brain. When you figure things out yourself they stick with you and you learn patterns quicker. Plus you're often bound to come up with something you might never find in any chord dictionary, like playing Am9 as x05500.

And the cool thing is the more you do it yourself the easier it gets and the more ideas you come up with. It beats having to flip through who knows how many pages to find the chord you want.

Peace

"When I was your age, we didn't have no freakin' books or programs! We had to remember and figure them out ourselves gosh-darnit!... and we had to walk 30 miles, uphill both ways to buy a new set up strings!"

:D

And at the risk of coming across as being both very old and stuck-in-my-ways :wink: , I'd tell you that the best "chord dictionary-encyclopedia" is your own brain. When you figure things out yourself they stick with you and you learn patterns quicker. Plus you're often bound to come up with something you might never find in any chord dictionary, like playing Am9 as x05500.

And the cool thing is the more you do it yourself the easier it gets and the more ideas you come up with. It beats having to flip through who knows how many pages to find the chord you want.

Peace

I was thinking exactly the same thing before reading David's post. If you learn how to spell the chords and what simplifications often are made (e.g., drop the 5th or even the root when there are other instruments covering it), you'll be able to do a pretty good job of dealing with new chords.

"When I was your age, we didn't have no freakin' books or programs! We had to remember and figure them out ourselves gosh-darnit!... and we had to walk 30 miles, uphill both ways to buy a new set up strings!"

:D

Uphill in the snow, carrying my younger brother and sister and their saxophones... :wink:

*sigh* I am turning into my dad!

Peace

Gentlemen, Old and Young- First, I may be just as Old as some of you , so don't think I will assume you are "old-Fashioned". I think you may have misunderstood. I am not a youngster trying to LEARN CHORDS. I ALREADY have a pretty good working knowledge of most common, (and many uncommon) chords. What I was interested in, was a book to help me with New or Unusual Forms and Variations (like Am9 x05500), so when I perform my Own, or Cover songs, I can more easily stay in comfortable positions, changes.

I guess what I'm looking for, maybe nobody has ever written it down! It's like that chord you guys mentioned - Am9 x05500- I LOVE chords like that. It's got ringing, open strings, its easy, and you can get to it quick, from almost ANYWHERE! Do you know what I mean? I'm looking for Chord Forms and variations that may not be the most common forms found in most books, but are handy, for singing-playing! ----- Ever see a Book like THAT?

Oh, and guys- I AGREE, "DISCOVERING", noodling, making up your own forms is great, and I've done that many times, still do- But I'm 50, now, and as the grey hairs come in, I don't have the time to research each and every chord, anymore. But I know what you mean.
And Computer software is great, but right now, my home computer is down, and I need a Paper Book, anyway, that I can can take in a gig bag. By the way, Thank You All, for your responses. I was hoping to get a lot of opinions, but, what can I do- I'll have to keep searching, I guess. Anthing else on Unusual Forms, Open-string chords, or Big Fat Chord Books, please let me know! And if anyone needs ANYTHING from Classic rock, or Anthing Acoustic, ask me!

Didn't assume age or learning in making my post. Seriously. If you look through some of the lessons I've posted (and even though the notation and tablature aren't there I describe most of the "fun" chords right in the text. There's even a whole lesson to get you started thinking in this direction:

https://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/multiple-personality-disorder/

And I have to apologize because, while noodling and discovering these new chords is usually how it all begins, there's a bigger step that usually gets left by the wayside. That's "using the new chords to death." If you already know how chords are formed and you can find some unusual ones on your own, the next step then becomes being able to call them up into your fingers at will and to do that you have to play. Take any song you know well and use new versions of the chords you already play. The simpler the better.

A simple blues song in A, for instance, allows you to use different versions of A, D and E. You can play A7, A9, D, D7, D9, E7, E9 and more. For starters, try using these chords since they all fall in the same region of the fret board:

A9 - x05600
D9 - x54530
E9 - 076770

This is important because you are not only finding the chords but also finding easy changes between chords based on their position on the neck. There may be books out there that can show you this, and I hope that someone will post a few that do, but these are the sorts of things most people just figure out on their own and don't end up in books.

You want to play a new chord voicing to the point where you're driving yourself crazy with it. Even using it when it doesn't sound right because knowing when not to use it is just as important as being able to play it in the first place.

The reason I say that you're not likely to find this sort of thing in a book is because most publishers would never take a chance on a book that has a very limited audience (or that is perceived in that manner by the publisher). Maybe Paul and I should put together an e-Book for Guitar Noise on this subject (not to mention countless others)...

Again, hope this helps and do trust yourself. You've got more information than you can imagine. It's really all about getting that information into your fingers while you're playing! And, again, the best way to do that is just to play. Books will be helpful but nowhere near as helpful as taking one new chord a day and playing it to the point where you can't bear to hear it any longer, no matter how cool it sounds.

Peace

A dictionary is useless because it doesn't show you when to use this or that voicing. You see, what voicing you choose, depends on what came before and what is coming after. There are various strategies for learning how to put chord voicings together in a coherent fashion, for example, you can generally achieve pretty good voice leading by sticking to the chords related to one scale pattern. This will keep you in one position and in turn, help you to keep common tones and use contrary motion between some of the voices to some extent.

Construction formulas for the chords is also helpful. You can create voicing on your own this way. Link: http://chrisjuergensen.com/chordformula.htm

Really like the Incredible Chord Finder, it's nice and compact but loaded with chords

Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry?

I've got the Guitar Grimoire series. Pretty good books for what they are, but there's a lot of overlap between all of them. Only maps the fretboard in standard tuning. If you've got a computer in front of you, just look up your chords and scales on the Chord House link. It lets you put in any six string tuning you want. Won't let me put in my eight string lap steel tunings, alas.
http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/guitar/index_rb.html