If you wanna become a better player, but can't take 2 minutes to read
the intros to my free workshops, may I humbly suggest you take up bowling!
You don't gotta read nuthin' to be a good bowler! Up to you!
MOVEABLE CHORDS!

Edited in retrospect!
If you aren't comfortable moving open chords up the fretboard,
not barre chords, just plain old cowboy open chords, you REALLY
need to work this workshop!

I promise you, it's a GAME CHANGER!

Let's take some things you already know how to play,
and turn them into something REALLY COOL!
If you're a beginner, you'll LOVE THIS!
If you're a seasoned player, um . . . you'll LOVE THIS!!
wayne reed

Been playing a LONG TIME but still not where you wanna be? Are you a fairly new player and not happy with your progress? IS THIS YOU NOW? SURE THING! This workshop is a short one! And it's 100% fun! This is the INTRO to the Moving Chords Workshop! No frills. Just a basic "how to". Basically, what we're gonna do is move chords you know up the fretboard to make some cool music. When you move open chords up the fretboard, the open strings give you ambient, spacy sounding chords. We'll be moving Open E, Open D, Open A and Am, and C7! We're going to take some basic chord shapes, and make some really cool music! If you can play the basic beginners open chords, this will get you playing some music that most consider advanced. Not much talking. Let's get right to it! Example: Here's a simple melody played with open Am, Bm, C chords. Followed by the same melody played using a moving Am! You can go from YIKES . . . to THIS . . . SURE THING!
There's very little reading in this workshop. And THAT being said . . . The chord names can sound and look pretty scarry if you're a new player! Chords like . . . "Bsus4(add9)/A"! So for this workshop, I'm using simplified chord names! chord names After you go through this intro workshop, you'll do the full workshop. That one has more FUN stuff! Cool chord progressions, etc. This one is just so you learn "the moves". There will be a little redundancy when you go to that workshop. Just a tad! E ' ' ' means strum and count 1 2 3 4. % means repeat. △ means Major Slash chords: /E is pronounced "over E". G/E. Lowest note in the chord is E. E ansd G chords
Let's start with an easy one. (Actually, these will mostly be easy!) Play open E, then move it up 3 frets. Strum all strings. Then back down. E ' ' ' G6/E ' ' ' E ' ' ' G6/E ' ' ' E ' ' ' G6/E ' ' ' E ' ' ' G6/E ' ' ' E hold % % % It's a G barre chord without the barre! The open E strings give it a cool vibe! (the 6th) It's also an Em7. Depends on the context. (How it's used!) So, now you also know another cool way to play Em7! But you can move that open E farther up the fretboard for more cool chords! Plus you can add 1 finger and get ANOTHER cool chord, the sus4 chord!
SUS4 Chords! When you see "sus" after a chord, it's the same as sus4. Gsus = Gsus4 There is also a sus2. Gsus2, etc. For obvious reasons, the 2 must be included! This isn't complicated. You just play open E, move it up 3 frets and strum! To make the sus4 chords, you simply add 1 finger! Leave your 1st finger in place. No need to lift it! Play E. Put your 4th finger under the other 2. That's Esus4. Slide it up. Play the E shape, then drop your 4th finger for the sus chord. And strum! The timing is just strum E E Esus4 E. 1 2 3 4. Same for the G6/E. The timing sounds like this . . . Esus4 ansd Gsus chords [E ' Esus4 E] [G6/E ' G6(sus4)/E G6/E] % % % E TIP: Add one finger, change E to Esus4. Add the same to the G6/E. Leave your 1st finger in place when adding the note with 4th finger!
Now it gets cooler! Play the same thing, but we'll move it up more! Play E, up 3 to G6/E, back to E. Then start on the G6/E on the 4th fret and move up 2 frets to A(add9)/E and back down. Then start on A(add9)/E and move it up 3 frets to Cmaj7/E and back down. Then start on Cmaj7/E and go DOWN 1 fret to B(add11) and back UP. End on E ' ' '. [E ' G '] [E ' ' '] [G ' A '] [G ' ' '] [A ' C '] [A ' ' '] [C ' B '] [C ' ' '] [E ' ' '] % % %
This part's a SNAP! Just play open E, move it up 5 (A(add9)/E) then move it up 2, to B/E. It's even got a simple name! Add the sus, it's a Bsus4/E! B/E chord [E] [A] [B] [A] [E ' Esus '] [A ' Asus '] [B ' Bsus '] [A ' Asus '] [E ' Esus E] [A ' Asus A] [B ' Bsus B] [A ' Asus A] [E Esus E Esus] [A Asus A Asus] [B Bsus B Bsus] [A Asus A Asus] E hold
This one's fun, and EAZY! Play open Am. Slide it up 2 frets. Bm11/A Now slide it up one more fret, and drop your 4th finger down! C/A! Leave your 1st finger down. No need to lift it. Strum 5 strings. Just play them for a bit. It's fun and sounds great! B/E chord Am Bm11/A C/A Bm11/A % % % Am hold
Let's cover more of the fretboard using just ONE chord shape! Major7th chords sound sweet! Used in ballads, Blues, Country, Folk, Gospel! There are many "symbols" for Major 7th chords. MAJ7, Maj7, maj7, △ and °. We're going to play this two ways. 1). Using your 1st finger. 2). Adding a note. The chord names will remain the same. We're simply adding an extra root note. Dmaj7 Gmaj7 chord shape Dmaj7 chord shape Move the shape to the frets indicated, top row! Only strum the top 3 strings. D E F G A D C D C D C GA Dmaj7 Dmaj7 hold Now let's add the root to the bottom of the chord, and strum 4 strings. Play the chord using your 3rd finger. Add the root with your 1st. After playing the Dmaj7, you slide all 4 fingers together. Play the track again, following the bottom row. Tell me that's not cool!
Now we'll do basically the same thing as above, except we'll use an open D chord shape! D Chord shape D E F G A D C D C D C GA D D hold Now play it without the guitar in the track. One more time, but this time the bass stays on D. One one more time, but let's add the sus note! Play D. Add your 4th finger to make Dsus4. Then move it up as before, adding the sus4. Dsus4 chord [D D Dsus4 D] etc. D E F G A D C D C D C GA Dsus4 D D D Dmaj7 Dmaj7 hold Now play it with the band! * OK, the next two exercises makes doing this whole thing worth the effort! * Wanna really sound cool! Detune your low E string down to D. Play the progression again, strumming all strings! Just have fun with it! You can do the next 3 tracks in standard tuning if you want! Just strum the top 4 strings! But it sounds really cool detuned! With low E detuned down to D If there was a finale to this workshop, this would be it! Play the slower warm up until you have it down! Then work on the 2nd one! Both tracks play the same progression. But one is faster! D234 [Dsus4] % [D] % [Esus4] % [E] % [Fsus4] % [F] % [Gsus4] % [G] % [Asus4] % [A] % [Asus4] % A hold 1 2 3 4 [Asus4] [A] [Gsus4] [G] [Fsus4] [F] [Esus4] [E] [Dsus4] % [D] % [DSUS4 hold] [D hold] Warm Up (3X) Workout (3X) (Don't forget to tune back up before proceeding!)
OK, now for a really easy one! One chord shape. Move it around! C7 and Cmaj7 chord C7 and Cmaj7 chord Open C, add your 1st finger. C7! Move it up 2, D7. Up 2 more, E7. Up 1 more, F7. Up 2 more, G7. Up 2, A7! [C7] [D7] [E7] [F7] [G7] [F7] [E7] [D7] [C7 D7] [E7 F7] [G7 F7] [E7 D7] [Cmaj7] Cmaj7 hold
Now work on moving an open A chord. And the Asus4. The first one, play open A, then move it up to the 5th fret. A and C. A chord A C % ~ Now do the same, but add the sus notes to A and C. A ' Asus A C ' Csus % % % ~ Now move it around like we did the open E chord. AC A frets 2 and 5. CD C 5 and 7. DF D, 7 and 10. FE F, 10-9-10. A chord AC A CD C DF D FE F A hold % % % ~ Same as above, but adding the sus notes. A C D F A Asus - C Csus - D Dsus - F Fsus A Asus A - C Csus C - D Dsus D - F Fsus F % A Asus4 A - A A hold ~ Same as above, but let's make it A7! A7 Strum the top 4 strings [A ' A7 '] [C ' C7 '] [D ' D7 '] [F ' F7] % % A A7 A A hold Now play it one more time, but listen to how ambient the chords sound playing over a droned A bass note! (IE: Strum the A string for each chord!)

OK, you get the idea. Now go to the regular Workshop. There are more examples, and cool chord progressions, exercises and jam tracks. This one was just to get you familiar with moving chords you pretty much already knew. The full workshop will get you playing them a lot better! And the next time someone says . . . "Hey, you play guitar. Here, play something for us." You'll just say . . . "OK!" And play the 3 cool chord progressions you learn in the workshop, and blow their minds! * Go to the Moving Chords Workshops * If you enjoy the whole thing, spread the word! Got a question? Got an idea for a workshop or tutorial? Let me know! Email me, PM me on Facebook, or join my learning forum, I Just Wanna Play The Darn Thing! Have at it! Wayne Hope you find this interesting. If you do, please feel welcome to drop me a line. Email me, or drop me a PM on Facebook! Email me any time! ~/~ Wayne on Facebook * Back to the main Tutorials & Workshops Index Page * My Band Website Check out my Musician's & Performer's Learning Support Group Visit my Support Group, I Just Wanna Play The Darn Thing! My main Backing Tracks Support Website with over 45,100 free bacing tracks! SoundFont, MIDI editors and players and more! 270+ PAGES! All distributed for free! midi files website
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