Guitar Mastery Simplified: How Anyone Can Quickly Become a Strumming, Chords, and Lead Guitar Ninja (13 page)

C Major pentatonic scale - form 5

C Major pentatonic scale - all forms

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Remember from our study of the major scale that for every key there is a
certain set of notes that complement each other, as well as a certain set of
chords?  Have you ever wanted to know how a guitar player can play notes
effortlessly all over the guitar neck and the notes that they
choose,
always sound good?   Have you ever noticed that
your favorite guitar players don’t just play “standard” chords, but in fact
embellish and even play melodies over chord progressions, while they are
holding chords?  

I like to call this “chord
noodling,” meaning you are “noodling” around with different notes while still
playing the chords.  It’s a SUPER cool way of making a standard chord
progression sound PRO.
THAT is where the following
fretboard
noodling maps
REALLY come in handy!  Let’s say you are playing a song in the key of G
and the chords are G, C, E- and D.  You could use the Chord Noodling Map
in the key of G, to show you EXACTLY all the safe notes that you could “noodle”
with, while playing that chord progression.
So here is an exercise for you
.  If you know that a song is in one
of the keys represented in the following maps, try to come up with an
arrangement using some notes outside of the chord, but still in the key as
represented by the map.  If you DON’T know the key, use the
Number
System Chart
in this book to identify what key the song is in by matching
your chords with the appropriate key.  For instance, if your progression
is G, C, E-
and  D
, then your song is most likely
in the key of G and you would use the G map.  If your chord progression is
C, A-, F and G, then the song is most likely in the key of C and you would use
the C map.  Get it?  Note: Don’t get distracted by if the song needs
a capo or not.  If you are using a capo and playing the above chords, you
will still use the corresponding map.
Check out these videos, if you still need help
:
Guitar Chord Noodling Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FflbeCSPAMw
 
Guitar Chord Noodling Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZLtv-iN_Us

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Key of A

Key of C

Key of D

Key of E

Key of G

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Bar
chords, also known as
barre
chords
,
are
any chord that requires at least one finger to press down multiple strings
simultaneously (at the same time).  Bar chords allow guitarists to play
chords that are not restricted to the open strings.  Bar chords are known
as movable chords as each form can be moved up and down the neck in a linear
fashion.  That is, one bar chord formation will allow the guitar player to
play a chord in any key by merely moving it up or down the neck.

Bar chords can be used
in conjunction with open chords or
with other bar chords
.  Bar chords are sometimes necessary when a song
requires a chord to be played that cannot otherwise be played open.  Any
chord played in the open position can be replicated as a bar chord further up
the neck, given of course that the guitarist has built the strength and
dexterity to do so.

“So hold on Erich!  You are saying that
anything
I
play in the open position can be played further up the neck in bar chord
fashion to produce the same chord in every other key?”  Yes!  That
one concept alone will open your playing up quite a bit.  That means that
many of those open chords that you know already are going to become our
patterns or “templates” for the first set of bar chords that you should learn.

As you probably know already from watching my instructional
videos on my YouTube channels, many of my lessons are based around open chords
and the use of a capo.  I try to keep things as simple as possible when
teaching.  My philosophy is, “
there’s no need in complicating something
that’s not complicated.
”  There are plenty of intricate guitar parts
that cannot be simplified.  In those cases there is no way around it;
however, sometimes even the simplest of songs call for bar chords and there’s
no way around that, either.  The capo can be used to
limit bar chords
or change the forms of the open chords that you would use, but sometimes you
just have to play a bar chord.  In those cases wouldn’t it be nice to have
that ability?

Some guitar players might skip this section fearing the
dreaded bar chords.  While others may feel that their playing does not
lack without bar chords.  But that’s not you!  You want to excel as a
guitarist and I am going to help you!

That being said, bar chords are challenging for guitarists
who have never played them.  Remember you
and your hands
are
learning a new concept!  Please be patient with yourself during this process
and understand that everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Steve
Vai
had difficulty with bar chords in the beginning.

I have taught hundreds of students over several decades and
have never met a student, even my best, who got this concept immediately.
 
So be encouraged
,
take your time
, watch the videos and
enjoy the process.  There are literally thousands of bar chords, but here
we will only be using the ones that you will use the most.  The more you
practice them, the faster and better you will become.

I like to break the subject of bar chords down into two
sections:

1. Understanding the forms
   
2. Playing the chords
   

Understanding the Forms

Check out the bar chord diagrams
that follow the description below.  You will notice that I have separated
these as 6th string roots and 5th string roots in the bar chord diagrams later
in this chapter.  That means that the
root,
or
letter name of the chord is located on either the 6th or 5th string.  For
this first example see the 6th string bar chords page.  Now locate the
first major chord.  Does anything look familiar about that form?
 That form comes from our open E major or E chord.  Now look at the
minor chord form that is 2 chord forms to the right.  Now play an E minor
chord.  Do you see the similarity?  If not, hang with me!  Now
go to the bar chords page with the 5th string roots.  Look at the 3rd
chord.  This chord form comes from the A
minor(
A-)
chord.  Are you seeing the pattern?  If not, check my videos on bar
chords at: