MusicRadar

In this tutorial we're concentrating solely on chords and chordal ideas, and the following pages will act as a compendium of great chord fingerings. The audio examples start with simple chords like triads and power chords and then build in complexity as we move on to extended, altered and slash chords.

We sometimes refer to various chords as 'voicings'. This is just a fancy name for how many notes there are in a chord and the order in which these notes are placed. For example, an A major chord contains the notes A, C# and E. A guitarist can choose how to play (voice) this chord on the fretboard; notes can be repeated and placed in different orders to create new sounds.

Many of the examples in this feature sound good because of the voicings we have chosen so it's well worth learning them and including them in your playing. For each chord type we have referenced iconic tunes and bands that have used the chord in question and this will help to put its use and sound in context.

Quick links:

1. Intro
2. Two note chords
3. Triads
4. sus chords
5. Triads with extensions (Add chords)
6. 7th chords
7. 9th chords
8. 11th chords
9. 13th chords
10. 6/9 chords
11. Altered dominant chords
12. Slash chords
13. Other chords

Chord types

We have divided the chord types into the following types: triads, sus chords, add chords, 7th chords, extended chords, 9th, 11th, 13th, altered dominants and slash chords. Each chord example has a brief explanation of its intervallic construction so you can memorise the structure and experiment with your own voicings.

Many of the examples in this feature are created by harmonising the major scale in diatonic thirds. Take for instance the C major scale (C D E F G A B); if we stack thirds from C major we get C, E and G, which creates a C major triad. If we continue this process we add B (major 7th), D (9th) and so on, right up to A (13th). If we start on D then a D minor chord is created (D F A) and so on.

For slash chord notation, remember that the first letter is the triad and the second letter is the bass note. Therefore the A/B chord would be an A major triad (A C# E) with a B bass note. The other area the article touches on is the altered dominant chord. This has a standard root, major 3rd and minor 7th intervallic construction.

In addition to these three standard dom7 chord tones, we can add altered 9th and 5th degree scale tones, namely the b9, #9, b5 and #5.

First up: two note chords

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