Guitar chord vocab: close-voiced finger-stretchers

Intro: flex those fingers

Let’s get moody with close-voiced chords! These are most associated with keyboard instruments, where they’re the easiest chords to play, but they're much harder on guitar, so make sure you warm up before attempting these monster stretches…

D7

As we said before, these chords aren't for the faint-hearted, so let’s start gently(-ish) with this D7.

E6

Just take it slowly, and make sure your thumb is right behind the neck. Applying an even spacing across the top four strings gives us this E6, which will also work as an Amaj7 without a root (get your bassist to play that) or a C#m7.

C7

Shifting the same shape across to the next four strings gives us another dominant 7 shape. The root of the chord is on the B string, so this is C7…

G7add6

And if all that hasn’t brought tears to your eyes, try this one. It’s shimmeringly ambiguous, and will work as a G7add6, an Fmaj9 or even - with your bassist providing the root - a Dm13.