Frank Gambale 'Magic Chords' 1

Some years ago, guitarist Frank Gambale had a regular monthly column in Guitar Player magazine. Some of his monthly columns looked at what he described as Magic Chords. These are advanced guitar chords that are constructed differently to regular triads and are therefore a little ambiguous. The good thing about this is that we can use this chords in several different contexts.

The first Magic Chord is constructed from intervals 1, 2 and 5 or C, D and G if we're in C. We might think of this as being a Csus2 chord:  

Here's the fingering for this guitar chord:

It's not necessary or sometimes even possible to play all of the notes in a chord, so we can also think of this same chord in the same position in several different ways. Here are some examples of how we could use this same chord - the intervals we're using from the chord are after the chord symbol:

C, D, G
Csus2 (1, 2, 5)
D11(b7, 1, 11)
Ebmajor 13 (13, 7, 3)
F69 (5, 6, 9)
Gsus4 (4, 5, 1)
Abmaj7#11 (3, #11, 7)
Am11 (b3, 11, b7)
Bb69 (9, 3, 6)

We can use our one Magic Chord in place of 8 different chords all with the same fingering in the same position.

The chord can function as:
C, D, F, Bb and G dominant 7th chords
C, Eb, F, Bb, Ab, G major7th chords
C, A, D, G, F minor 7th chords

That's a lot of possible uses for one chord. Try using this magic chord in some of the songs you usually play and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord of the Day.   

Blues Guitar Chords: Chord Scale

Today's guitar chord of the day post takes a different turn and includes eight guitar chords! We've looked at some of these chord inversions but this post puts them in a new context.

All of the chords presented are inversions or extensions of C7, so can be played in place of C7 in a blues progression. The interesting thing about this progression is that the top note of the series of chords plays through a C Mixolydian Scale.

The first is a C7 chord with a C root note on top

The second chord is a C9 chord with the 9th, D on top.

The third chord is a C7 chord with the 3rd, E on top.

The fourth chord is a C11 chord with the 11th, F on top.

The fifth chord is a C9 chord with the 5th, G on top.

The sixth chord is a C13 chord with the 13th, A on top.

The seventh chord is a C7 chord with the 7th, Bb on top.

The final chord is a C7 chord with the root note, C on top.

As we can play any one of these chords in place of a regular C7 we can play melodies with our rhythm parts - this sounds much more interesting than playing just one inversion for an extended period of time. Try linking these together and making up your own combinations of these chords and tune in tomorrow for another guitar chord of the day.

Hard Day's Night Opening Guitar Chord

Today's guitar chord of the day is the famous first guitar chord from The Beatles 'A Hard Day's Night' from the film and album of the same name.

Here's is the actual guitar chord played by George Harrison for the 'A Hard Day's Night' intro:

Underneath this guitar chord, Paul McCartney played a D note on the bass, there was also a further piano chord in the mix. This is the reason that the naming of George Harrison's chord has been subject to some debate over the years. As we've mentioned in previous Guitar Chord a Day posts, there are many guitar chords that are synonyms - chords that have the same notes that can be named differently depending on their function.

If we assume that this chord is functioning as a G, we would name it G11 or G11/D taking into account the bass note. We've looked at other 11th guitar inversions here.

The notes of G11 are: G, (B), D, F, A, C - though the 3rd (B) is almost always omitted.

If we assume the chord is functioning as a D we could name the chord Dm11.
The notes of Dm11 are: D, F, A, C, E G

As you can see the notes of Dm11 and G11 are very similar and this has led to some of the confusion of the chord name.

Although the above inversion is the chord that George Harrison actually played for the opening of A Hard Day's Night, if you're playing this song without a bass player to play the D, it might work best if you play this inversion. Here we've included the open D string instead of the F on the 3rd fret.

Subscribe to the RSS feed and check back tomorrow for another Guitar Chord of the Day

Eb11

We've featured a number of dominant chords and an alternative 11th inversion on guitar chord of the day before.. This Eb11 inversion has its root on the A string as indicated by the black square in the chord diagram.

11th chords can be played in the place of most 7th chords, in place of chord V in major keys. It also quite often precedes a dominant chord e.g:
Eb11 /Eb7

Technically 11th chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, b7, 9, 11 however in practice the 3rd and often the 5th are usually left out.
Eb11 uses these notes: Eb, G, Bb, Db, F, Ab
Our inversion uses these notes in the this order: Eb, Ab, Db, F with an additional optional Bb on the top E string. Eb11th can also be thought of as an Db major triad with an Eb root note, this is written as a 'slash chord 'Db/Eb'.

Tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day.

B11

We've featured a number of dominant chords and minor11th chords on guitar chord of the day before, but this is our first inversion of a dominant 11th chord. This B11 inversion has its root on the E string as indicated by the black square in the chord diagram. For a reminder on how to read chord diagrams have a look at the first guitar chord of the day post. You can either play the roont note with your 3rd finger, or play it with your thumb a 'la Hendrix

11th chords can be played in the place of most 7th chords, in place of chord V in major keys. It also quite often precedes a dominant chord e.g:
B11 / B7

Officially 11th chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, b7, 9, 11 though usually the 3rd and often the 5th are left out.
B11 uses these notes: B, D#, F#, A, C#

Our inversion uses these notes in the this order: B, A, C#, E with an additional optional A or B on the top E string. B11th can also be thought of as an A major triad with a B root note, this is written B/A (B over A).

Tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day.