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.   

G Major 13

Today's Guitar Chord of the Day is G Major 13. We've featured a few alternative Major 13th chords here. Major 13 chords can also be written Δ13, so G Major 7, G maj13 and GΔ13 all refer to the same guitar chord.
Here's the fingering for this chord, let the top E and B strings ring out.

Major 13 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13, though the 11th is usually left out.

The notes of G Major 13 are: G, B, D, F#, A, (C), E
Our inversion uses the notes in this order: G, D, F#, A, B, E

Tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day.

F major13 Guitar Chord

Today's Guitar Chord of the Day is F major13. Major 13's are beautiful sounding guitar chords and can be played in place of regular major 7 chords.
If you like this chord, you can play a few other Major 13 guitar chords here. Playing this chord involves a bit of a stretch, but it sounds great so is well worth it:

Major 13 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13, though the 11th is usually left out.
The notes of F Major 13 are: F, A, C, E, G, (Bb), D
Our inversion uses the notes in this order: F, C, D, E, A

Major 13 chords can also be written Δ13, so F Major 7, F maj13 and FΔ13 all refer to the same guitar chord.

Don't forget you can use Guitar Chord Of The Day as a chord dictionary by looking up different inversions and types of chords using the labels and tags. Learn a new guitar chord every day by subscribing to the RSS feed - tune up and tune in tomorrow for another Guitar Chord Of The Day

E major13

Emajor 13: Stevie Ray Vaughan 'Lenny' Chord
Major 13 chords are beautiful sounding chords to play on the guitar. Today's guitar chord is the day is E Major 13. We've looked at another very nice sounding Major13 guitar chord here. Today's E major 13 guitar chord is used extensively in the Stevie Ray Vaughan song Lenny, from the Texas Flood album.  Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm style on this instrumental ballad is heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix.

If you want to play this Major 13 chord in other keys, you can leave out the open string. This guitar chord has the root note on the 7th fret, the top two guitar strings are barred across with the little finger.
Major 13 chords can be played in place of major 7th chords, and often in place of major chords. It can replace I and IV chords.

Major 13 chords use these degrees of the major scale: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13, though almost always the 11th is left out.

The notes of E Major 13 are:  E, G#, B, D#, F#, A, C#
Our inversion uses the notes in this order: E, E, B, D#, G#, C#

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