If you are just joining us you can get up to speed by going through Part 1 of this series ***here***

Minor Chords

So by now you should be getting use to seeing chords a more than just shapes. There is a reason each note is where it is. The sound of each chord it determined by how the notes are put together. Minor chords are very similar to Major chords in structure with only one note being different. As you learn the minor chords below notice how each major chord changes into a minor chord and what notes change. When an A major changes to an A minor the C# changes to a C. That’s it. very simple! We will get into how this works in the big picture later on in the series. For now as you learn the notes in each major chord, learn which notes change in the minor chord and you’ll find that if you know the major chords you are 2/3 there.

A Word On Chord Dictionaries

When I first started with guitar I picked up a couple of chord dictionaries. Whenever I ran across a chord I didn’t know I opened the page and randomly picked 1 of the 25 versions of that chord on the page. During this process I started to realize that the chord choices never sounded very good. I didn’t have control over what the chord sounded like and the context that it was in. Two things, as we will learn later, are very important when choosing the chords you play.

So as you go through this series I will take you through everything you need to know about chords so you can make up your own chords to suite the music you are playing as well as play the chords you are hearing in the music you are listening to in your head or on your ipod. Just in case you didn’t get the direction I was going, don’t waste your money on chord dictionaries. Take the discipline and time to figure out how things work. It’s worth it!

Putting The Chords Together

So far we know C, A, Amin, G, E, Emin, D, and Dmin. Let’s combine these chord together in what is called a chord progression. Here are some basic progressions that will always sound good together. Take time to go through each one listening to how each chord sounds together with the others in the progression.

Practice each progression several times over. Most verses or choruses to songs are 8 or 16 measures. So make each progression sound like a section from a song, repeating it at least 4 times. Practice it will a metronome a slow tempo strumming once every the metronome sounds and playing 4 beats (strums) per chord. A good way to practice it is to play each progression for 2 min, take a break and move play the same progression for 2 minutes. Do that 5 times per progression. If you work at it this way you will notice a huge improvement by the end of the week.