guitar chords

[wordsAREcancer]

I've only been playing guitar continuosly for a year and a half...I picked it up in 8th grade and a teacher taught me my first chords (A, E, and G haa)....I guess you can say I'm alright at it, not pro or anything. I like to learn rhythm parts.

My question is....when I go to tab sites and look at the chords people put up for songs, they're always the same five or six chords usually: A(m), E(m), D, F, C, and G....maybe an F#m or Esus2 here and there, but usually those chords. I don't take lessons so I've been teaching myself, so I don't really know the reason why it's only those chords that pop up all the time!

For example, I know a lot of Brand New songs, but when I watch live videos of their performances they're not playing what I learned, although it's the same sound. Does it have to depend on tuning, or do people just resort to using those basic chords cause they're too lazy to figure out the real ones? I can't really explain what I want to know in words....help me out, please!

[pshh]

get lessons

[Brock]

Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F, G make up the basic chords in the C major scale. They can all be played as "open chords" on guitar (except Bdim - which is rarely used anyways because it just sounds ugly - the D major chord is used much more in the C major scale for a little tension) which means that you aren't barring any strings with your index finger. With a capo, you can play the standard chords in any major key as open chords by simply stepping up each chord a half-step/step/etc along with the entire key. So... a capo on the 2nd fret takes you a whole tone or 2 steps up to the key of D major. Play a C->Am->F->G progression with a capo on the 2nd fret and you are actually just playing D->Bm->G->A (each chord is stepped up a whole tone).

Open chords are the easiest to play and usually sound a lot "fuller" than barred chords so they are preferred to barre chords. Also, almost all pop songs are written in a major key with so there's no need to pull out any strange chords.

Brand New may be playing the barre chord versions or power chord interpretations of the progressions you learned with open chords. I don't really know.

[wordsAREcancer]

at this time in my life, I am not financially able to pay for my lessons, nor my parents

[Brock]

at this time in my life, I am not financially able to pay for my lessons, nor my parents
Was I of any help?

[OveriseFan]

Hah, Do you know theory at all? I'd recommend just learning that if you're questioning this. It's a good thing to know.

Anyway, to keep it short, I'll just say that a chord is made up of more than 2 notes. SO, you can play three notes anywhere on the fretboard, and get the same base 'chord', in theory, even if it has different notes added to it (These are what the G7, G6, Asus2, etc. mean...)

So think of it like this: You can play a C chord at the 3rd fret on the A string[C], 2nd fret D string[E], and then an open G string, and that is a C major chord.

You can also play it with the G string open, 1st fret B string, the E string open. This is called an inversion, because the root note isn't actually the lowest note in the chord, it's the middle.

It's still a C major chord, but in a different formation.

That's the simplest I can explain it, sorry. Check out www.musictheory.net (http://www.musictheory.net), and start working your way through the lessons. If your school offers it: Take the class, otherwise you might want to look into it in college.

[wordsAREcancer]

Thank you, Overrise Fan and Brock! You two are awesome.

Yeah I kinda understand what you guys are explaining. I don't really use a capo that much (even though I SHOULD, cause there are a lot of songs I wanna learn that say I need one). I plan on buying one soon or stealing one from my friend :oP

And yes, I do plan on taking guitar lessons....I'm going to college and I can take guitar as a class there. So I plan on learning all that stuff you guys just told me more in depth.

Thanks for the music theory link too!