[ezekiel666]

I'm looking for a chord sequence to put some lyrics to, i can learn any new chords as long as they dont have a finger bar, because i havent nailed that yet. So something kinda soft and smooth any suggestions?

[dadfad]

A few maybe. James Taylor was fond of using add9 chords sometimes, like Eadd9 (024100) and Add9 (X02420). You might try an E progression using Eadd9 to Aadd9, to Eadd9 to Aadd9 to B9 (X21222) and then back to Eadd9. Or in the key of A try Aadd9 to Dmaj7(X00222) to Aadd9 to Dmaj7 to Eadd9.

Messing with minors more, maybe try an Am9 (and this can be a twister at first to hold for a lot of people, myself included!) X02413 to Am (X02210) to Dm (X00231) and back to Am9. (You can start off more easily using just a simplified Am add9 (X02410) until your fingers get used to it a bit.)

Maj7's are kind of pretty. Like Amaj7 X02120 to Dmaj7 X00222 to E7 020100 and back to Amaj7.

Using modal suspended-type chords like A (X02220) to A 6/9sus4 (X04430) to Esus4 (X06650) and either return back down the neck again, or to a simple E7 (020100). And then back to an A or Amaj7.

Take this SHAPE... X2122X held XMIRPX (which happens to be a B9) and try that same SHAPE in different places up and down the neck for a slightly jazzier feel.

Anyway, there are a few ides for some relatively easy (well, not that Am9 maybe!) chords that give a smoother of softer kind of feeling. JUst experiment around with them in different orders, rhythms, etc until you find something you like. Hope that gives you a few ideas.

And welcome to GTU.

[arasguitarist]

Im not sure if you know these are use these a lot, but a lot of times I just make up my own with G, C, D, Am, and E. Easy chords and any type of progression sounds good with them.

[ninjato]

I'm looking for a chord sequence to put some lyrics to, i can learn any new chords as long as they dont have a finger bar, because i havent nailed that yet. So something kinda soft and smooth any suggestions?

Well then start working on that barre because you'll be severely limited. Certain jazz chords don't use barre up the neck but requires other things like muting certain strings while holding down the chord so they can be tough also if you are not used to it.

Do you know these chords in the first position?
C D E F G A Dm Em Fm Gm Am C7 D7 E7 G7 A7 Dm7 Em7 Am7? You can pick from these and make something up.

Then learn to play the same chords using barre chords up the neck, so effectively giving you at least two places to play the same chord.

Check out http://www.guitarprinciples.com there is a lot of info there on how and what to practice.

[mandolinrain]

C Am F G man you can't go wrong with that ######

Then get a capo and use it in every song in different keys haha

Nah that progression has been used by Dylan etc, and its the base for so many great songs

I like Cadd9, like the previous learned gentleman was talking about, you can get some nice variations like that

Simon and Garfunkel used to use a lot of minor 7th chords (I think) or something

Trial and error man

[lolmerule]

just do any chords until you find a sequence you like thats the best way to do it

[halfmoonbay]

I like progressions like this where you've got some pedal tones going on:

CODE

    Cadd9    Em7    G     A7thsus4
E|--3--------3------3-----3--|
B|--3--------3------3-----3--|
G|--0--------0------0-----2--|
D|--2--------2------0-----2--|
A|--3--------2------2-----0--|
A|------------------3--------|

[ezekiel666]

Wow, cheers guys, I'll get to that
*begins to tune guitar*

[Ted Zeppelin]

There is also something called the circle of fifths. This can guide you in progressions pretty well.

The outside ring is major chords and the inside ring is minor.
Basically how it works in the most basic sense is you pick a key that you want to play a song in. In this example we will use C major. The five chords surrounding C major; F major, D minor, A minor, E minor, and G major, and then C major of course will sound good in progressions. Therefore you can use a C, Dm, Am, G progression. It is a good tool to use and memorize when writing songs.

And then of course you use variations in the chords 7ths, major 7ths, 9ths, add9s, sus4s and so on to give it more color

This post has been edited by Ted Zeppelin: 14 May 2006 - 02:34 PM