Beautiful guitar chords often come from simple ideas, not hard shapes. Move one shape around the neck while the open E and B strings ring, keep one common note on top of different chords, spread out simple triads, turn a song’s chords into 7th chords and inversions, and learn drop 2 inversions so you have more shapes to choose from.
When I started playing guitar, to be honest, I really just played the basic chords, and I thought that’s it, that’s guitar. But I felt there was something more. In this lesson I go through simple concepts and ideas I learned during my time in New York.
How do you make simple chords sound lush? Let the open strings ring
Take one shape, like E major, and move it around the neck while the open E and B strings keep ringing. Just by moving the shape, you get very lush sounds.
The first song I think I wrote on guitar was exactly this. I remember understanding that I could take a shape, E major, and move it around. That lushness when you hear the E and B strings ringing is the cool thing about guitar. So try it out. Literally move the shape around and see what sounds good.
Then change the first chord from major to minor. In the video I play E minor, D major and C, with a C7 at the end, and solo over it with E minor pentatonic. We can make really cool music with very simple pieces of information.
Which chord shapes can you move around the neck?
Try a few voicings you love and slide them. Major 7 9 is one of my favorites. You can move it all around, and I love this voicing so much.
You can also take other shapes, like C major. That was another revelation for me, because I could take that chord and move it too. It won’t always work, because it’s a very lush sound, but some of these positions will. This is where your ear comes into play, and also your theory. Theory tells you what you’re getting: in one spot the shape gives you a 9, and with the open B you might also get a 6, which could work in a lot of cases because it’s super lush. Maybe you’ll have to add a finger or adjust. The idea is to really listen carefully to the sounds.
How do you connect chords with a common tone?
Pick one note and find chords that have it in common, then keep that note on top. It’s the same idea as the ringing E and B, made deliberate.
In the video I take F as the note and grab some lusher chords around it:
- B flat over D, with a 9. B flat major in first inversion with a C added. A favorite chord, super lush.
- D flat major 7. A classic shape, with F on top.
- G minor with F on top. Just barring the 3rd fret. With the F added, it’s a G minor 7 sound.
- A flat major 7 with the 6. F is the 6th of A flat.
The common tone links these chords together. Loop them and you can hear the center, and I solo over it with F pentatonic. The point is that we find a note we like and look for different shapes that work with it. If you want to build a whole loop this way, the neo soul guitar chords lesson starts from one note on top.
Do simple triads sound good on guitar?
Yes. After learning some cool shapes, I felt in a way that the basic stuff wasn’t cool, and again and again I find out how wrong I was. C major and G major are very beautiful sounds, and there’s a lot of power in triads.
Some registers of the guitar sound pretty amazing when you play simple things, even two notes, a 1 and a 3, moved around. One thing I use a lot: instead of an old-fashioned barre chord for B flat major, I spread it out, with the 3rd in one place and the 5th in another. It resonates a little differently to my ears, and each string set has its own sound. Then I play the same spread shape in its inversions.
Here’s the little progression from the video, all with that one spread shape:
- B flat major to B flat major in first inversion.
- E flat major, then C major over E. C in first inversion.
- F major, then F7 in third inversion. It resolves to B flat major in first inversion.
- B flat minor, then C sus to F.
You can see it as a little etude to understand the shapes. Once you start grasping them, they get easier and easier. For more on this, the guitar triads lesson goes through triads level by level.
I thought I don’t need to play a lot of chords if I can just solo. But the truth is, we can’t really solo well unless we know how to play chords.
Rotem Sivan
How do you make a song’s chords sound more beautiful?
Take a song or any progression you find cool and turn its chords into 7th chords, then inversions, then add extensions. I use Creep, which goes G major, B major, C major and C minor.
- Make them 7th chords. G major 7, B7, C major 7 and C minor 6, all as shell chords. I’m starting to lose the sound of the song, which is cool. I don’t need to play the song. I just want to get inspired.
- Use inversions. G major 7 in first inversion, B7 in first inversion, C major 7 in first inversion, then C minor 6 in root position.
- Keep a note on top and add extensions. In another area of the neck I liked the D on top, so I kept it. That gave me B7 sharp 9, then a flat 9, then C major 7 with a 9, and C minor 6, which is basically the same shape as A minor 7 flat 5, with a little 9 added.
This is getting a little more involved, but you want to be flexible with the information. It’s not something I could have done when I started playing guitar. I can do it now because I try every day to understand more of what I’m doing, to listen to the sounds and colors, and to feel the changes of the chords. Shell chords are a big part of this, and the shell chords lesson covers the four colors.
What are drop 2 inversions on guitar?
They’re a guitar-friendly way to voice 7th chords in every inversion. A 7th chord has four notes, 1, 3, 5 and 7. On piano you can stack them close together, but on guitar that close voicing isn’t really doable, so we use drop 2. In root position it comes out as 1, 5, 7, 3, the good old-fashioned voicing.
In the video I play F major 7 in every inversion, from the 6th string, the 5th string and the 4th string. Each inversion puts a different chord tone in the bass: F in root position, A in first inversion, C in second inversion and E in third inversion.
- Play them in a row. Go through all the inversions on one string set, in time, then shift between string sets so you create a flow of F major 7.
- Listen to the bass. Be aware of the sound, not only the shape.
- Listen to the top note. A lot of times you’re playing melodies, so the top note is pretty important. Sometimes I even accent it.
Here’s a practice idea for today. Take a song or progression you like and play it as shell 7th chords, then try each chord in first inversion, then keep one note on top and see which extensions you can add under it.
Learning the drop 2 inversions is a little bit of work, and it’s a hundred percent worth it. If you want to go through this properly, Jazz Chord Essentials rebuilds your chords from the ground up: how a 7th chord is built, the four main colors and every inversion on the 4th, 5th and 6th string sets. For the triad side, Triads Workshop builds triads into your hands and ears one short video at a time.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the easiest way to get beautiful chords on guitar?
Take an E major shape and move it around the neck while the open E and B strings ring. You get lush sounds right away, and you can switch the first chord to minor and solo over it with E minor pentatonic.
What’s a common tone chord progression?
It’s a set of chords that all share one note, played with that note on top. With F on top, you can move between B flat over D with a 9, D flat major 7, G minor with F on top (a G minor 7 sound) and A flat major 7 with the 6, and the shared F links them together.
What does drop 2 mean?
It’s a way to voice a four-note chord so it fits on guitar. The second note from the top of a close, piano-style voicing moves down an octave. Root position drop 2 comes out 1, 5, 7, 3, and you can play every inversion on the 6th, 5th and 4th string sets.
Pick one idea from this list, try it on a song you love today, and listen for what each new color does.
