Part 2: The Ying Yang nature of Major and Minor Chord Shapes

Still have those root notes memorized? Honestly, it’s as easy as getting a song stuck on your head then having the patience and know-how to throw it on a fretboard.

I promise that you won’t have to listen to this song ever again after this lesson, but let’s stick with Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours to build upon what we already know.

Once we understand the basic concept of applying a major or minor chord shape ‘on top’ of the root note we’ve already discovered through ear training, we can begin to easily determine chord progressions in most songs.

So let’s do that now.

Part 2: Applying Major and Minor Chord Shapes to Root Notes.

Let’s go back to that first lyric of I’m Yours and hum out the root note again, just like we did in part 1 of this series. Hold this note in your head.

  • Match the note you’re humming with the same note on the low E-string: this process is simple enough – just pick the open low E-string and continue going up fret-by-fret until you find the right note. Sticking with I’m Yours, you’ll find the correct note when you eventually slide up to the 8th fret of the Low E-string. It’s not important for now to know what note this is.
  • Repeat the same process on the A-string: simply pluck the open a string and go up fret-by-fret until the note on the guitar matches the note you’ve been humming (or by now is imprinted into your mind). If you do this with I’m Yours, then you’ll find the correct note at the 3rd fret of the A-string.
  • Now apply the respective E-string or A-String MAJOR Chord Shape: That is, either choose the 3rd fret of the A-String, or the 8th fret of the E-string (notice that they are the same note), and apply the follow shape over top the root note:

A-String Major ShapeScreen Shot 2014-08-27 at 10.47.08 AM or : Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 10.47.18 AM

E-String Major Shape

Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 10.48.39 AM or :Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 10.49.53 AM

The two chords shapes above simply represent 2 ways of playing a C MAJOR BARRE CHORD. “Barre” chords contrast to open chords (i.e., the first ‘cowboy’ chords we often learn on guitar) because the shape can be moved anywhere on the fretboard. 

  • Repeat the above process for the other root notes in the progression: for the sake of keeping this short, the 4 root notes in order of the progression look like the following:
    • Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 10.53.55 AM
    • We’ve already done the chord shape for the #1 chord in the progression, so let’s figure out the rest.
    • 2 – Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 10.55.59 AM or Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 10.56.06 AM
    • 3 – **NOTICE** That applying the major shape over the 5th fret root doesn’t sound quite right. This is because it’s not the same chord in the song. BUT DON’T WORRY. If the chord is not MAJOR, there is only one other possibility, namely that it is a MINOR chord.
  • The MINOR Chord Shape: Having the major shape above built into muscle memory makes learning this new shape very simple. There is only a one-note difference between major and minor chords (i.e., lowering the 3rd – don’t worry about this for now), and it looks like this when applied to barre chords:

A-string Minor Shape: Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 11.04.45 AM or Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 11.04.55 AM

E-string Minor Shape:
Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 11.00.38 AMor

Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 11.00.49 AM

    • For the sake of simplicity and staying within one section of the fretboard, the obvious choice to use in this progression is the e-string root on the 5th fret, though they can be interchanged at any point as a means of improvisation and adding a little bit of ‘colour’.

Now that you know both the E-string and the A-string root barre chord shapes for both major AND minor chords, the world is yours. Seriously, though. Finding out the last chord to the progression should be easy enough without any guidance.

We know that the last chord has a root note on the 1st fret, so all that is left to do is a very simple trial and error to determine if it is a major or minor chord. This will be very obvious to your ear. Yes, you guessed right, it is a major chord!

So that’s it! You’ve just learned a song by ear!
In case you’re wondering….
3rd fret of A string, major shape = C major
3rd fret of E string, major shape = G major
5th fret of E string, minor shape = A minor
1st fret of E string, major shape = F major

SO put all together, Jason Mraz’s “I’m yours” is a simple 4 chord progression of:

C – G – Am – F.

Next week we’ll build upon our knowledge of root notes and chord shapes, and consider the importance of improvising rhythms whether using a pick/plectrum or finger-picking.

Cheers,
Johnny

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