To guitar players: which chord is this?

[MaxSynths]

Unexperienced guitar player wannabe asks:

I was messing with my guitar and I've found an interesting chord progression but I don't know the last chord what it is... I'm playing it like a Dmaj chord but transposed one fret up (only the last three strings playing). Does this chord have a name? How should I name it on my post it?


Cheers,
Max

[someone called simon]

if you're talking about this...

an ordinary D:

2
3
2
0
0 (or not played)
x (not played)

moved up a fret to:

3
4
3
x
x
x

...and your only playing the top 3 strings, its just an Eb triad. move it up another fret and its an E, another and its an F. Is that what you mean? if you're fretting all the notes of a chord (ie no open strings sounding), and you move it up or down a fret, you're playing the next chord up or down. Thats pretty basic and obvious, maybe you are talking about something else?

[MaxSynths]

Yes, it's exactly what I meant! Thank you very much Simon
I know it's basic stuff but I'm really a newbie

Max

[someone called simon]

oh good. Sorry to sound all superior there! Hope that helps you understand the way chords work on guitar and stuff....

[MaxSynths]

Oh no, no need to apologize After all it was really obvious!!

Ehm... another question:

what about a standard Emaj with the finger playing the second string instead of the third (on the first fret)?

0
1
0
2
2
0

To me sounds like a Cmaj but what is?

[D.H. Miltz]

According to this site, which you might find useful, it is a Cmaj7.

[someone called simon]

Sorry, its not really a Cma7, though it does contain the notes you need for that chord.

The low bass notes tend to help define the chord. so the bottom three notes, E B E, anchor it as an E of some kind most likely.

Do you know a bit about theory, like most simple chords are made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th?
E being the first. Going up the scale, G is 3rd, and B is 5th.

Now with this chord, you moved your finger from 1st fret of the 3rd string to the same place on the 2nd string (perhaps my accident???) what you did there was lower that 3rd string note from G# to G natural, thus making it an E minor rather than E major.... So its not an E MAJOR any more...
Then you put your finger on the 1st fret of the second string. Open, thats the B string, so you are now playing a C. Thats the one odd note with the chord.

You remember I said the 5th in an E chord was B? well, you've moved it up to a C. So i would call it an Em aug5. Augmented is up one step... You could also call it Em #5, or for the matter Em b6, as the 6th not of the scale is C#, so the C natural can be defined either as a #5, or a flat 6.

One thing about that chord, is that the low B (2nd fret 5th string) and the higher C we have been talking about are dissonant together, play those 2 together, and its not pretty. That used to concern me, I would have suggested muting the 5th string, but it doesn't bother me so much now!

Another thing, It depends on context. If for example you DID mute that 5th string, and played a chord sequence like this: C - 'your chord' - F, I would call the chord a C/E, or C with E bass. Because functionally, it still sounds like the C before it, its just the bass note moving to an E to help lead up the next F chord.

But If you're playing a sequence around E chords. it comes a cross a variation on an E

too much information?

[D.H. Miltz]

which you might find useful

Given the above, perhaps not.

[MaxSynths]

I was about to thanks D.H. Miltz... Well thank you anyway!

Do you know a bit about theory, like most simple chords are made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th?

Yes

Now with this chord, you moved your finger from 1st fret of the 3rd string to the same place on the 2nd string

...right...

You remember I said the 5th in an E chord was B? well, you've moved it up to a C. So i would call it an Em aug5.

[...]

so the C natural can be defined either as a #5, or a flat 6.

[...]

Another thing, It depends on context. If for example you DID mute that 5th string, and played a chord sequence like this: C - 'your chord' - F, I would call the chord a C/E, or C with E bass.

Ok, so we can say it's a C if the 5th string is muted, right? I understand the context can "change" the name of a chord and looking at my keyboard it's very easy to understand (really basic stuff). BTW I have a doubt: you said the B is dissonant... but if we add the B of the 5th string we are simply changing the C into a Cmaj7, as suggested by Miltz! Yes the B is transposed in a lower position but the chord is a Cmaj7... where I'm wrong?

too much information?

Not at all!

[someone called simon]

Jolly good! I can see i have probably misconstrued your guitar inexperience to mean general theory inexperience, but i see know its more like transferring the knowledge on keys over to guitar....

Ok, so we can say it's a C if the 5th string is muted, right? I understand the context can "change" the name of a chord and looking at my keyboard it's very easy to understand (really basic stuff). BTW I have a doubt: you said the B is dissonant... but if we add the B of the 5th string we are simply changing the C into a Cmaj7, as suggested by Miltz! Yes the B is transposed in a lower position but the chord is a Cmaj7... where I'm wrong?

Well perhaps not in 'theory', I'm not sure, um.. 'legally' speaking... but if someone asked you to play a Cmaj7 chord on keys, would it ever occur to you to use that inversion? The 7ths etc that you add to the chord are invariably higher than the tonic/bass note. If you left the low E out of the chord, and played this sequence on piano: C - 'your chord' - Am, I'd have called it C/B, rather than Cmaj7, even though they both contain B, C, G, E.
Played low to high B, E, G, C, sounds different to C, E, G, B right? One sounds like a Cmaj 7, the other doesn't....

Also, this may just be me, but I always find the interval of (for eg) Low B, High C, more dissonant than Low C, High B.

[Nystul]

Well perhaps not in 'theory', I'm not sure, um.. 'legally' speaking... but if someone asked you to play a Cmaj7 chord on keys, would it ever occur to you to use that inversion? The 7ths etc that you add to the chord are invariably higher than the tonic/bass note.

Careful now. Here is a textbook ii-V-I left hand voicing in C: CEFA, BEFA, BCEG. Having the E on bottom is also of course a possibility. Where we talk about which inversions or voicings are appropriate it's not a simple topic, because it will depend on the harmonic context, the style of the music, which octave we are working in, is there a bass player in the band who is going to be sitting on the root notes anyway...

It's probably not going to sound like C maj7 on a guitar if you play open E, B, E as the lowest three notes. But the reasons for that are kind of sophisticated and the original question seems to be more along the lines of, how do I figure out what notes I am playing on the fretboard?

[childrenofpop]

0
1
0
2
2
0

E minor with an added b6th

this is a bad sound imo

[someone called simon]

Careful now. Here is a textbook ii-V-I left hand voicing in C: CEFA, BEFA, BCEG.

Sure, fair enough, my explanation was a generalization. But you're not gonna play those cluster chords down in the range of the bottom strings of a guitar.... you can play a nice cmaj7 on guitar using this, one ocatve higher.

O
O
5
5
3
x

it has the B and C right next to each other and does indeed work fine....

I maintain the original chord in question is never really gonna sound like a Cmaj7 with that low B and higher C... raise the Low B to C, and lower the higher C to B and it suddenly would.... That's kinda the point I'm trying to make.