Four Finger Chords

The first one is called B dominant seventh (that's B7 for short). Here it is...

As usual practice changing between B7 and all the other chords you know before you try the next exercise.

Exercise 32 The first chord change in this exercise is from Em to B7. You might want to try holding Em down with your second and third fingers instead of first and second. That way you share a common second finger with both chords. Listen to Exercise 32 sound file * then pick up your guitar and play it yourself. Nothing too difficult there was there? Although the B7 chord uses four fingers, they seem to land on the right spot without too much pain.

The chord diagram below shows a C dominant seventh chord (C7). All you need to do is hold down a C major chord then add your fourth finger to the third fret on the third string. Try it...

Unfortunately you won't always have the luxury of changing from C major to C7, so it might be a good idea to practice changing to and from some other chords as well.

Exercise 33 This exercise uses the C7 chord, firstly with an easy chord change from C major, then with a not quite as easy change from D7 (with a common first finger). Another new music symbol appears at the start of bar nine. This is the front repeat sign. It means that when you hit the end repeat sign at the end of the second last bar, only go back as far as the front repeat sign when you start to repeat. Don't forget the first and second endings. You'll know what I mean if you listen to exercise 33 sound file * and follow through the chord chart with your eyes. Give it a go. You might find that your fourth finger sometimes won't go exactly where it's told to. That's quite normal. It's the weakest finger of all and it takes some time to gain complete control. Just keep using it and the muscles will become stronger.

The B minor (Bm) is arguably the most difficult of the beginning chords. It's not an open chord because no open strings should sound when you strum it (see the X next to the fifth and sixth strings). Here it is...

There aren't any common fingers between Bm and any of the chords you have learnt so far. Practice changing very slowly to and from Bm, firstly placing your fingers on first, second, third, fourth, then try forming the chord in mid air before placing all your fingers down together (as you learnt in the chapter entitled Still More Open Chords).

Exercise 34 All the chords you have learnt on this page appear in this exercise. If you listen to Exercise 34 sound file * you'll notice there's plenty of time to get from one chord to the next (remember the half beat rhythm notation symbols I talked about in the chapter entitled Playing Arpeggios?). There are nine different chords here so it'll really test your memory. Give it a go. .

Well that's about the end of this tutorial. When I get more time I hope to add more lessons. If you follow the link to the next page you'll get a brief summary of what you did (or didn't) learn and also a few ideas on how to continue in your quest for guitar supremacy!

 
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Copyright ©1997 Kim Wainwright.