Are you getting tired of playing the same old boring open chords? Well there's many things you
can do to kind of spruce things up but I'm gonna show you one technique that's pretty easy that'll
help your open chords come alive even better. I'm gonna show you an exercise at the end
so that you can integrate these techniques into your playing and as a bonus it's gonna
sound pretty good because I just took these from a variety of pop and easy rock songs.
The technique involves creating some tension and release within the chord. This subtle
movement keeps it interesting and keeps your listeners engaged. Let me show you what I mean.
For this first example, I'm going to use a standard D chord. We're going to create
some motion by changing the D into a Dsus2 and a Dus4 so here's your D chord. So to make it a sus2
I'm going to take the second figure off by putting the second finger back on it goes back to a
D chord. Now for a sus4 we're gonna use the pinky and the two work well together
and if you're up for it you can get a nice modern sound by using a pull off and a hammer on.
Now we're using an A chord and it's very similar to the D chord. I'm creating Asus2 and Asus4.
Now we'll start with the sus4 and I'll use the pinky for that. Now I'm using a one two
three finger A chord. Some people like to shift the third finger up. I find
it more convenient to use the pinky so I'll put the pinky down to make Dsus4.
Release. Can you feel the tension subtle? But ah it feels good to just go back to the A chord.
Now to create Dsus2 I'm going to release that third finger. To resolve it, put it back down.
Dsus2 by itself sounds good, kind of exotic sounding or a little bit eerie.
Now on to the E chord. Not so easy to make Asus2 but Dsus4 sounds really good. We'll make your
basic E chord to make it Asus4. Put the pinky down next to the third finger. Oh, good sound.
Here's one that's used a lot by a lot of pop groups including the Eagles, Cat Stevens.
I could go on and on. We're actually creating motion here by going from the G to an A minor7
that's just one name for it but leaving the G note in the bass and actually in the treble as well,
so here's how you do it. I'm gonna need the three finger G with the pinky for this one.
So I've got my G chord here and to make the Aminor7 I move the second finger over one string
that's the fourth string second fret and put the first finger down.
You see it kind of looks like a combination between A C and the G.
It has a similar suspended feel and resolves back to the G.
The final chord for this lesson is the C chord and you're probably thinking what
could you possibly do to improve a beautiful C chord. Well what I'm doing here is I'm
adding a high G note that's still a C chord actually but I've just changed the voicing
that means when you have the same notes of the chord but you rearrange them.
In this case I'm changing the upper voicing to be a high G. It makes a nice variety. Now the second
note I was adding was a D note with my pinky that's on the second fret second string
and that actually makes it into a Csus2 so we have C with a G and the high note
and then a Csus2 resolving back to a C.
Now that you've seen how this works it's time to put them into action
and the best way I've found to do that is to put all the techniques into one exercise.
This will help you to be able to truly use the technique and integrate it into your playing.
I call this the open chord enrichment exercise. I'm going to keep a consistent
strum throughout this exercise so we can focus on the chord enhancement so to speak.
Let's start off with learning the chords and I'll show you the strum. We'll start out with a D chord
and we're going to go to a Dsus4 with a pinky and then we're going to take that off back to a D
and change it to a Dsus2. Try that with me right quick. Make your D chord, pinky down, pinky up
and second finger up. Now for the A chord, we're going to start with a pinky down,
pinky up that makes it an A, Asus2 with a third finger up and then back to an A
that's an Asus4 with a pinky. Try it with me. Make your A chord, pinky down, pinky up,
third finger up and then back to A. The E chord is going to be a little easier because you only got
Asus4. Try it with me. Make your E chord. Now make it Asus by putting your pinky down right
next to your third finger on the fourth string second fret. Now open up, try it again. Pinky down
and pinky up. Go on to the G chord. We're going to make the three finger G with the pinky.
Now move the second finger over one string second fret and put the first finger down
first fret second string. This alone is worth the price of admission. Take it off back to G.
Try with me. G chord. Go. One strum. Move the second finger over, first finger down.
Now back to G second finger back over and first finger up.
Do it again. Second finger over first finger down strum and second finger back first finger up.
And now for the C chord make your folk style C chord. Put your pinky down on the third fret
first string. We've got a C with a G in the high end. Take it off. Now make it a Csus2
pinky down third fret second string. Subtle. Again. Pinky down and pinky up.
So you don't have to worry about memorizing all this because I'm going to put it all on a sheet
and make it so that you can download it. So don't stress over it and once you get that sheet print
it out and you can follow along as you do the exercise so here's the strum on the D chord. Down
down up down, up. Try that with me. Down down up down up down. Ready on a D chord. Ready, go. One.
Putting it all together so here's the exercise. We're going to start with a D,
A chord, E
C G
and D.
That's it for now.
Be sure to download the sheet and follow along as you do the exercise. I'll put a link down
below. And while you're there sign up for my free guitar success checklist.
After answering a few questions, you'll get a free personalized report
on how to best spend your time and make focus progress on your guitar playing. Bye for now.