Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

3 Essential Chord Shapes on the Guitar – Chord Inversions – EP199

Description

In this guitar lesson, you are going to learn 3 triad chord shapes (a triad means just 3 notes). I’ll show you how to play these chord shapes up the neck of the guitar and how to play a 1, 4, 5 chord progression with them. You can use them both in rhythm playing and when playing lead. This lesson contains both a rhythm pattern, and a lead – which is created by adding embellishments to the chord shapes. This lesson is a MUST learn!

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - Adding Embellishments

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Part 3 - Playing The Melody

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Slow Walkthrough - Melody

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Slow Walkthrough - Chords

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  1. justin N says

    Yes! This will be so helpful in so many ways. Such an essential part of guitar playing . I can’t wait to learn this one. Thanks for changing the beat of the drum this week with some exciting theory on chords and their inversions.

  3. sunburst says

    very good way too! glad you mentioned octaves and the Caged system too..also great fun way showing the triads here to see all the inversion shapes really great way learning the fret board up the neck!

  5. JohnStrat says

    Brian
    This one is right on the nail as you say its a must.. fantastic .
    I wonder what you have up your sleeve for the Big 200 next week. WOW hundreds of EP series lessons plus all the others

    Big Thanks
    JohnStrat

  8. Aussie Rick says

    Great lesson Brian. I’ve just recently being working on using the CAGED shapes to move around the fretboard but I hadn’t seen the benefits of trimming the barre chords back to the the simpler triads. This is going to be invaluable. Cheers,

    Rick

  9. jnewman says

    Must learn is right! Just in messing around with this for the last 30 minutes I’ve explored more territory on the fretboard (in a productive way) than in the last 30 years. This really opens up the instrument and makes it a snap to jam with other people on the fly. Thanks so much for this one Brian!

  11. WBlues says

    Brian, this is a very very good help! This expands our ability to work on the fretboard a lot. In addition, it will be the basis, which can be implemented in different tracks. Rgds

  15. Johan L says

    I just bought a duckbill hat and now you’re wearing a baseball cap? I just can’t keep up! And now I have to shave as well..
    😜

    On a more serious note, this is excellent stuff! It ties together with other cool stuff as well, like oh lets say scales maybe?! But I’m not going to give anything away if you are planning a series here!

  16. drlknstein says

    just an excellent lesson….these are my favourite ones…just pure theory and a great learning experience…I can only understand what you are doing because of your past lessons that explained these chord shapes

    I also love the lessons where you” build the chord shapes” always adding a new lick that you could turn into a song..

    thanks

  19. DougE says

    Is anyone else having issues with the video feed in this lesson? It hesitates and stops a lot. Have tried this on multiple computers and at work. It worked fine on Saturday but have had issues Sunday and today. All the other lessons seem to work fine, just having issue with this one.

    Think this will be an important lesson and don’t want to skip it.

    Thanks,
    Doug

  20. jboy says

    This is excellent .This format looks like the beginning of a very cool structured method
    to approach the infinite possibilities of improvisation.
    You are simply the best !🎶

    Jay

    • Brian says

      You can easily convert these to minor by flatting the 3rd interval. On the first shape – move the 2nd fret 2nd string to the 1st fret, 2nd string – (A minor), On the 2nd shape, move the 6th fret, 3rd string – down to 5th fret 3rd string, and on the 3rd shape, move the 11th fret 4th string down to the 10th fret fourth string.

      A minor chord it always the same as the major chord, you just flat the 3rd interval. Hope that helps.

  24. ici61 says

    Hi Brian and the rest. First comment ever because, as many of my colleagues say, this lesson is a very important part in our guitar learning. How to unravel the intrincate connections within the fretboard. And this lesson gets it clearly and accesible for us. Good methodology for a guitar professor. Cheers from Vitoria, Spain

  25. JP4 says

    Great lesson Brian!
    I’ve been hammering away at theory lately, really working on understanding and memorizing the fret board. This was another great piece of the puzzle. I really appreciate your work and would love to see more lessons like this.

    Thanks,
    Jeff

  27. steph_70 says

    Great stuff! Ever consider letting basic members try a full lesson for free.? I am slow learner when it comes to guitar and would like to actually try to see if this would benefit me. Perhaps the way your site is designed it would be impossible. Maybe consider that idea as a promotion thing for your 200th lesson? Anyways, just love the you play. Keep up the great work.

  28. Anton D says

    Sorry to be a spoilsport but I found this lesson to be a bit on the simplistic side. That said, I realise you cannot cater for (hopefully, aspiring,…) intermediate players all of the time.

    However, thanks for all the wonderful lessons you have posted here for a very modest fee.

    Anton

    • Brian says

      It depends on how you look at it. If you’re taking literally as in – just learning 3 chord shapes it is pretty easy… but what you can do with them blows my mind. When you’re able to quickly jump to any of those voicings and work those chord tones into your lead playing – it isn’t basic at all.

  33. Guillaume B says

    Hello Brian,

    Super interesting and useful, as usual! One thing though, I have not gone through all the videos of this lesson yet, but are you covering the minor chords too (in case we want to have the same 1/4/5 in a minor tonality)?

    Thanks for the awesome lessons!

  35. Jim L says

    Brian,

    I think the format of this lesson is perfect. I have been playing for 40 years. Problem is I was playing the same small group of songs in first position for 35 of those years. Your lessons have helped by leaps and bounds and also exposed me to theory that I find much more interesting than I ever thought it could be. Your style is engaging and fun. You slow things down enough that I can really absorb the material instead of just memorizing. Keep up the good work.

    Best regards,
    Jim L.

  38. taijitu says

    Brian, thanks a lot for this excellent lesson! As a decades-long beginner, I have struggled to grasp what I have seen guitarists with this method. You have made it clear and easily accessible. It’s going to help me a lot! Cheers!

  39. Dave M says

    Hi Brian
    After slogging away in the ‘shadows’ on your website, I had to say Thank You (!!) for all the help I’ve received from
    your videos for the last year or so. I believe I may have turned a corner and may now be becoming a guitar player.
    This lesson was the icing on the cake. Fantastic! I’m sure there’s not a better teacher out there. Thanks again.

  44. FRANCK V says

    Bonjour Brian,

    Again thank you for your devotion, teaching us the guitar. I have a little question though: I understand where the first two A bar chords come from (in video 1) but I cannot relate the third A bar chord to any pattern I learnt in your course.

    I am grateful for you to show it and I will try memorising and using it in my own playing. However do you know how to link it to a pattern? or do I just need to accept that there are plenty A chords on the fret board and keep these three shapes and get use to it for every other chords?

    A good point in this lesson is that I now understand exactly what you mean by 1 / 4 / 5 progression.

    Thank you Brian.

    Franck

    • Brian says

      Hi Franck, these little triads are really just playing the same 3 notes that make up an A chord, but playing them in the 3 prominent positions on the neck. These is related to the CAGED system, but is much easier to follow because it’s only 3 chord shapes instead of 5. These are the most commonly used chord shapes that I’ve found anyway. If you know these, you can do just about anything.

  46. nathan m says

    I liked this lesson becaue when i’m not playing drums i’m working on the caged system and how to connect the shapes . and i know its not everything but it seems like a good thing to know

  48. nathan m says

    it sounds a bit amature to me if you play all arpegios, but i think it’s good to know how to connect the shapes smoothly and build off of that at lest thats my thinking. but i don’t know and thats why i’m here. cheers

  49. Stratmantoo says

    Hey Franck,

    If I understand your reply correctly, then I had the same problem. I have had it drilled into my head that the first note you play is the root of the chord, an “A” in this case. I too struggled trying to find how this “D” shape chord could be an “A”. I finally realized that what Brian is using is an inversion of the “A” chord. It does not start with the note “A” but in this case a “C#”. The “C#” is a note contained in an A chord just not usually the first one. But remember that Brian wanted to use only the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings for this lesson so he used an inversion (different order of the notes) of the “A” chord to use just those strings. I hope this helps. And Brian I hope I am correct in my explanation of why you use the “D” shape in this way. If not please help me too 🙂

    Dick

  51. Todd m says

    Hi Brian,
    Great lesson. I’m having difficulty with the Key of C. I know the chords C, F, G but I run out of room at the lower end of the neck. I’m playing an acoustic.
    I’ll keep playing around with it!

    Thanks!

  53. Sfiso Z says

    Well Brian,If there is a lesson that has opened doors for me,it is definitely this one.I enjoy lessons from Activemelody,but this one made me understand the guitar neck much better-from 20% to 80%. With the information provided by this lesson,I don’t fear to join any jam session.Thank you for providing the much needed simplification.

  54. Ron says

    Ok, I need some understanding here. I’ve been working with Triads and inversions for quite a while. I understand them (I think); but your #3 shape is using the index finger to barre? Can’t you use the shapes without the barre? Does the barre do something I’m not seeing?
    Thanks
    Ron

    • Brian says

      The barre just makes it easier (for me) to grab that chord. If it’s easier for you to make without using a barre, then you should use that fingering. The other thing the barre allows me to do is play just the barre – which would be a 1 chord, and then hammer on those 2 fingers to create the 4 chord. (Keith Richards style).

  55. Bill D says

    Brian: After subscribing to your e-mail list for years, seeing the quality and quantity of material you produce, and coming to understand your excellent teaching skills… I finally got a Membership with Active Melody this morning. About time, right? For any person at the Intermediate/Adv-Intermediate playing level, there is simply no better Guru on the internet than you… at any price. The fact that you have made all of this affordable to the working man… well, you are much admired here in my house. Thank You!!

  57. FRANCIS C says

    Well, nothing changed for me since I was in grade school 70 years ago. The whole class gets it, and I struggle along trying to grasp it…..are there at least 3 positions in every chord shape yet to learn? and….how to remember what chord I’m playing in each position? and how to go directly to a chord from anywhere on the neck…..I am going to have to stay after school as usual and clean the chalk board and clap the chalk out of the erasers. It’s late, maybe tomorrow will be a better day for learning…gnite all 🙂

  63. Michael M says

    Thank you for the great lesson. I need to ask what it means in the tablature when a chord has a curved line(like for a hammer on) but attached to the same chord written in parenthesis? Such as in the first E chord in the chord tablature.

  65. Mike Halliday says

    First off, I’m an “Oldie Newbie” so apologies if this is a stupid question and I’ve failed to grasp something, but I’m really trying to understand ….

    re: shape 3 barre on the 9th fret – why ?

    can you not simply fret string 3 on the 9th fret with your index finger (rather than barre strings 1,2,3 and 4) then the 2nd finger frets string 2 on the 10th fret, and the 3rd finger on the 4th string at the11th fret ?

    please enlighten me before I drown.

  67. Philip P says

    Great lesson! The rhythm track helped me to comfortably play these chords and add in some embellishments. I’ve been playing for years but not really (some of you know what I mean). I just got started but I’ve got a great feeling about this program.

  69. Jim L says

    I love this lesson Brian because it’s like a scaffold to build so many things. In particular it blends the ability to see the chord changes with access to the embellishment and, really, the whole major and minor scales depending on the key. It’s really helping me. Thanks.

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