How to Play Guitar Chords Up the Neck As a Beginner
If you're stuck playing chords in the first few frets near the head of the guitar, then this article is for you.
It's frustrating to be confined to the most obvious chords in the most obvious position. The layout of the guitar makes it easy to stay confused about how to move further up the neck of the guitar. To solve this dilemma, what we need are some easy ways to start playing chords up the neck. And you know what? There are some really accessible things we can do to break out of 1st position. So let's dive right in!
To start with, let's use a standard chord progression in G: G C G D.
Normally, you'd play the standard versions of these chords in first position (closest to the head of the guitar).
How would you play a G major chord up the neck? What if we took the four-string F chord you probably already know from 1st position and just shift it up two frets so that the two-string index finger bar was at the third fret?
On the guitar, chords come in two colors: closed or open. If a chord is open, this means it uses open strings in addition to fretted notes. If a chord is closed, this means all the notes are fretted-no open strings occur in closed chords.
Closed chords can be moved up and down the neck without any need of changing the fingering used to create the chord. This is very useful-it means that once you learn how to play a closed chord, you can move it around the entire guitar to play that chord with all 12 tones as different roots of the chord.
So, in the case of our four-string F chord, keep the fingering of the chord the same, but move it up two frets. This puts your index finger on the third fret, your middle finger on the fourth fret 3rd string and your ring finger on the fifth fret of the 4th string.
Where before this chord shape had made us an F, now we have a G.
How did we get a G? Well, follow the notes up two frets-if each fret is a half-step, then we went from F to F# after shifting up one fret. Shift up one more fret and that takes us from F# to G. So, what was an F chord before is now a G chord.
It may feel a little strange at first, but try to substitute this new G chord for whichever standard G chord you would normally play for our G C G D chord progression.
Do you notice the difference in how the open position G major chord sounds vs. this closed position G major that we're playing at the third fret and above? What do you think of that (perhaps slight) difference in the way these chords sound?
Now that we've figured out a way to play G up the neck, what about a quick and easy way to play C major up the neck since that's our next chord in this progression? This is easy. Take the A major chord shape that you usually play in 1st position and move it up three frets. Now, put down a bar at the third fret. And there you have it--a quick up-the-neck C major chord you can use in place of the open-position C major you already know and love.
And, if you're really paying attention, you're noticing that if you just shift that barred C chord at the third fret up two more frets to the fifth fret, you'll have a variant on the D major chord.
Fingering this A-shape bar chord can be tricky-if you're lucky, you can use your index finger for the bar and your ring finger to fret the three fretted. It's sort of like you're making a partial bar with your ring finger on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings. The index finger picks up the 5th and 1st strings.
If that partial ring finger bar is too tricky for you to get (it can be especially hard to get the 1st string to ring at first when you make the partial ring finger bar for the A-shape), then you can use your middle, ring and pinky fingers to fret one note a piece all on that same fret to make the A shape.
These simple bar chords open up the entire neck for you. If you wanted to, you could use the F major shape that we used for the G chord and just carry it up the neck until you got to the 8th fret (for the C major) and the 10th fret (for the D major). And you could use the A major shape we just used for C and D to make a G chord at the 10th fret. Lots of possibilities here!
Do what you can at first and work patiently until the full-size bar chords become easier for you.
It's frustrating to be confined to the most obvious chords in the most obvious position. The layout of the guitar makes it easy to stay confused about how to move further up the neck of the guitar. To solve this dilemma, what we need are some easy ways to start playing chords up the neck. And you know what? There are some really accessible things we can do to break out of 1st position. So let's dive right in!
To start with, let's use a standard chord progression in G: G C G D.
Normally, you'd play the standard versions of these chords in first position (closest to the head of the guitar).
How would you play a G major chord up the neck? What if we took the four-string F chord you probably already know from 1st position and just shift it up two frets so that the two-string index finger bar was at the third fret?
On the guitar, chords come in two colors: closed or open. If a chord is open, this means it uses open strings in addition to fretted notes. If a chord is closed, this means all the notes are fretted-no open strings occur in closed chords.
Closed chords can be moved up and down the neck without any need of changing the fingering used to create the chord. This is very useful-it means that once you learn how to play a closed chord, you can move it around the entire guitar to play that chord with all 12 tones as different roots of the chord.
So, in the case of our four-string F chord, keep the fingering of the chord the same, but move it up two frets. This puts your index finger on the third fret, your middle finger on the fourth fret 3rd string and your ring finger on the fifth fret of the 4th string.
Where before this chord shape had made us an F, now we have a G.
How did we get a G? Well, follow the notes up two frets-if each fret is a half-step, then we went from F to F# after shifting up one fret. Shift up one more fret and that takes us from F# to G. So, what was an F chord before is now a G chord.
It may feel a little strange at first, but try to substitute this new G chord for whichever standard G chord you would normally play for our G C G D chord progression.
Do you notice the difference in how the open position G major chord sounds vs. this closed position G major that we're playing at the third fret and above? What do you think of that (perhaps slight) difference in the way these chords sound?
Now that we've figured out a way to play G up the neck, what about a quick and easy way to play C major up the neck since that's our next chord in this progression? This is easy. Take the A major chord shape that you usually play in 1st position and move it up three frets. Now, put down a bar at the third fret. And there you have it--a quick up-the-neck C major chord you can use in place of the open-position C major you already know and love.
And, if you're really paying attention, you're noticing that if you just shift that barred C chord at the third fret up two more frets to the fifth fret, you'll have a variant on the D major chord.
Fingering this A-shape bar chord can be tricky-if you're lucky, you can use your index finger for the bar and your ring finger to fret the three fretted. It's sort of like you're making a partial bar with your ring finger on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings. The index finger picks up the 5th and 1st strings.
If that partial ring finger bar is too tricky for you to get (it can be especially hard to get the 1st string to ring at first when you make the partial ring finger bar for the A-shape), then you can use your middle, ring and pinky fingers to fret one note a piece all on that same fret to make the A shape.
These simple bar chords open up the entire neck for you. If you wanted to, you could use the F major shape that we used for the G chord and just carry it up the neck until you got to the 8th fret (for the C major) and the 10th fret (for the D major). And you could use the A major shape we just used for C and D to make a G chord at the 10th fret. Lots of possibilities here!
Do what you can at first and work patiently until the full-size bar chords become easier for you.
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