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- Minor
Guitar chord diagrams and chord theory. This is the Chord Section of Olav Torvund's Guitar Site.
Modified: Jan 8 2008 - Minor
Guitar chord diagrams and chord theory. This is the Chord Section of Olav Torvund's Guitar Site.
Modified: Jan 8 2008 - 6
Guitar chord diagrams and chord theory. This is the Chord Section of Olav Torvund's Guitar Site.
Modified: Jan 4 2008 - Sonic shapes
Guitar chord diagrams and chord theory. This is the Chord Section of Olav Torvund's Guitar Site.
Modified: Jan 4 2008 - Major
Guitar chord diagrams and chord theory. This is the Chord Section of Olav Torvund's Guitar Site.
Modified: Jan 4 2008
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Eb |
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| Previous page: Major | Next page: 6 |
The D# /Eb-chord
Find chord shapes
| C | C#/Db | D | D#/Eb | E | F | F#/Gb | G | G#/Ab | A | Bb | B |
These are diagrams for the Eb-major chord. It should be close to all playable position of this chord. For another, more general summary of the various Major Triad Positions, go to my lessons on Chord shapes and Sonic Shapes.
For a general discussion on major chords, go to my Major chord page
Eb and D# are enharmonics, and so are the Eb and D# chords. But as you will not play a D#major very often, I refer only to Eb in the following. But you know that the chords are the same.
The chord is not among the favorite chords for guitarists. If you play mainly barré chords or closed jazz-style chords, the key does not really matter. But I will still prefer to place a capo at first fret and play with D-major chords if I have to play in the key of Eb-major. But you cannot always avoid the chord, so you better learn how to play it.
| Open
chord fingerings The Eb has the notes Eb-G-Bb. We have G on the open 3rd string. But you cannot finger a full string open chord utilizing this string. In practice you can only take advantage of this open string in a three-string chord on 5th, 4th and 3rd string, and I include it among the closed chords. |
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| Barré chords | ||||
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| Voicing: 1-3-5-1-3 | Voicing: 5-1-5-1-3-5 | Voicing: 5-1-5-1-3-5 | Voicing: 1-5-1-3-5-1 | Voicing: 1-5-1-3-5-1 |
| It is a matter of definition whether this C-shape is a barré chord or a closed position. But I decided to put it here. | Bb-shape played with a barré at 4th fret. | This is an alternative fingering of the same chord. You play a partial barré with your third finger. It is a harder fingering to play, but very convenient, as i leaves the 2nd and 4th finger free for other tasks. | F-shape played with barré in 11th fret. Note that it has the root note both at the bottom and at the top, which often makes it a better choice than the Bb-shape fingering. | This is an alternate fingering. You play both 5th and 4th string with your third finger, which leaves the fourth finger free. |
| Closed
positions These are moveable shapes, and you play no open strings. They are the kind of chord shapes often flavored by jazz-guitarist. But as jazz guitarists usually do not play basic triads, so we cannot really call them jazz chords. |
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| Voicing: 3-5-1 | Voicing: 3-1-5 |
| Now we are about to close the circle,
as we are approaching the 12th fret. The partial barré on 5th and 4th
string are at 10 fret. (And again it should be 3rd finger, not 2nd that
goes up to 12th fret on 6th string.). The partial barré are two of the
same notes as we have in the F-shape barré chord at 8th fret, but
now we have left the 8th fret and continue up the neck.. Once again The Middle Minor Position produces a major chord. |
This is our last position where we are fretting below 12th fret. You play 4th string at 10th fret, 6th and 3rd string on 12th. |
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| Voicing: 5-1-3 | Voicing: 1-3-5 | Voicing: 3-5-1 | Voicing: (x)-x-x-5-1-3 | Voicing: (x)-x-3-5-1-3 |
| . It is the E/Am-shape if you refer to Sonic shapes | It is the Bottom Major Shape | This is the chord in 1.
inversion. It is the Middle D-shape |
Here we are in 2. inversion, D-shape. | This is another variation of 1. inversion. I have indicated that you play the open 3rd string. But if you skip this string, you have a moveable chord shape on 4th, 2nd and 1st strings. |
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| Voicing: 5-1-3 | Voicing: 1-3-5 | Voicing: 1-5-1-3 | |
| Still the same basic position as the two previous, and you will probably recognize the A-shape. But know we position ourself to climb up the fretboard.. | This is the same as the previous, only with another fingering. This leaves your other fingers free to play above the basic chord. | You should see the relationship between
this and the previous fingering: The same notes on 3rd and 2nd string, and then
the 1st finger on 1st string. This is the Top Major Shape |
Now we are closing the chord. It should be a well known fingering, but limited to a closed position chord at the middle four strings. You might use 2nd, 3rd and 4th for 4th, 3rd and 2nd string, if you prefer this fingering. You can drop out the 4th string and still have a proper chord. |
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| Voicing: 1-3-5 | Voicing: 3-5-1 | Voicing: 5-1-3 | Voicing: 3-5-1-3 | Voicing: 5-1-3-1 |
It is the Bottom Major Shape one more time, but now on other strings. |
Here I have only left out the 2nd
string. (And I have to re-do the graphics. You should use your 3rd finger, and
not the 2nd as the diagram says, on the 5th string). I have called this The Middle Minor Position. You might wonder why I call it a minor shape when the chord is a major chord. But the same shape gives a minor chord if you move it across to the 4th, 3rd and 2nd string, and this is the point with these Sonic Shapes: The chord changes if you cross over to other sets of strings. |
You have seen this before, but it is included to make this position complete, and to show relations between positions. | Here the only difference is that we play the 5th string with our 3rd finger. | This is the Long-A shape, a very useful position. Go to the Long-A lesson in my Blues Guitar series. The relation between The Long A-shape and the Blues Scale is the topic of another lesson in the same series. You should take a look at Key to The Highway, for a typical blues arrangement with this chord shape. And while you are branching out, take a look at a Simple Blues Chord Solo to see how you may use some of these moveable shapes. |
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These are two chord shapes that are "in between" the larger group two frets lower and one fret higher. They are some kind of "bridging position". You do of course see that you can combine the two, and what you end up with is a G-major shape fingering where you do not play the open strings. |
| Voicing: 1-3-5 | Voicing: 3-5-1 |
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| Voicing: 5-1-3 | Voicing: 1-3-5 | Voicing: 3-5-1 | ||
| These four chord shapes shows the four adjacent three-note groups in this position. | ||||
| If we keep only the E/Am-shape, we get at major chord in 2. inversion. | This fingering may still be seen as a partial F-shape barré . But a shape like this can easily be made part of a chord solo, or be a "base camp" in a solo. The full barré chord does not work well in this context. This is the F-shape. | .This is the last 3-string
fraction of the F-shape barré chord . My imagination run out, so I have no better name for this than the Partial F-shape |
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| Voicing: 1-5-3 | Voicing: 1-3-5 | Voicing: 5-3-1 |
| We are still in the same position, and these are three skip-string voicings that give full major triads. You can of course combine shapes, but you should see which notes you have to include to get full chords. | ||
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| Voicing: 1-5-1-3 | Voicing: 5-1-3-5 | Voicing: 1-3-5-1 | Voicing: 1-x-1-3-5 | |
| These are five four note chords in the same positions as the previous row. | ||||
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