Okay, before we going further on songs, let us learn something about chords on the banjo. We have learned some open chords so far which have open strings on them but since all the strings on the banjo are in the G chord, there is always so many chords that have open strings on them. So, let us learn about the close shapes on the banjo. Closed shape is a shape that does not have any open strings.
On the banjo there are three basic chord shapes and know some themknow some them. One is just a bar it is as simple as, it is just like the open chord shape. One is what we call F-shape, it is named F-shape because that is the lowest chord that has the finest this typically and it looks like this and the other shape is the D-shape and it looks like this. The F-shape and the D-shape are actually very similar and then a good way to learn them is to practice going back forth between them without lifting your pinker ring finger because that is you happen to do, you find the ring finger and pinky was to follow along when you start moving those on the fingers. You can get those tunes independently will make a change on the chords very easy.
Let us learn a couple of places where we find those chords. Most of the songs we are playing so far have G, C and D in them. If you look right here, you find the G shaped like this, a C shaped like this but often on these stretch on the ring finger down to get those chords, if I need it quickly and a D is right here. So, there is really a good grouping of chords that we need a lot right in one area and then go to another grouping.
There is a G up here, from there a C is right here and a D is up here and that is a good grouping. For practical grouping because there are group of chords that sound good together and their close proximity. Often times when you play jazz chords, you do something called vamping which is playing three strings at once and then damping the chord by lifting your fingers up and you do that on the backbeat based on Vuga’s rhythm being boom-check-a-boom-check-a-boom part. This is the boom-check-a-boom-check-a-boom and then I shifted from a higher to the lower area there.
For now, the main thing you are going to do is just learn those chord shapes. Another thing to learn about chords is I want you to play this close shapes. You can play any chord there is. That is a G chord, that is G sharp chord, that is an A chord, A sharp or B flat, B, C, C sharp, D, E flat and E, so on and so forth. Any time we know a close chord, you can do that. All you have to know is where the sharps and flats are between most of the letter name notes, there is a sharp or flat. The sharp being the low higher and the flat being the lower. If this is a G, this is a G sharp and this is an A. G sharp is also an A flat. There is no sharp or flat between E and F and B and C, G-A-B-C-D-E-F. So, if this is D, D-E-F-G-A-B-C. So, you can find any chord on the neck using this system. It is also good to notice that the chords also go along in a certain predictable sequence.
If this is a G chord and I go up four frets and switch to a D shape, this is still a G chord and if I go from here, I go up three frets and go to a bar shape, that is still a G chord and I go from the bar shape up for five frets and I have a G. That system works anywhere. This is a D, the D shape you go up three frets and from the bar shape you go up five frets. In some ways this is a little advance but it is good to have an idea how it works. So, all the thing really have to keep in mind is that there is predictable place to find other versions of the same chord at any given time by just knowing how far up to go and which position to go up to or down to and you can find all this information, all that music and chord shapes and so on at musicstarproductions.com with a high publisher and such are ready for you.
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