Hello again Fretlight players!

In the last post I gave you some song ideas to work on that all fell into the category of developing your "Basic Open Position Chords". In this post I'm going to continue where we left off with some more song ideas for you to work on, but this time we'll be dealing with the category of "Open Chord Variations". This category includes many different chord variations that can be created by modifying the basic open position chord shapes. These variations include "Suspended" or "Sus" chords (Sus 2 and Sus 4) along with Minor 7th and Major 7th chords, as well as "Add" chords (such as Add 6 or Add 9) and also "Slash" chords. One important thing to remember about these chords is that they are still played in the open position, but go beyond just the basic Major, Minor and 7th chord categories.
 
Like I've mentioned previously, it's important to recognize not only WHAT the different chord categories are, but to be able to apply each chord category to real music. Some of my favorite players are masters of "Open Chord Variations", including Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Angus Young and many others. Here's a short list of songs that I put together that are based on the use of Open Chord Variations:

"A Horse With No Name" by America
"Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who
"Constant Craving" by K.D. Lang
"Dogs" by Pink Floyd
"Don't Follow" by Alice In Chains
"Dust in the Wind" by Kansas
"Elderly Woman Behind The Counter in a Small Town" by Pearl Jam
"Gallows Pole" by Led Zeppelin
"Heart of Gold" by Neil Young
"Helplessly Hoping" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
"Hey Hey What Can I Do" by Led Zeppelin
"Highway to Hell" by AC/DC
"I Need You" by America
"Love Me Two Times" by The Doors
"Mother" by Pink Floyd
"Nutshell" by Alice In Chains
"People Are Strange" by The Doors
"Redemption Song" by Bob Marley
"Seasons of Wither" by Aerosmith
"Seeing Things" by The Black Crowes
"Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Tangerine" by Led Zeppelin
"Tequila Sunrise" by The Eagles
"Ticket to Ride" by The Beatles
"Times Like These" by The Foo Fighters"
"When I'm Gone" by Three Doors Down
"Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd
"Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton
"Wonderwall" by Oasis


Keep in mind that this list represents a very small fraction of the songs that can be played with Open Chord Variations. You will find that pretty much all of these songs are actually built around a combination of traditional Open Position Chords (Majors, Minors, and 7ths) along with different variations of those chords (Major 7ths, Minor 7ths, Sus chords, Add chords, and Slash chords).

With my private students I have found that tunes like these really help to expand their chord knowledge as well as build their repertoire without too much work. The great thing about Open Chord Variations is that most of these new chords are not that much different than the basic Open Position Chords I mentioned last time, which means that you can quickly expand your chord playing by changing just a few small things. Also remember what I mentioned last time: It's not always about how MANY chords you learn, it's about what you DO with them - Good luck!

Nate