8/11/2019 40 Ways to Play a 'C' Chord _ GuitarPlayer

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/40-ways-to-play-a-c-chord-guitarplayer 1/2

share

40 Ways to Play a 'C' Chord

BY JESSE GRESS

February 11, 2014

share

“WHAT WOULD JIMI DO?” IT’S AQUESTION I'VE ASKED MYSELF

countless times over the last four 

decades, particularly when faced with

creating groovy rhythm guitar parts from

basic chord charts. Hendrix didn’t really

use a lot  of different types of chords, but

the vocabulary he created with the ones

he knew was astounding, especially on

ballads like “Hey Joe,” “The Wind Cr ies

Mary,” “Little Wing,” “Castles Made of 

Sand,” “Axis: Bold As Love,” and “(Have

You Ever Been to) Electric Ladyland.”

Drawing from the soulful guitar moves of 

Curtis Mayfield and the country piano

style of Floyd Cramer, Hendrix

developed a unique collection of 

embellishments and filigrees that

allowed him to improvise using dyads, or 

two-note chordal fragments, decoratedwith hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides to

play within and around a basic “parental”

chord shape. For the next few months,

we’ll demystify some of these magical

sounds so you can incorporate them into

your own musical vocabulary.

Take the humble third-position C barre

chord. Some might think of it as a finite

entity, but in Hendrix’ hands, it became

an entire universe. Fig. A puts this

transposed “ A”-shaped major triad (root

on the fifth and third strings) on the grid

and shows how it connects to the next

highest “G”-shaped C  chord (root on the

sixth and third strings). Fig. B adds parenthetical diatonic passing tones—the 2, the 4, and the 6—to the same grid. These are the notes Hendrix used to pair with and weave

in and out of the chord tones, and this is your world for the next month.

We begin at the upper end of the chord, with the 5 (G) voiced on top of each dyad. Ex. 1 illustrates ten different ways to hammer- on, pull-off, or slide the 2 and 4 (D and F ) in

and out of chord tones on the top three strings during a single beat. Many feature the same notes and rhythms with subtle variations in phrasing. Th is is a key concept inHendrix’s style, and the idea is to mix and match these moves into one-bar phrases. For instance, try playing bars 7, 1, 10, and 2 back-to-back. See what I mean? The more

moves you learn, the more options you’ll have.

Now that we’ve established a kind of 

formula, dig into the ten s imilar 3-on-top

moves shown in Ex. 2. Here, we’re

mostly hammering and pulling the root

and 2 by shifting into the “G”-shaped C 

chord and concentrating on the second,

third, and fourth strings. Get comfy with

the moves, and then mix and match

them with the ones from Ex. 1. Follow

suit in Examples 3 and 4, which feature

the root and an octavelower 5 on top of 

each dyad, and you’ll have played

0 Ways to Play a 'C' Chord | GuitarPlayer  http://www.guitarplayer.com/lessons/1014/40-ways-to-play-a-c-c

of 12 10/7/2014 1:40

8/11/2019 40 Ways to Play a 'C' Chord _ GuitarPlayer

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/40-ways-to-play-a-c-chord-guitarplayer 2/2

circles around that humble C  chord 40

different ways! Finally, pick a nice slow

tempo and combine any of the previous

40 ideas while you cruise the four-bar 

chord progressions in Examples 5a and

5b. Play any C  moves as written,

transpose them to first position for Bb,

sixth position for Eb, eighth position for 

F, tenth position for G, and eleventh

position for Ab, and presto! You’ve been

Jimi-fied!

Related Stories

Rhythmic Displacement: You Are

What You Hear 

Rhythmic Displacement Pt. 3 -

Mo’ Hemiola

Rhythm Workshop: Rhythmic

Displacement Pt. 2 - Hemiola

Rhythm Workshop: Rhythmic

Displacement

Rhythm Workshop: Bending in Rhythm Pt. 3

Rhythm Workshop: Release Yourself!

You Might Also Like...

Rhythm

Ricocheting Octaves and Beyond Pt. 1 A Fast, Funky, Full-Contact Sixteenth-Note Smackdown

Rhythm

Ricocheting Octaves and Beyond Pt. 2 A Fast, Funky, Full-Contact Sixteenth-Note Smackdown

Rhythm

Blues Turnarounds

Hide Comments

COMMENTS

0 Ways to Play a 'C' Chord | GuitarPlayer  http://www.guitarplayer.com/lessons/1014/40-ways-to-play-a-c-c

of 12 10/7/2014 1:40