What are some really hard Chord shapes to play?

[bobsguitars09]

What are some really hard Chord shapes to play?

[Jehu]

The one at 3:47:

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Just dip into Chord Chemistry, and you can have your pick.

My Favourite goofy one is this CMaj7#11. Start with a normal drop-2 CMaj7:

x3545x

now reach around the back of the neck with your thumb and add the #11:

x35452

[docbop]

Depends on your hands, the scale of the guitar, how much have you worked on chords with stretches. So answer it "it depends".

[Danny W.]

RMaj7

Danny W.

[coolvinny]

I don't know...I stay away from them! There are better things to work on IMHO!

[Cunamara]

Joe Pass called those "tendinitis chords."

[edh]

The chords that are the most hard for you to play.

[docbop]

Joe Pass called those "tendinitis chords."

Joe would also say if a chord isn't easy to grab fast he's probably not going to use it.

Ya know what I do with those crazy stretch chords, when someone is taking a picture of me with my guitar I will grab the most insane stretch chord I can, it will drive guitarists crazy when they see the picture. <grin>

[Takemitsu]

I hate (with passion) some drop 2 inversions because I would like them to be all comfy (mostly some lower string set inversions). but just because I would love this one to be easy (for me) is the maj7 first inversion with 4 middle strings. I usually end up playing some substitution instead.

[eh6794]

John Stowell plays really hard chords, but as the replies above suggest, youre better off playing chords that fit your hands. When people play those hard chords, I dont hear smooth changes. I hear fingers come off strings too early

[TH]

They're all hard until you learn them. And then some will still destroy your hand for life. Why do you ask?
If it feels hard, and it hurts, don't do it.
Are you collecting chords that will harm you? There are easier ways to get out of practicing. Like surfing YouTube.
David

[Jonah]

I try to find solutions... everything changes. There was a period my ears tended to care less about voicings more about harmonic power sound (not that I did not care at all but not that much - specifically on guitar I mean), and I liked tradional grips that produced traditional sound... and did not understand guys who went for complex 'ted greene' shapes just to keep voicings...
But later I suddenly got into it, got ear for it too... but what I did is I tried to combine it... when voicings I preferred hurt my hand, I just tried to find what would work instead, which tone I can drop, or which voicing in easier shape can render closest harmonic/sound feel... this becomes a training also - trains to make musical choices)

After all this is not about to keep strict formal voicings, but to have a desired audial result

So I would say play what fit your hands and ears (always both)

[vhollund]

Difficult but worth it :

2
2
4
6
7
x

[pauln]

The second of these two is hard for some, easier if it follows the first one... which it often does.


Bb 11sus2 6x6544

Bb 13b9 6x6433

[vhollund]

Bb11sus2 = Bb11 = Bb9sus4 = Ab/Bb

[Broyale]

They're all hard until you learn them. And then some will still destroy your hand for life. Why do you ask?
If it feels hard, and it hurts, don't do it.
Are you collecting chords that will harm you? There are easier ways to get out of practicing. Like surfing YouTube.
David

If I was handed this first day of learning guitar, I would've quit guitar and finished pharmacy school.

[TH]

If I was handed this first day of learning guitar, I would've quit guitar and finished pharmacy school.

And you would have found yourself today, sitting in a comfy chair, a recording studio in the basement, a healthy collection of guitars and chuckling about the thread on "How do I make money playing this when I can't play this?"

Ha ha ha! Oh and you'd be selling the drugs to the jazz musicians... you'd be THEIR god. " What can you recommend for this injury in my left hand? I just tore the tendons and ligaments playing this AMAZING chord!"
Sorry I didn't get this to you then.
David

[docbop]

And you would have found yourself today, sitting in a comfy chair, a recording studio in the basement, a healthy collection of guitars and chuckling about the thread on "How do I make money playing this when I can't play this?"

Ha ha ha! Oh and you'd be selling the drugs to the jazz musicians... you'd be THEIR god. " What can you recommend for this injury in my left hand? I just tore the tendons and ligaments playing this AMAZING chord!"
Sorry I didn't get this to you then.
David

That's basically my story just substitute computers for pharmacy and I regret it everyday.

[wolflen]

the "ted greene" chords..as ted pointed out to me .. are not "chords" but frozen moving voices..and with intense practice and determination..they can be formed for the amount of time necessary to complete a harmonic or melodic idea..they are not "comping" chords..

take the Ami/9 form

5 A
7 E
9 B
5 C
5 E
5 A

I have seem a few named players use this with ease..(scott Henderson larry carlton john stowell andy summers) and with a fair amout of effort it it an easy chord to master..now moving a middle voice note - the B-descending Bb A G while holding the shape may take a bit of practice but can be done - and in tempo..

john stowell has a excellent lesson on the melodic minor scale mixed with dorian minor and he forms a chord at approx. 3:55 that is a monster...but note how he holds the guitar and the angle of the neck..and his wrist/hand position..few hold the guitar this way..but may try to form chords like this and find it extremely difficult if not impossible and give up..but with adjustments to the neck angle it can be formed

[pubylakeg]

Steve Rochinski's book "The Jazz Style of Tal Farlow" has a section of some of Tal's favourite voicings, many of which require the left hand thumb to fret the low E and A strings. Some of them pose quite a challenge.

But, to satisfy your inner masochistic tendencies, the book " The European Jazz Guitar" by Wim Overgaauw, has a section on thumb position ( a-la double bass technique) chord voicings, where the thumb is used at the front of the fretboard. I think you might find these excruciatingly painful to execute.

You can download a copy from scribd here: The thumb position section starts on page 20.

Have fun, and don't blame me or Wim for any injuries !.

European Jazz Guitar - Wim Overgaauw

[monk]

Bob,
If someone came to me for lessons or advice and asked this question, I would ask them "Why?".

Since my days at GIT and being around Joe Pass I've lived by Joe's dictum, "I don't play anything that's hard to grab".

Regards,
Jerome

[vhollund]

Joe Pass was a undoutedly great player

If you want to play cluster chords on a guitar you have to stretch
But you can save those chords for endings and suchs
Lenny Breau, had developed a unique technique, using harmonics to create even more tight intervals within a chord

[Patrick2]

Difficult but worth it :

2
2
4
6
7
x

Agreed on both accounts. That is a bitch to nail . . but, really pretty when you do nail it. Here's a similar one I realy like;

3
3
5
6
X
7

[Patrick2]

Here's another of my favorites. Gotta fret the 6th and 5th strings with the second finger.

X
14
13
11
12
12