Two Finger Chords
What if I told you that you don't need more than two fingers to play guitar...
It is true...
It is easy...
It's fun...
In this article, I will show you how to use two fingers on two strings to make some cool sound music. The first thing that I will talk about works best with the addition of open strings. I will show you two shapes that you can move up and down the fretboard. For the second technique, we're still going to use two fingers on two different strings, but we're going to move one of the two fingers, one fret higher or one fret lower, making some cool rock sounds.
The first technique uses the two middle strings on your guitar. We will use two different shapes. The first shape will have your middle finger on the D string, and your first finger will be one fret lower on the G string. For the second shape, you're going to have your first finger again on the G string, but this time, your ring finger will be on the D string, two frets higher than your first finger.
You will take these two shapes, and we will move them around the guitar neck. The first shape I described, the one where your first finger is on the G and then your second finger is on the D string only one fret away, will be played between frets one and two, six and seven, and eight and nine.
The second shape, where your first finger is on the G string and your ring finger is two frets away on the D string, will be played between the second and fourth frets, the fourth and the sixth frets, and the ninth and eleventh frets. Those are the locations of those shapes that you will move up and down the neck. In addition, you will be adding the high E string and the B string, both open. You can strum, or you can arpeggiate the chords. You can start on any shape you want at the designated fret, and it will always sound good.
The next thing that I want you to learn about is still using the two middle strings, but we're going to be taking a basic shape, having our first finger on the D string, then adding a finger on the G string two frets higher. It is the root and 5th part of a power chord. I use my pinky instead of my ring finger on the higher string. I take my pinky and move it one fret higher or take my first finger and move it one fret lower. You can do it on your low E string and your A string, your A string and D string, your G and D strings, or your high E string and B string. It doesn't matter what pair of strings if it's not between the second and third strings. You can devise different combinations of moving one finger around with a chord progression. This is very cool in songwriting, creating riffs, and power chord progressions.
Remember, when using the first technique, just using those shapes on the two middle strings with the open E and the open B string can give you some cool sounds. Taking that power chord shape in the second technique and altering one of the notes one fret can create a great dissonant sound. When you resolve it back, it sounds sweet to the listener's ear.
Remember always to have fun with your guitar...
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About Mark Turko: Mark Turko is a professional guitar player and instructor with over 30 years of experience and teaches guitar lessons online.
About Mark Turko: Mark Turko is a professional guitar player and instructor with over 30 years of experience and teaches guitar lessons online.