Any good guitar chord books out there for using odd chordings?

Jbird

Jbird

Kick Henry Jackassowski
I've been listening to Alcest the past few days, and really love the cool-sounding chords they use on occasion.

Steven Wilson, Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) too, come to think of it.


Me, if I'm trying to come up with an original idea, I'm stuck with the major and minor chords for the most part.

It'd be nice to have a book that shows many different chord options and fingering and, importantly, how they might fit in with the more commonly used chords.

Any good books out there that might be what I'm looking for?
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Chord Chemistry
Mickey Baker
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The problem with these two books is that Chord Chemistry is one of those things that without Ted or another knowledgable mentor to work you through it is basically all about memorizing voicings without actual applications. I'm looking through my copy right now and I think I could get some use out of it based on my existing knowledge of harmony but for rock players it's not actually practical (IMHO). I did spend a week working though Mickey Baker and discovered that it is horribly dated and only really useful if you want to play guitar like its 1954.

For rock players I think the best thing to do is to learn a ton of the music that actually has the sounds that you like. And learning a ton of Beatles songs to analyze is also a great way to improve your harmonic knowledge.
 
I'd recommend a book (which I think is Berklee Press) called The Chord Factory. It's rather theory intensive and requires quite a bit of book work, but I think it will be more suitable for the styles of music you enjoy.
 
Guitar Grimoire. Bring a rocket scientist to translate it though.
Seriously though, I Google chord voicing and come up with endless options. There are a bunch of cool apps out there too.

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MonkeyZero said:
Guitar Grimoire. Bring a rocket scientist to translate it though.
Seriously though, I Google chord voicing and come up with endless options. There are a bunch of cool apps out there too.

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
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They printed a simplified version of this and called it "The Guitar Book"...

Looks like this...
519VZV4PXPL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


I don't think it's still in print but it is available on Amazon...
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Book-Adam-Kadmon/dp/0825839009
 
Mark Wein said:
The problem with these two books is that Chord Chemistry is one of those things that without Ted or another knowledgable mentor to work you through it is basically all about memorizing voicings without actual applications. I'm looking through my copy right now and I think I could get some use out of it based on my existing knowledge of harmony but for rock players it's not actually practical (IMHO). I did spend a week working though Mickey Baker and discovered that it is horribly dated and only really useful if you want to play guitar like its 1954.

For rock players I think the best thing to do is to learn a ton of the music that actually has the sounds that you like. And learning a ton of Beatles songs to analyze is also a great way to improve your harmonic knowledge.
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I agree with this.

For one and IIRC, Greene created Chord Chemistry as an experiment. Some of the chords in that book require you to stand on your head and play twister with your fingers.

Jbird said:
Me, if I'm trying to come up with an original idea, I'm stuck with the major and minor chords for the most part.

It'd be nice to have a book that shows many different chord options and fingering and, importantly, how they might fit in with the more commonly used chords.

Any good books out there that might be what I'm looking for?
Click to expand...

I would suggest you to forget the books and get some paper with guitar grids to draw you own chords. What you would want to is break your barre chords up and to make them all into partial chords consisting of just 3 notes. Use the barre chord as the outline and now you will have many more options of that triad.
 


As for books, I don't know any book dedicated to the subject, but Guthrie Govan's Creative Guitar books (both volumes) have some good information and tips.
I assume Petrucci's Wild Stringdom touches the subject too.
 
I ended up ordering from amazon that Chord Factory book that Kerouac mentioned. Should get in in a couple of days.

In the meanwhile I've been playing along to this:



Pretty much what I'm wanting to be doing, adding alot of flavor to chords instead of your basic, vanilla chords.

I can't do that 7-6-3 chord he does at roughly 1:53, my fingers are too short. So I cheat and just do a 7-6 on the middle two strings, and play a 7th fret after playing the 6th fret note. Yeah, I don't get the ringing-out tone, but what's a short-fingered person to do?
 
Take note of the first finger. don't try and reach with the pinky. All of your stretch will be between the 1st and 2nd fingers just like he is doing. Play the 1st finger on the side and make sure that your thumb is between the 2nd and 3rd fingers on the back of the neck.


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Mark Wein said:
Take note of the first finger. don't try and reach with the pinky. All of your stretch will be between the 1st and 2nd fingers just like he is doing. Play the 1st finger on the side and make sure that your thumb is between the 2nd and 3rd fingers on the back of the neck.


View attachment 27334
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Thanks, Mark. I, too of the short fingers, developed the bad habit of reaching with my pinky.
 
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