Welcome to the most recent installation of Chord by Chord, a series created to construct your understanding of harmony and the fretboard. In this lesson, I’m going to reveal you how to change in between the I and the ii chords in the keys of A major and E significant using shapes that you currently understand.
In the secret of A significant, the I chord is A major and the ii is B minor. Example 1 shows how to move from A to Bm starting on the open A chord, while Example 2a demonstrates how to move in between the chords using two barre shapes. For three-note voicings originated from those shapes, see Example 2b. Keep in mind that the 3rd is the most affordable note of each chord– C# for the A and D for the Bm. Example 3 shows a somewhat less common way of linking the A and Bm chords, with the third being the lowest note of the A.
Moving to the key of E major, the I chord is E and the ii is F# m. Example 4 shows a common method of playing the E– F# m development, starting with an open E chord. To do it utilizing 2 barre chords, try Example 5a, and after that explore three-note voicings stemmed from those shapes (Example 5b). Considered that barre chords around the 12th fret can be impractical to play on acoustic guitar, use the compact shapes shown in Example 6. Keep in mind that the least expensive note of the E chord is the third, G #.
If you’ve stuck with these lessons with time, you should now know how to play A, Bm, E and F# m chords and now how to switch in between the I and ii in the keys of A and E major. One tune that makes use of the I– ii in the key of A is “Daily I Need To Cry” by Jerry Lee Lewis. Next time, we’ll continue to work on some fundamental chord progressions.
