JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum I can't find the right chord....HELP!!

Okay, so I haven't been playing guitar for very long, and I am in desperate need of a chord! The main chords are G, D, C. What would go with this? Something else is needed in the chorus. I have tried everything I can think of, but nothing sounds right. It is about to get on my last nerve!!! HELP!

Depends on what key you're playing in. If the first chord of the song is G, chances are that the key is G. Try a minor chord. Am or Em. If the first chord is C, try throwing in an F.

You can still make a chorus with the three chords. If the song is in G, use the D for the chorus.

Throw a Bb in there and see if the cat throws up.

I imagine since you listed "G" first that it's in the Key of G Major.

The closest related chords (triads) in the Key of "G" are: G-C-D-Em-Am-Bm- F#dim.

But hey, any chord that sounds good is fair game.

Best, John

I agree with John...If it sounds good, it is good!

Hi Danielle, what is the mood or "feel" of the song? John's chart is where to begin, as the secret chord is in there somewhere. But if you know how you want the listener to react, would help you find an appropriate chord. For example, If it's a deep, mysterious or sad song, maybe go softly into an E minor. If you want tension maybe A minor. If you want folks rockin at a campfire, maybe a different sequence of the main G,D,C... or of course as Mike suggests if you are writing for the cat, go for the old B major. That otta get a reaction.

Paul Ryan
www.ryantunes.com

The chords ya'll have suggested are the same ones that I have tried, so I'm guessing that there is no other magic chord for me to use! I'm thinking that I'm either going to go with an Am or Em. I think the best way to go would actually be the B major route, but my freakishly small hands arn't having it! Any secrets on playing that one?

Numbers are the beats per chord.

2G 2D 4C 4C#sus 4F#m 2D 2A 4C# 2D 2A 4E 2D 2A 4C# 2D 2A 6E 1D 1A (to G. Repeat from beginning.

Killer!

Now come up with a killer chorus,,,,that's just the first two verses.

You might also try going from G to A to C and from G to E to D.

I am not sure I am understanding the question.
Are the chords of the chorus G D C?
Or are G D C the chords of the verse and you are looking for a Chord to start the chorus?
The most typical in country is to go up a 4th to start the chorus. So the chorus would begin with C.

BUT if you are looking for another chord to go with G D C in a chorus I would suggest you hum the chorus while playing the guitar. When you get to the part where you are singing a note that doesn't fit the common chords try finding just the note. It might be a 9th or a 7th, a 6th.
I had that problem with one song and it turned out I needed a C6. Problem was I needed a "good" guitar player to tell me that. because I am far from it.

The other option is if you have recording capabilities post the chorus singing or humming without music. One of these guys here might be able to tell you which chord to try.
You ask about playing a B Major?
Are you asking about the index finger barre of the first five strings of the second fret and the ring finger on the 2nd 3rd and 4th strings of the 4th fret? That is only a two fret spread and even very small hands should be able to manage that. Keep working at it. you will get it.

Here is a good place to find chords but it won't tell you which ones fit in a "Key"
http://chordfind.com/

In the key of G a common chord you could go to is the B7. It is not that difficult to play.

(I will write numbers or X's separated by "-". The numbers represent the fret to play on the given string and an X would mean don't play the string. a "0" would mean play the string open without fretting on it. The six strings are lowest to highest from left to right)

One simple way to play it is as follows:

X - X - 4 - 4 - 4 - 5

What I do for this is lay my index finger across the top four strings on the fourth fret and then add a middle finger to the top string on the fifth fret. This is probably one of the simplest ways of playing it.

The most frequently used standard first position B7 is:

X - 2 - 1 - 2 - 0 - 2

Another personal favorite way to make it that is slightly easier than the standard way above is:

2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - (0 or X) - X

I never see anyone use this one above, but I love the sound of it and use it frequently.

Another very jazzy sounding B7 can be made as:

7 - 6 - 7 - 8 - X - X


Each of these are voiced differently, so they sound slightly different, yet they all make the same B7 chord.

The two easiest ways to play a B major chord are:

Play an F chord and slide it up the neck until your first finger is on the 7th fret - just play the strings your fingers are on and it is now a B.

Or play an A chord (three fingers on the second fret), then slide them up two frets and only play the three strings your fingers are on and you have a B chord.

Hi Danielle,
You can try this site: http://www.gibson.com/Files/_gbme/tools/Chord_Finder/
Rick

Found the "magic chord"!! Thanks so much!

Well, what was it?

John

Oh, sorry...brain freeze! It was the B chord. I moved the A chord up three frets and found that was the easiest way for me.

I don't mean to throw a wrench into the works, but an "A" chord moved up three frets would be a "C" chord.

Okay, maybe two frets. Doesn't that make a B? Well, whatever it makes it works!

Yes, two frets would be a "B". Welcome to the world of professional musicianship!

A little late to this party, but here's your menu for chords to use with G....

From here, you might move a finger up and down a fret\to an adjacent string, or drop it altogether (making a partial chord) to see what happens .... this moves you from the world of majors and minors to diminished, suspended, 7ths, 9ths, augmented etc chords

G Am Bm C D Em F Efl Bfl A B Cm

Danielle,

Sounds like you have good advice here. One thing to remember, that most songs are pretty simple. Try not to get too complicated in your chord progressions. We have a saying in Nashville "Three chords and the truth." i perform with a lot of hit songwriters and write with a few of them as well, and I can tell you that most hit songs are never more than three or four chords, with some "passing chords" thrown in.

A trick to use is sometimes to find little subtlties in your progression. For instance, if you had a pattern where two lines of your verse follwed the "G,C,D, pattern, on your third line you might try something like Em, C, D, giving it a little different tone. That is often called a "channel or lift' which musically gives a little difference but doesn't drift too radically from your regular pattern. And try to make sure you use a different chord from the beginning of your verse.
We are always trying to trick the ear into saying "Ooh, that is something different, what is that?' it keeps the interest going along and helps build the song in intensity.

Good luck,

MAB

Marc's trick works because Em is the relative minor for G...like Am is for C, Dm is for F, Bm is for D...see the pattern of 5 steps "up"?

Now we're not quite there yet, in that you still have to be careful of the sharps and flats

So A's relative minor is F#m, for example

Bob Dylan's Knockin On Heaven's Door

G, D, Am
G, D, C

is another example of its use.


Wikipedia has a good summary and a "table" that gives you all the relative minors. FYI, if you don't already know, a relative minor shares the same note progression pattern as its relative major, except it starts at a different place.

So C and Am scales have no sharps or flats, but C and A are the respective "roots"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_key

have you recorded it as yet?

In the chord progression tables the direct neighbors are: Em, F, Am, A, Bm

I tried a G-D-C-D and liked to proceed with Em-B-D (not an "official" solution, but I liked it anyway). B can be played open with just three fingers.

Cheers,
Bernd

I don't think it makes much sense to isolate a chord from a melody. The melody should rule most desicions on chords, so if you want to find the right chord, you should sing the melody note and play around for different options.

Sometimes you should not worry about key or major/minor, but just try out crazy chords untill you find one YOU feel is right at that particular spot.

Then you might end up with a problem on how to make a good transition back to the key, and THAT can be solved by music theory. I don't think the other one can.

If you can't do that, you may consider to rewrite the melody instead.