Skip to content
DelcoGuitarAcademy@Gmail.com484-442-0773
 0

View CartCheckout

  • No products in the cart.

Subtotal: $0.00

View CartCheckout

My Account

Login or Register
Delco Guitar Academy
Delaware County’s School for Online Guitar Lessons
Delco Guitar Academy
  • How Lessons Work
  • Lesson Plans
  • Free Lessons
    • Video LessonsFree video guitar lessons! Examining the great licks from players of all genres, focusing on 10 or more licks per video. Examples, shown at full speed, 75% speed, and 50% speed. These are not just ‘performance’ videos. Tabs are included, as well as variations on each example shown.
    • Teaching
    • Practice Better
    • Beginner Guitar
    • Chords
    • Scales
    • Improvisation
    • Songwriting
    • Lead Guitar
  • Shop
    • Merch
    • E books
  • About Us
    • Testimonials
    • FAQs
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
Schedule A Lesson
  • How Lessons Work
  • Lesson Plans
  • Free Lessons
    • Video LessonsFree video guitar lessons! Examining the great licks from players of all genres, focusing on 10 or more licks per video. Examples, shown at full speed, 75% speed, and 50% speed. These are not just ‘performance’ videos. Tabs are included, as well as variations on each example shown.
    • Teaching
    • Practice Better
    • Beginner Guitar
    • Chords
    • Scales
    • Improvisation
    • Songwriting
    • Lead Guitar
  • Shop
    • Merch
    • E books
  • About Us
    • Testimonials
    • FAQs
    • Careers
    • Contact Us

Moving Away from First Position Chords

You are here:
  1. Home
  2. Chords
  3. Moving Away from First Position…
Mar132018
ChordsEssential SkillsPractice BetterTechnique

Moving away from first position chords:

Eventually, after some time has passed with learning the guitar, barre chords and alternative chord voicings are brought into the mix. These serve their purpose either as abstract exercises, a transcription from a song, a compositional tool, or other ways. Now the question I’ve heard from students before is…do I have to learn these? Aren’t all great songs just 1st position chords anyway? So what’s the point?

Let’s look at some of the things that will happen if you DON’T learn them:

  • You will be limited in what you can play by your understanding of the guitar
  • Even if you use a capo to “transcribe” to another key, you will always be behind.
  • There will always be chords you have to ‘find’, instead of KNOW.
  • Playing rhythms will be easy, playing melodies will be difficult.
  • It will take you much longer to learn chord progressions than can’t be simplified down to open voiced “cowboy” chords
  • You will strangle your own progress
  • You will be holding yourself back from your own potential

Students whose primary focus is country/folk, are usually the most vocal to push back. Now, most of the music uses the guitar in exactly the way the student knows, so there’s a comfort level, in that, they won’t struggle to find the chords, because they already know them. This student felt they learned all they needed to, and they could sing and play the tunes they liked and be ok with that.

Until the day came where they started writing tunes. And although the tunes were 1st position country music genre tunes, the student wanted more elements added to the song. Solos, licks here and there, things that just simply were not possible without either a solid plan of how to get there, or hours of experimenting and hoping he would “fall” into the right solution.

Author: Michael Campanile

Post navigation

PreviousPrevious post:The Scales You need to KnowNextNext post:Are You Getting the Most out of Your Current Lessons?

Related Posts

11 questions about modes answered
11 Questions About Modes Answered!
February 13, 2021
5 Practice Room Musts
5 Practice Room Musts
December 1, 2020
How to play “Take the A Train” on Guitar
March 17, 2020
How to create lots of material for improvisation
October 15, 2019
How to Improve Your Left Hand Technique pt. 6
July 25, 2019
How to Improve your Left Hand Technique pt. 5
July 24, 2019

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

We want to hear from you!

    Your favorite Styles of Music:
    RockBluesJazzMetalCountryPunkGarage

    Recent Free Lesson Blog Posts
    • 11 questions about modes answered
      11 Questions About Modes Answered!
      February 13, 2021
    • Understand Major 7th Chords
      January 14, 2021
    • DGA ONLINE RECITAL 2020
      DGA 2020 Online Recital
      January 12, 2021
    Categories
    Archives
    Quick Links
    • Home
    • Lesson Plans
    • Free Lessons
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    Contact Us
    For inquiries about our guitar lessons or if you have a questions / comments for us, please send a message or give us a call and we'll be in reply ASAP.
    • Email
      DelcoGuitarAcademy@Gmail.com
    • Phone
      484-442-0773

    Find us on:

    Facebook page opens in new window
    Subscribe to our mailing list


    Delco Guitar Academy
    © 2018 Delco Guitar Academy | All Rights Reserved
    • My Account
    • Careers
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Refund Policy
    • FAQ’s
    Resources