E Am7 You are the potter, Dm7 C
I am the clay,
E Am7
Mold me and make me, D G G7 This is what I pray
Common Patterns You have Learnt:
- Hillsong Pattern - Generic Pattern - Simple Pattern - Rock Pattern
- That Thing You Do Pattern
Feel free to invent other patterns &
modifications of the above!
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Barre Chords
Barre chords enable you to play any chord because we sometimes have to play chords like Bb, Eb, B.
How Do We Play Barre Chords?
When you ‘cut and paste’ a chord’s fingering onto another position on the fretboard you transpose the chord – E becomes, for instance, F.
But you need to transpose the open strings as well, and to do this you use your first finger to press down on all the strings.
E F
This can be done for the C, A, G, E, D chords.
‘Easy’ level: E & A barre chords.
F chord using E-barre
Bb chord using A-barre Use one finger to fret three strings.
Exercise:
Can you figure out the barre chords for the Em & Am barre chord group?
Simplified to
Place your first finger over all the strings on this fret.
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‘Intermediate’ level: C barre chord
Db chord using C-barre Halve the number of strings the 1st finger frets.
‘Advanced’ level: D & G barre chords
Ab chord using G-barre Remove the last finger.
Eb chord using D-barre Press 3 strings.
Therefore there are 5 kinds of barre chords:
E barre chord A barre chord x x
C barre chord x
G barre chord X
D barre chord x x x
Among these the most commonly used ones are the E and A barre chords.
Barre chords require little memorisation; you can play them as long as you know how to play E, A, C, G, D Simplified to
Simplified to
Simplified to
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Which Frets Do We Press?
The ‘transpose clock’ can be used to figure out the chords:
By moving up or down each fret you move up or down by one chord, in this order.
Exercise:
Using the E barre chord, fill in the location of the 1st finger:
Chord Location of 1st finger
E 0th fret
G 3rd fret
F A
Using the C barre chord, fill in the location of the 1st finger:
Chord Location of 1st finger
C 0th fret
E 3rd fret
D G
A A
#/B
b B
C C
#/D b D D
#/E b E
F F
#/G b
G G
#/A b
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Complete the table (the ‘starting points’ are shaded in grey) :
E F F#/ Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Db
C-barre 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0 1 2 3
A-barre 7 9 10 11 0 1 2 4 6
G-barre 9 11 0 2 4 6 8
E-barre 0 2 4 6 8 10
D-barre 0
* The numbers represent the location of the 1st finger. 0 refers to an open chord.
From this table, you can now play any chord!
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Locate, using the table above, the 5 different ways of playing a C chord.
Write down the type of barre-chord & the location of the first finger, from the left to the right of the fretboard:
Type of barre chord Location of 1st finger
Left
Right
Locate, using the table above, the 5 different ways of playing a G chord.
Write down the type of barre-chord & the location of the first finger, from the left to the right of the fretboard:
Type of barre chord Location of 1st finger
Left
Right
Do you see a pattern?
The chords always follow the order C-A-G-E-D.
Lastly, barre-chords are extremely difficult to play. You will need to practice for a month to a few months consistently to master them, so don’t be discouraged if it takes time – press on!
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Using Chord Progressions
A chord progression is a series of chords. It is important to familiarize with a few of such common progressions used in free worship, song introductions, and song endings. However, some theory on chord families are required.
Chord families
In the first lesson, you were introduced to notes, scales and chords. A scale is a series of 7 notes taken from the full set of 12 notes. These 7 notes are taken by counting certain fixed intervals between the notes.
From scales we obtain chords. To derive a chord, we choose a note in the scale, and take the 3rd & 5th note from that note – we take the next two alternate notes. For example, using the C major scale:
C Major Scale: C D E F G A B
Notes of a C chord: C E G
Notes of a Dm chord: D F A
By continually applying this to all the notes in the scale (except the last note, B), we obtain the 6 basic
chords in the key of C: C Dm Em F G Am
By doing this for the common keys, we obtain the following table:
Key I IIm IIIm IV V Vim
C C Dm Em F G Am
D D Em F#m G A Bm
E E F#m G#m A B C#m
F F Gm Am Bb C Dm
G G Am Bm C D Em
A A Bm C#m D E F#m
The roman numerals in the topmost row refer to the note in which the chord is derived from. The 2nd, 3rd, and 6th note gives minor chords, and we therefore refer to these chords as the IIm, IIIm, and Vim chords.
Examples
Using the chart, if we want to obtain the:
i) I chord in E, we get the E chord.
ii) IIm chord in C, we get the Dm chord.
iii) IV chord in A, we get the D chord.
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Free Worship Chord Progressions
With this chart, we can now learn a few free worship chord progressions.
1. I IV
2. I Vim IV V
3. I Vim IIm V
4. I IIIm IV V
We repeat these chords over and over, until the worship leader signals to return to the song, or change song. Having short 4 chord progressions are more advantageous as compared to playing the chords in the song’s chorus or verse because the worship leader would be able to enter into the song, or switch songs more quickly without having to wait for a longer progression to end.
Suppose we are in the key of D. Using the chord chart, we obtain the following chords for pattern 2:
2. D Bm G A
Exercise
Figure out the chord progression for:
i) Pattern 1, key of A.
ii) Pattern 3, key of G.
Close your eyes, imagine yourself to be in a free worship session, and play these progressions.
Note that these progressions are not exhaustive. Feel free to modify them. For example, by switching the last chord in pattern 4 to another IV, we obtain I IIIm IV IV which has a more hanging feel to it.
Another way to make your own patterns is to look for nice 4 chord progressions within a song. For example, using the bridge of Here I Am To Worship,
A D/F# G G I'll never know how much it cost
A D/F# G G To see my sin u-pon that cross
We can then use A D/F# G G as a free worship chord progression.
Since we are in the key of D in this song, we obtain the roman numerals V I IV IV by using the chord chart – in this way you expand your chord progression library.
Before moving on to the other parts of this section, you might ask: how do we know what key the song is in?
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Finding the Key
Finding out the key of the song is simple; all you have to do is to match the chords in the song with the chord chart. For example, if the song uses the chords A, F#m, D, E by looking at the chord chart the key can be found to be A.
But looking at every row can be very tedious. One tip is to look at the first and last chords of the song – these chords are usually the “I” chords of the song. A song in the key of A would usually start and end with the A chord.
Exercise
Find the key of Lord I Lift Your Name On High:
G C D C You came from heaven to earth to show the way, G C D C
From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay, G Am D Em
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky, C D G
Lord, I lift Your name on high
Forming Introductions to Songs
It is often necessary to introduce the song by playing a few chords. The following 3 methods should work for most songs.
1. Play the “I” chord for 2 bars.
E.g.
Intro: G G
G C D C Lord, I lift Your name on high.
2. Play the last or last two lines of the song.
E.g.
Intro: C D G G
G C D C Lord, I lift Your name on high.
3. Play the progression I I IV V
E.g.
Intro: G G C D
G C D C Lord, I lift Your name on high.
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Ending a Song
Cutting off a song suddenly can be very abrupt. The following 3 methods should work for most songs.
1. Play the “I” chord for 1 - 3 bars E.g.
C D G G G G Lord, I lift Your name on high
2. Play the last line three times. Play a “Vim” chord in between repeats:
E.g.
G Am D Em
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky, C D G Em
Lord, I lift Your name on high
C D G Em Lord, I lift Your name on high
C D G Lord, I lift Your name on high
3. As covered in the 3rd section of the notes, play a I IV/I I progression.
E.g.
C D G C/G G Lord, I lift Your name on high
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Exercise:
Think of a suitable introduction and ending to this song.
This is the Day D
This is the day, this is the day A7
That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made A
We will rejoice, we will rejoice Dsus2
And be glad in it, and be glad in it G D
For this is the day that the Lord has made G D
We will rejoice and be glad in it D
This is the day, this is the day A7 D
That the Lord has made
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Practice, Practice, Practice!
While this course may last only 4 weeks, you can grow musically over your lifetime with continuous practice. With consistent practice you would be able to fully master and appreciate the materials in this course, and also search for resources independently through the Internet or books. To start you off, some additional material is given in the appendix at the end of this manual. Most importantly, it is vital to use your skills in service to God, and it is through this service that God will bless you by growing your talents.
We hope that you have enjoyed this course, and that you have learnt a lot from the 4 sessions.
As mentioned several times before, practice & serve hard!
As a practicing guitarist, I am of the firm belief that no one else can make you a better player. It is up to each of us as individuals to stand out among others. There is no method, gimmick, book or video which has the ability to make you play better or worse.
Being a quality player means continually practicing and playing with the intent of improving, never giving up and often sacrificing much in the process.
Fretboard Logic, Bill Edwards
Sing to him a new song; play skilfully, and shout for joy.
Psalm 33:3
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Appendix: Power Chords
Power chords are not really chords. Chords are 3 notes or more, whereas power chords only have 2 different notes. The missing chord note in the power chord is the 3rd note, which determines if the chord is a major or a minor chord. This causes power chords provide to little harmonic texture to a song. Because of this interval power chords have an open feel to them.
If you have a fast chord change, it's often easier to use power chords for the really fast part.
Power Chord Patterns – 6th String
Power chord patterns can be ‘cut and pasted’ to create different power chords – one set of fingering can give you a dozen chords. The root note determines what power chord it is.
These chords are derived from the E chord. Only the bottom three strings are played.
By shifting the E fingering up a fret we obtain the power chord pattern. The result is an F chord:
We know it is an F chord because our first finger is holding an F note. In other words, the lowest note is an F note. The chord is determined by this lowest note.
We can play this pattern all over the fretboard to create different power chords – give it a try!
The chart below tells you where the chords are – the top row tells you where your first finger is, and the corresponding chord is in the second row. For example, if the lowest note is at the 10th fret, the chord is a D.
Fret 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Chord F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E
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Power Chord Patterns – 5th String
This power chord pattern is similar to the previous pattern, only it's root note is now on the A string instead of the low E string.
If we play the A chord on the 3rd, 4th and 5th string we have the following pattern:
Moving this chord up a fret we obtain a B power chord:
As before, when we move this pattern all over the fretboard we obtain different chords. By looking at the fret the first finger is on we can see which chord is being played:
Fret 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Chord G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G
Combining the two tables we have:
Fret 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Chord
(E string) F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E
Chord
(A string) G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G
Tips:
- Because power chords are simplified chords, we ignore minor, sus, 7th, 9th, etc. chords when we use power chords.
- Power chords are used mainly for fast songs where the fast strumming rather than the harmonic texture of the chord drives the chord forward.
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Exercises: Try the following songs using power chords:
Lord, I lift Your Name on High.
G C D C Lord, I lift Your name on high.
G C D C Lord, I love to sing Your praises.
G C D C I'm so glad You're in my life.
G C D C I'm so glad You came to save us.
G C D C You came from heaven to earth to show the way, G C D C
From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay, G Am D Em
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky, C D G
Lord, I lift Your name on high.
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King of Majesty Verse
B G#m
You know that I love You, You know that I want to
F# E
Know You so much more, More than I have before B . E . G#m . E .
B G#m
These words are from my heart, these words are not made up
F# E
I will live for You, I am devoted to You B . E . G#m . E .
F# G#m7 King of Ma-jesty, I have one desire F# G#m E
Just to be with You my Lord F# G#m7 E Just to be with You my Lord
B E F# E B G#m F# E Jesus You are the Saviour of my soul
B G#m7 F# E B E F# E And forever and ever I’ll give my praises to You
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Appendix: Chords in E
Open strings have a unique ringing sound to them, as compared to the more muffled sound that barre chords produce. Because the top strings, the E and B strings, are found in most chords in the key of E, these strings can be kept open throughout to produce several pleasant chords.
These chords will be introduced via the exercises below:
Here I Am To Worship
Open my eyes let me see