In this lesson, Eric Johnson shows how he mixes up his chord voicing by employing notes other than the root as the bass note or melody note. Get the full lesson, including accompanying lesson tab, here: www.guitarinstr...
but if most people aren't this smart.. they dont get why its supposed to be praised evolution isn't about survival of the smartest.. its survival of the fittest.. which means imagine how smarter human beings were millions of years ago we are the survivors... jesus... hh
For the people that are confused about this, he is talking about inversions. So when you take a basic chord like a C chord that has C E G, you can invert it so that you have an E on the bottom. This would be E G C. This is called a first inversion because the third of the chord is on the bottom. When you do this, the sound completely changes. Lots of musicians do this. A good example is Elton John. A lot of times, people will use the first inversion to lead into the IV chord. So in this case, in C, the IV chord is F. So when you first invert a C chord where E is on the bottom, it gives it a sound where it wants to lead into F because the E on the bottom is the leading tone or half step below F. This is just one of many examples. He went over first inversion, second inversion, this is when the fifth is on the bottom, and third inversion where the extension of the chord is on the bottom. For example, if you have a second inverted C chord, it would be G C E, and then a third inversion of C7 would have the seventh on the bottom, so it would be B flat C E G. There are many ways to experiment and flip things around. If it sounds good to you, work with it.
Crap tons of reverb and practice. Sounded like hall reverb with a touch of delay. But practice a lot. Experiment with vol and tone guitar knobs for "clean". Try a keyboard amp or a Fender Bassman. Good Luck! :)
Yep, reverb and slight chorus, but the important thing is the balance between the pickups, gives an amazing individual tone to each string, makes the notes jump out. I have a phase reverse switch on my main guitar expressly for that, takes out the subjectiveness, just adjust ''till you have the lowest volume, then they're balanced... also great for Brian May imitations haha
@@KXKVI - Hey! I used one of those for years in my board. Still got it somewhere! BTW- I saw you live in Dallas at a Fourth of July show years ago, with Govment' Mule and The Steve Miller Band! KILLER SHOW!
If anyone is curious, a regular A chord (A major) is the notes A, C#, E regardless of the order. However, in his first few examples, he does not solely play a regular A chord. He begins at 0:07 with a regular A, then... At 0:11 he plays A7, then returns to A. At 0:22 he plays Aadd9, then back to A, then Aadd9 again at 0:25 and 0:27 At 0:28 he plays Amaj9 So, in addition to putting the 3rd (C#) or the 5th (E) on the bottom of the chord, he is also spicing the chords up with other notes.
Anybody can learn one-two inversions. To be able to just play ANY inversion of ANY chord at ANY point, you need to be at EJ level of abilities...His fretboard knowledge is simply astonishing...
spent my whole life on van halen page etc then i discovered this bloke ,pound for pound one of the most intelligent clean guitarists ever ,a mastery of chords too
I always find it interesting how much of the pick some players have sticking out from their fingers. Eric Johnson and Jimmy Page are two players I've noticed who seem to have a lot of pick sticking out which in my mind would make it harder to player fast and precise but he obviously has no problem with it.
My good Lord this is really awesome man, this is just out of this world, tks for sharing Mr. Johnson! I really don't care to try to learn this, I'm just enjoy it man, it's enough for me.
when he says he puts the 5th in, isn't he putting the 9 instead? Pause at 0:24, the notes he is playing are A,E,B,C#,E,A, that's Root,5th,9th,3rd,5th,root... So he's adding the 9 right? Same for the next chord, he adds a B at the bottom E string... Anyone can help on this?
No, at 0.24 he plays E at the bottom, and it's the same for the next chord. Don't be fooled by his left hand, but look at his right hand! He doesn't pick the notes at the bottom E string
Pick up some jazz guitar books or jazz rhythm guitar. Ted Greene or Ron Eschete have many books on this type of playing. Substitution, adding 3rd or 5th in the bass of chords, stretching chords linearly on the fingerboard. Johnny Smith, Tal Farlow, Hank Garland all use similar chord structures.
Modern electric guitars avoid the old school tight radius but it's useful and the only way to get that vintage feel and sound. Tell me I'm wrong after you try it.
Oliver Aguilar 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 C d e f g a b c Your standard major chord consist of intervals 1,3 & 5 the note names for this intervals C E G When EJ says his using a 5th(G) in the bass he’s Voicing G C E. If you want a third in the bass E G C.
I prefer scales than arp. Scales are the essential and important stuff before you go for chords or etc. But since his talking about inversions in this vid. Then you should learn diatonic chord progressions then with that knowledge you know how to invert the chords from root to 1st/2nd/(if you play 7th chords) 3rd inv.
dont learn ‘shapes’, thats a really bad habit. the only real way youll get to his level is if you put in the time to learn theory. thats just how it goes
@@quickstep2408 Arp shapes are best use in improvisation. There's not a single thing in guitar that is a 'bad habit' (except bad techniques). But arp shapes is has nothing to do with the topic of the video because EJ is talking about inversions.
Koroshizzz learning theory is how you master music. just like ppl who can ‘cook’ vs a trained chef. cooking, just like music, is universal, but theyre both arts, and this is why some ppl might get offended by this concept. they are arts for a reason friend - to be mastered.
He plays based on piano background. The theory is simple, however, the physicality and knowing the fretboard is the difficult part for me, a pianist playing guitar
I do a lot of this when I play. I'll flatten a note....it's not supposed to be flat and I didn't want it to be, but I flattened the shit out of it. Play a note a half step or maybe 4 steps sharp...sounded like shit....you know. I think that I played sharp 17th one time (pretty sure I invented it) and it didn't work and everyone hated it and I think that someone threw their baby at me, but you know...it's all art.
taking basic to intermediate chords and flipping them around changing the order ...how we hear them on different strings can be incredible for creating original music chord melody playing etc
To all you guys who responded,yea that was/is a great book Teds book on Jazz modern harmony is great too.Years of study material in there you'll never get tired of it.
Power chords do not contain any 3rds. They contain just the root (1st) and the 5th. If you do not know what these numbers mean, I suggest you look up how all different intervals are named. It's really simple.
