GUITAR
DO YOUR OPEN GUITAR CHORDS NEED AN UPGRADE? | David Harsh
When it comes to the way we play guitar chords, is the way we’ ve always done it always going to be the best way?
Today I’ m going to talk about four chords in a very guitar friendly key, but I’ m going to show you two different ways of playing those chords and I want you to think about which way might be better for you. The accompanying video includes hands-on demonstrations of all these chords, plus a bonus chord that’ s not in the key, but is very, very useful. compilation of the chords we’ ve learned from various sources”?
The more sources we have speaking into our world, whether it’ s a fellow guitar player, an article / video like this, a song, or a chord dictionary, the more input we have, the more we can have options.
And options are especially helpful because music is a conversation, and we need to choose the right chord for the right context.
And I think it’ s fine. A lot of people use it this way and I appreciate this voicing. But the thing that I struggle with is first of all, it’ s very muddy down below. So, I actually like to play it like this because it opens up the voicing a little bit.
If you get one chord out of this article / video that you’ ll use over and over, I’ d say it’ s going to be worth your time.
This is a conversation that basically started when I was working with one of my students, but it’ s a conversation that’ s always going. I watched her play a chord, which I’ ll show you in a moment, and I didn’ t understand why she was doing it, but she had good reasoning to back up why she did. And ultimately, this is where I want to go with this. If I show you some stuff today and you end up saying, you know, that’ s great. The way that I’ m actually doing it is better for me, that’ s actually the win because it confirms that you’ re on the right track with your season of guitar playing. I have a hunch though that something I’ m going to share with you today is going to enhance your toolkit.
Proverbs 15:22 says,“ Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed.” Would you agree with the statement,“ We are a
Chords exist in a progression. So, I like to think about the chord that comes before the chord I’ m playing and the chord after and how that chord can fit in really well. So, knowing the context allows us to play beautiful music.
The key of G major is arguably the most guitarfriendly key because most of the important chords in that key are not usually found as bar chords.
So, if we look at the 1 chord in G, we have a G Major chord. Now, this is a chord voicing I’ ve seen very commonly played in G major like this.
But more importantly, in context, if I’ m going to play a C major chord, I can move right next door with very little movement. I love economy of movement. I’ m not talking about laziness. I’ m talking about efficiency.
The next important chord in the key of G major is the 5 chord- D major. And this is the way I’ ve played it for 30 years now.
There are two guitarists I’ ve encountered who have played it like this. One of them was a YouTuber I stumbled upon years ago, but the other was one of our GuitarSuccess4U
58 December 2025 Subscribe for Free...