Help me beat my fingers into submission

July 24, 2006 6:35 AM

Help me become an entertainer! Help me beat my fingers into submission without boring my friends and neighbors with the same two songs over and over again. Help me -- I am looking for songs I can play on the guitar using only the following chords: A, Am, C, D, E, Em, and G.

I have recently started playing guitar and am just getting to the point where I can start stringing chords together. However, every time I come up with a song I'd like to try and look it up on chordie, it has a bunch of chords that are way out of my ability -- namely those darn barre chords... (tho I am practicing like a maniac to master those, it's not going well right now!). So, askmefites, please make some suggestions. Right now the only songs I can play are Knockin' on Heaven's Door by Dylan and Interstate by the Refreshments.
I am interested in classic rock, real oldies, folk (but not too folky), irish tunes, blues, alternative, surf rock...
Bands/musicians I particularly enjoy: Bob Dylan, Refreshments, Calexico, Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel, Mountain Goats, Cowboy Junkies, Ani Difranco, Devendra Banhart, Devotchka, Detroit Cobras, Jose Gonzalez, Jeff Buckley, Harvey Danger, Modest Mouse, Blind Melon, The Blow, Bright Eyes, Cafe Tacuba, Joanna Newsom, Galactic, Hub, Jack Johnson, Jim White, Le Tigre, Soul Coughing, New Model Army, The Redwalls, Shudder to Think, TV on the Radio, Wilco, Beatles... I'm very open to suggestion, these are just examples of the types of music that I would be pleased to learn.

In addition, if anyone knows of a website where one can search for guitar tabs by the chords used in the song, that would be awesome to know about.

posted by Soulbee to media & arts (41 comments total)

You don't need barre chords. I mean, yes, you do if you want to do the song the way the artist did it, or if you want to do a more advanced version, but you can start without 'em. Sing along - play the chords you can, and continue strumming those through the parts where the chords change.

The lesson here is: songs are very simple, chord-wise. The complicated chords are nothing more than embellishments. The song may sound very simple without those embellishments, but it's still fun to play. Eventually you can add in more complex chords, and then maybe you'll learn to riff ... but for now, just sing along. You might be surprised at how good it sounds (and guitar is all about improving and making shit up anyway).

The Beatles I know to be like this fom experience, and the others are probably like this as well - they do all sorts of funky shit that sounds cool, but you can do The Song with just the basics.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 6:41 AM on July 24, 2006

With those chords and that list of bands The Waterboys are your friends...
posted by merocet at 6:41 AM on July 24, 2006

Er, not "improving" as in getting better, but "improv-ing" as in "improvise" -> "improv", then verb it. Stupid language :-P
posted by spaceman_spiff at 6:42 AM on July 24, 2006

You should be able to manage "Last Kiss" an oldie most recently done by Pearl Jam:

G Em C D (repeat)

"Jane Says" by Jane's Addiction is G and A, over and over and over.

"What I got" by Sublime is D and G, over and over and over

You really should bite the bullet and get working on B and F. F is a lot like C, just drop you fingers down. B is trickier, but important - I usually fake it by fretting just three strings - 2nd fret on the A string, 4th fret on the D and G strings.
posted by davey_darling at 6:42 AM on July 24, 2006

"Watchtower"
Am, G, F, G, Am (repeat)

For some reason that popped right into my head and it's easy as pie.

Guitar Tab Universe is probably my favorite place for tabs. There's a lot of cross pollinating with tab sites ie., you'll find the same tabs across multiple sites.

In the realm of blues, once you master the I,IV,V (one-four-five) chord progression, you'll be set.

Happy rocking!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:43 AM on July 24, 2006

Rolling Stones Sweet Virginia. Try OLGA, the On line Guitar Archive, or just google the name of the song and "tab" or "chords."

I would write your own. Easier to do than hunting down all of the chords you are looking for. Listen to songs you like and make up your own words. Then put completely different chords to it. All music is theft. The key is to steal, not to rip off. Fine distinction to make, but once you get it you will understand.
posted by Ironmouth at 6:43 AM on July 24, 2006

Here are some links:
Guitar Tab Universe

I-IV-V progression explained.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:45 AM on July 24, 2006

Davey_darling: I am working on building up my hand strength. For some reason I can't even fake bar the F chord (barring off strings 1 and 2) and still apply enough pressure for the rest of the chord. I am working on it though, I've tried nearly every chord in the chordie song book at least 2-3 times and work on the ones i need (F and B) several times a day. I'm nothing if not single-minded haha.
posted by Soulbee at 6:50 AM on July 24, 2006

The first song I ever learned on guitar was Ohio (Neil Young). If I remember correctly, the verse is just

Em G D

and the chorus is

C D

That might not be the way it is on the record, but it's an easy song to sing, and it was a very satisfying first song.
posted by schustafa at 7:06 AM on July 24, 2006

How about this or this? There are a bunch of similarly themed books around so you might want to check them out.
posted by fire&wings at 7:26 AM on July 24, 2006

Also, like you one of the first songs I ever learned was Knockin on Heavens door. These books are full of classics like that - Watchtower, Wild Thing, old Kinks and Beatles hits, folks songs, all 3 or 4 basic chords and very easy to master. I would recommend taking a look.
posted by fire&wings at 7:32 AM on July 24, 2006

Chords really only consist of three notes. So if you can't barre an F chord, figure out the three notes you need and make it happen in some other configuration somewhere on the fretboard. Look into triads.

But.... you'll need barre chords eventually and practicing finger formations, be it chords or scales, may not incline the neighbors to shake it, you'll have to get over that hump at some point.

Rock on.

Pearl Jam: Immortality, Elderly Woman...
Grateful Dead: Sugar Magnolia, Ripple, Box of Rain
Doors: LA Woman
posted by premortem at 7:41 AM on July 24, 2006

Do you have any hint of music theory background? Is "the circle of fifths" a meaningful phrase?

When I taught myself to play, I was in the same boat as you—not many chords down yet, but I wanted to play a variety of stuff. What I did was transpose any song I could think of into a key I had chords for. How much work this will require of you mostly depends on your familiarity with transposition along the musical scale, though.

You could, in other words, take a song that is written in E and play it in G. Many, many rock and pop songs are built around three or four chords—see the I-IV-V link above and related literature. For your current chord vocabulary, those chords are G, C, D and Em. A song written in E may very well use the same set of chord relations in a different key, depending on E, A, B and C#m—if you or a friend can learn to rewrite those chords in G, you are golden.

And at that point, you would honestly be able to play almost every Bob Dylan song ever written, a hell of a lot of Wilco (especially earlier stuff), plenty of Modest Mouse, etc. Singing along with them in the new key may prove tricky depending on the transposition and your range, but, hey, you're working on your guitar, right? Caterwaul for the sake of your art.
posted by cortex at 7:45 AM on July 24, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'd recommend doing finger exercises to help build strength - 10-15 minutes a day is fine, but it should be focussed. Also look into other ways of playing an F - for example, in the fifth position (first finger on the fifth fret), if you play a C chord, you have an F. (This utilizes only the middle four strings, so be careful to not strike the highest and lowest strings.)

Also bear in mind that the F chord you describe (along with B and B-flat major chords) are, in my opinion, the most difficult chords to play on the guitar. It's going to take some time. Meanwhile, try to accept that you won't sound perfect yet, but also bear in mind that the chords you are working on are by no means impossible, they just require a little getting used to.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 7:54 AM on July 24, 2006

You and I are pretty much in the same boat in terms of our playing ability and musical tastes. You may be interested in perusing the chords and sites that I've del.icio.used.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:19 AM on July 24, 2006

you should be able to handle G7 and Dm as well, yeah the F is a pia, but keep at it. It's surprising how handy it is. I like to say F is for fucking annoying.

House of the Rising Sun, is pretty easy. It's got an F, but that gives you reason to practice, plus the song is slow enough it gives you time to change, and even sing.

The basics to Sweet Jane is very easy, either in Power chord or straight chord.

same with Louie Louie
posted by edgeways at 8:50 AM on July 24, 2006

"Free Falling" by Tom Petty uses just G, A, and D. Do you ever play with a capo? That could help you out a bit.
posted by wheat at 9:03 AM on July 24, 2006

Almost every barre chord can be replaced (while you learn them) with the equivalent "power chord" (or "5th chords"), which might be defined as a simplified version of a barre : only three strings to play, and no barre !

For instance, let's say the song tells you to play a F : 133211
Simply use the finger normally used for the barre itself, to muffle the three high strings, while keep the finger of the barre on the first string of the chord : 133xxx

Hence :
B : 799877 -> B5 : 799xxx
Bm : x24432 -> B5 : x244xx
Gm : 355333 -> G5 : 355xxx

You get the gist. More here.
It doesn't work as well for more complicated chords, like F7 or Fm7, but for now that will allow you to have access to more songs for this summer.
And, as a bonus, it teaches you the right position for the barre : once you know your power-chord, replacing it with the correct barre chord is just a matter of applying your barre finger correctly over all the strings, as it is already at the right place on the fretboard.
posted by XiBe at 9:14 AM on July 24, 2006

I think Green Day's Time of Your Life is G C D and Em
You'll be the star of reuniouns everywhere
posted by pantsrobot at 9:59 AM on July 24, 2006

If you are having that much trouble with barre chords then I highly recommend you take your guitar in to a shop and have it set-up by someone that knows what he's doing. If the strings are set too high you are just unnecessarily working against the guitar rather than with it. If this is a cheap acoustic then you might have no choice but to live with high strings, however any moderately decent acoustic and almost any electric on the face of the earth should allow for a setup that lets you barre all six strings without that much pressure. It should not really take extensive hand workouts. I don't mean to imply that anyone should be able to just pick up a guitar and produce a barre chord without practise, but I don't think it should be a huge ordeal either.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:01 AM on July 24, 2006

*reunions
posted by pantsrobot at 10:02 AM on July 24, 2006

Two things:

Three words: Guitar Fake Book.

And on the Bar-F: bar with your index finger, and then put your middle finger on top to add torque. If, y'know, you're not already doing that...
posted by baylink at 11:06 AM on July 24, 2006

Go to a music store. Browse through their song book section. Find a book that has a bunch of songs you like. Buy it and start learning some songs. Make sure you get a book with easy chords.
posted by wsg at 11:09 AM on July 24, 2006

Soulbee, I have a Cafe Tacuba guitar book and most of the songs are very simple. I'll look for it, but please email me in a couple of days in case I forget to contact you.
posted by clearlydemon at 11:34 AM on July 24, 2006

As cortex metions, transposition is your friend, and as others have mentioned, you really do need to get the F and the B major/minor down ASAP.

To get a start with transposition, download and print this PDF (not of my creation but hosted by me).

Exactly what a "key" is is a hard thing to describe, but basically the chords in a key are all the secondary chords that we hear in relation to a primary chord over the course of a given piece of music. There are some interesting ideas about this in this previous AskMeFi thread.

How to use that PDF:

1) Try to figure out what key the song you are learning is in--i.e. what the primary chord is. You can often tell this by looking at the first chord and almost always by looking at the last chord.

2) Find that chord in the column on the left. The other chords in that chord's row are all the diatonic* chords in that key.

3) Look at the title line across the top of the chart that use the Roman numerals I through VIII (in music VIII is really the same as I, you see).

4) Take the chords in the song you are tryig to learn and make a note of what roman numerals correspond to each chord. For example, if the chord progression in the song you want to learn is

E - C#m - B - F#m - A - E

you would transcribe it into Roman numerals as

I - VI - V - II - IV - I

5) Now you want to transpose this progression into one of the two easiest keys to play in on the guitar: C or G. C has only one bar chord in it, F major (IV), and G has only B minor (III).

To transpose that progression you just find the C or G chord in the left column of that chart and then match the roman numerals with the chords in the new key. The above progression would be

In C: C - Am - G - Dm - F - C

In G: G - Em - D - Am - C - G

Then take your chord chart and substitute those new chords and you're rockin'.

For songs that are in a minor key you start with the VI chord as I (notice where it says "relative minor"). The problem with this method is that when you get into your new key you might find that the vocal melody is now too high or low for your vocal range. You can either try a different key or use the second method of transposition, a capo. If you have a capo, simply experiment with different placements on the neck until you find the right combination of key/chord shapes that fit your vocal register.

A note about Tom's Guitar Cheat Sheet: I find the chord diagrams themselves to be harder than neccessary. Try this one instead (another PDF). And one last thing: just ignore the VII chords on Tom's Guitar Cheat Sheet for the time being. You are probably not quite ready for a tune involving those and when you are you will understand what "m7b5" means. :-) Most of the songs you will be trying will likely have "flat VII" chords instead (see *). If you are in a minor key--where VII functions as II according to the chart--just use a minor chord instead of the m7b5. E.g. if your song is in D minor (relative minor of F major which is the 6th row across) then use plain old E minor for the II chord instead of Em7b5.

As for learning F major and B minor, here are a couple of tips. As mentioned above, all major and minor chords are "triads", i.e. they are only made up of three notes which are then most often doubled. To play an F major chord all you need are the notes F - A - C: xx321x - you don't need to bar across the high E first fret as that effectively doubles the F.

For learning B minor this is what I suggest:

1) Start by substituting a different fingering each time you play an A minor chord (your fingers are numbered 1-4 starting with your pointer). Instead of using fingers 1, 2 and 3 use fingers 2, 3 and 4. This will leave your pointer free. Then, lay your pointer finger along the "nut", the piece of plastic with grooves in it that the strings run through. This gives you the feel of a minor chord bar shape without having to have the strength to do the actual bar. When you can do that fairly quickly and reliably then try snapping in to that shape further up the neck, say at the 5th or 7th frets where the frets are closer together and it is easier to press down the strings.

And one last note, here are the most common bar chords, so learn 'em ASAP:

F, F#m, B, Bm, C#m

For 90% of guitar songs those are the bar chords you'll encounter.

I hope that helps. I have a few more guitar-learnin' resources here (self link) that you might find useful.

* Most pop songs are made up of primarily diatonic chords, i.e. chords that are built using only the standard notes of the major or minor scale that is associated with the "I" chord of the key. In C major, all the diatonic chords are built using only the notes C D E F G A B (C).

However, frequently a composer will "borrow" a note/chord from a different key, and this is called "chromaticism". An easy way to cope with chromatic chords using the PDF I linked to is to simply change the quality of a chord to fit. For example, if the song you are trying to transpose looks like it is in C--almost all the chords fit that key--but it has a chord based on B flat in it rather than B, then just consider that as a chromatic chord in the key of C, a "flat VII" chord, and flatten the VII chord in the new key as well. (Flat VII chords are very common in folk/pop/rock.)
posted by persona non grata at 1:03 PM on July 24, 2006 [2 favorites has favorites]

And with all due respect, spaceman_spiff, I couldn't disagree more. Well, I could, but I have to run! :-)
posted by persona non grata at 1:05 PM on July 24, 2006

And one important note about my number 4) above -- I am assuming in this case that the original song is in the key of E major.
posted by persona non grata at 1:15 PM on July 24, 2006

Just want to second Rhomboid's thoughts. I've played for a long time, but still have trouble, or at least ache, when picking up a guitar with bad action. Don't let that hold you back.

VU - "Sweet Jane": G-A-D, D-A-G ad infinitum
posted by zoinks at 2:09 PM on July 24, 2006

You need to learn what I call a "cowboy C" (sus9?). It's played the same as a G with first and second fingers on strings 4 and 5 instead of 5 and 6.

Off the top of my head:

Pearl Jam - Black, Elderly Woman
Green Day - Time of Your Life, probably Boulevard of Broken Dreams
S&G - The Boxer, with maybe a tweak here or there

There are millions.
posted by raider at 3:38 PM on July 24, 2006

You need to learn what I call a "cowboy C" (sus9?). It's played the same as a G with first and second fingers on strings 4 and 5 instead of 5 and 6.

That is, the same as a G if you fret the third fret on both the B and high E strings. If you play your G with an open B string, the effect is markedly different.

I call it a "lazy C", and I agree with raider regardless: it's handy chord for playing in G.
posted by cortex at 3:50 PM on July 24, 2006

"cowboy C"
"lazy C"

I would call it Cadd9 if asked by the CIA or or Guitar Nazi Magazine, but among friends it is part of a subset of chords I lovingly call the "Oasis Chords" - Em7, G (5th on b-string), A7sus4, and Cadd9, all played with ring finger and pinky on the third fret of the b and high e strings. If you want to know why, learn "Wonderwall" (although you probably have, already).

Seriously, Soulbee, for how long have you been playing the guitar? Because IMO, barre chords really aren't that difficult technically, but they do need to be forced into submission physically. God knows it took me quite a while. I'd say keep trying, don't settle for less.

There are also a couple of advantages to the barre chords: for one, they are regular, so you can play them anywhere on the neck (with varying tonal results). Secondly, any sixth-string barre major chord can be turned into a minor instantly by lifting your middle finger. So I'd say it's definitely worth learning. Keep at it!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:35 PM on July 24, 2006

VU - "Sweet Jane": G-A-D, D-A-G ad infinitum

Almost. There's a Bm in there.
posted by LionIndex at 4:42 PM on July 24, 2006

the "Oasis Chords"

Ha! I would have known what you were talking about, too.

Secondly, any sixth-string barre major chord can be turned into a minor instantly by lifting your middle finger.

If that description mystifies you, he means an E-major-form barre—the root of the chord is on the low-E string, see.

And any fifth-string (A-major-form) barre can be turned into a seventh by lifting the E-string finger, if you play the A-form with one finger per fret, or into a sixth by barring the high-E string if you fret the A-form with one finger laid across the three frets.

Like gnfti says, you just have to beat the goddam barre into submission. Ask a guitar savvy friend to check the action on your guitar, and have it lowered if necessary/possible.
posted by cortex at 4:44 PM on July 24, 2006

can be turned into a seventh by lifting the E-string finger

Gads—that should be "G-string finger".
posted by cortex at 4:45 PM on July 24, 2006

Ask a guitar savvy friend to check the action on your guitar, and have it lowered if necessary/possible.

This is a great point. The action on my first (electric) guitar was crazy high, and it made barreing very difficult. A guitar's action is the distance from frets to string, mostly determined by the height of the bridge saddles, the individual posts over which the strings pass on your strumming hand side. This is assuming that you're playing electric: on acoustic guitars, adjusting action is nigh impossible. On electric guitars, changing the action is usually done by adjusting the phillips head screws on the far end of the bridge saddles, towards the "butt" of the guitar.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:14 PM on July 24, 2006

on acoustic guitars, adjusting action is nigh impossible

Well, it's trickier, anyway. You can (or can have someone, which may be a better idea) file down the nut (the six-slotted guide-comb that divides the top of the fretboard from the headstock) a little bit, which will drop the action on the lower end of the fretboard. Too much and you can introduce an awful lot of fretbuzz though, and the procedure isn't reversible—you'll have to have the nut replaced entirely if you change your mind. That may or may not be a big deal depending on your guitar.

And adjusting the bridge on an acoustic will also depend on the guitar—a similar plan of filing-down may work, depending on the bridge, and some acoustics actually have adjustable bridges that can be lowered a bit. Again, proceed with caution and involved someone who knows what they are doing.

It's doable, but there's a bit of mechanical skill to the filing and an experiential art to making sensible adjustments in the first place to get good action without fretbuzz.
posted by cortex at 5:25 PM on July 24, 2006

Um everyone here pretty much rocks. i've been wailing away at Sweet Jane for the last hour now (side bar: anyone know why the dflat in the "heavenly wrought iron roses" part sounds so....bad? It's actually not my playing because i confirmed i was doing it right and each string is ringing clearly...it's just a bad chord but all the tabs have it that way...)
I will have the action looked at but i think it's just my hand strength. I am in fact a lifelong piano player but it seems to use different hand muscles. i do have a good amount of theory but the PDF and detailed instructions for use from persona is AWESOME -- wish i'd had something like that when i cared about theory for the piano hahaha, maybe i'll have to revisit for that purpose too.
Thanks all...I'm sure with this new obsession, I may have more questions later on. BTW if anyone cares, this is my new baby, the source of my shredding (of fingers) and complete lack of interest in ANYTHING else right now.
posted by Soulbee at 6:10 PM on July 24, 2006

anyone know why the dflat in the "heavenly wrought iron roses" part sounds so....bad?

Because Lou Reed is a son of a bitch. Google "Metal Machine Music" to find out why that d-flat is practically a blowjob, by Lou standards.
posted by cortex at 9:14 PM on July 24, 2006

You should be able to manage "Last Kiss" an oldie most recently done by Pearl Jam:

G Em C D (repeat)

If you don't like "Last Kiss", literally dozens of oldies tunes use this exact progression. "Earth Angel", "Every Breath You Take"... Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" uses those chords, albeit not in that order.

The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" is mostly open-position chords. All the D/Dsus2/Dsus4 stuff might look complicated as chord symbols, but you're basically fingering a D chord and moving the top note around to get the melody for that part. Simple to finger, sounds really cool and lots of Byrds and REM tunes use a similar technique.

Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago" and "Casimir Pulaski Day" both use only C, D, G and Am.

Tons of Neil Young songs can be played using only open-position chords. I kinda like "Mr. Soul", "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere", and "Hey Hey My My".
posted by arto at 2:50 PM on July 25, 2006

Soulbee -- Cortex busted me on one finger and GoodNews nailed the chord name. They're right about this and many other things but if you just get the fingering for the Cadd9 you'll be set for any campfire.

Quick lesson: Strum a D. Then switch to a G... BUT leave your third finger on 2nd string. It will sound good. From there you can play the lazy C by moving fingers 1 and 2 by moving up one string. For a beginner, it's gold.

The downside is, one can get lazy and rely on easy progressions. I'd say don't worry about that. Learn some songs and play a lot. Your fingers and callouses will take care of themselves. Grow from there.

Just play, brother.
posted by raider at 7:34 PM on July 26, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

It's called Cadd9, btw, because it's really just a C major chord with the ninth added: the ninth is the same note as the second (D), but an octave up. If it were the second and no third (E) was played, it would be Csus2. So, it's 9 and not 2, because it's an octave higher. And it's "add" not "sus", because the third is present, so it's not a suspended chord, the ninth is simply added.

By the same reasoning, Csus9 (CGD) and Cadd2 (CDEG) are theoretically possible chords, however they are very rare.

</chord theory>
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:36 AM on July 31, 2006