The "G" Guitar chord...

Norman86

Hello...

Alrighty...

I understand the standard G chord to be played as follows:

E A D G B e
G: 3 2 0 0 0 3

This, to my knowledge translates to GBDDBG!

Can someone explain why some chords/tabs sites show a G as follows:

E A D G B e
G: 3 2 0 0 3 3

Which would be GBDDEG? ???

Why would you want an E in the Chord?
It doesnt sound bad, different yes, but not bad! But then again, its changing the chord structure?!
Or does DEG make up a different chord and you end up playing 2 chords in 1?

Norman86

:-[

OOPS!!!! Thanks joel! My mistake...

I see its a D and NOT an E (thouroughly embarrassed now)

But back to my question...
Why would one want to play the D and not the B?
Preference?

singemonkey

Norman86 wrote: :-[

OOPS!!!! Thanks joel! My mistake...

I see its a D and NOT an E (thouroughly embarrassed now)

But back to my question...
Why would one want to play the D and not the B?
Preference?

First, don't be embarrassed. Most n00bs don't have any clue what notes they're dealing with. The deal is, because they're all the same notes it's just a different voicing of the chord. You've still got your B in the chord. This one just adds that octave D (a note that was already in the chord too) which gives it a different feel. Instead of a B and an octave B, you now have a D and an octave D. The whacky world of chord voicings. You'd probably need a musicologist to explain why they seem different.

Or maybe I'm just clueless ?

Bob-Dubery

Norman86 wrote: :-[

OOPS!!!! Thanks joel! My mistake...

I see its a D and NOT an E (thouroughly embarrassed now)

But back to my question...
Why would one want to play the D and not the B?
Preference?

Or for a specific effect.

There are many instances of having multiple ways to play a chord on a guitar.

Consider the C major - C, E , G

You can play it as

E A D G B e
X 3 2 0 1 0
or
x 3 2 0 1 3 (x = don't play)

The latter has an extra high G note in it.

I've been playing the Richard and Linda Thompson song "Wall of Death" lately. It's quite straight forward harmonically having the chords G, C , D and Em in the verse.

Now consider the 2 ways (above) of playing C.

Now consider the Em which is made up of E, G (minor 3rd) and B.

I can finger this
E A D G B e
0 2 2 0 0 0
or
0 2 2 0 0 3

Now if I play these chords with these fingerings....

G: 3 2 0 0 0 3
C: x 3 2 0 1 3 (the variant fingering I showed above)
Em: 0 2 2 0 0 3

I can keep that high G note ringing all the time.

When I play the D
x x 0 2 3 2
That high note on the 1st string goes down a semi-tone to F#

If I were to play the "standard" fingerings of those chords that high note would move around a lot more. With the variant fingerings it moves less and it does move it doesn't move by much. Neither way of playing it is "wrong", but the fingerings that I use, that keep that high note more constant, do add a little effect that the ear does catch.

Norman86

Thanks Bob! Very nice explanation that!

EDIT:
Just btw... I SHOULD have known it was a D and NOT an E in my original post... i forgot the C# when thinking of the fretboard layout!
I should have just consulted my fretboard diagram too, it would have spared me some embarrassment!

Bob-Dubery

This kind of goes to your question about chords on a piano. Really both questions are about the make up of chords.

We've talked about two ways of playing a G chord, but there are more. EG the well known barre chord
E A D G B e
3 5 5 4 3 3
If we look at the actual notes here we get
G D G B D G

Again you see a combination of the G, B and D notes.

A G major chord will always have those 3 notes in it.

If you take a "D" shape and move it up the neck
E A D G B e
X X X 7 8 7

You now have the following notes on the three top strings
D G B

Again those three notes. Another variation on the G major.

If you had two guitars playing together, it can get a bit redundant having them play the same fingering of the same chord and thus exactly the same notes all the time. If the guitars play different "versions" of the same chord the effect is more interesting, a little richer.

Norman86

With the exception being that guitar chords are a LOT more difficult than piano chords!
And its a LOT easier to learn a piano keyboard than a guitar fretboard!
Especially when one starts altering tunings on guitar! im still struggling with standard tuning!

But yes, i know i need to learn chord structure to fully understand guitar, and piano, for that matter!

FruitarGeek

Actually. Now that I come to think about it, I think personally atleast the reason why the G chord as tabbed 320033 is as such, as that the extra B note, which is the 3rd note in the G-major scale. It is this note that defines if the chord is a G major or a G minor. You see Norman, if hypothetically speaking (and I hope this doesn't throw you off) you played Bb (A#) instead of the B you are playing now, it will make your chord a minor. So, maybe thats why in that other voicing there are 2 B's. Just to really make sure that the Major sound pops out.

EDIT: WOOPS, it seems I too have fallen prey to not paying attention :-[. Here I am going on, on how the added B note will make the major pop out, when really its an added D note we adding. In which case, forget everything I said. I personally prefer adding the extra D, but maybe thats the way I was taught.

AlanRatcliffe

I always think of the GBDGDG voicing of the G chord to be the "Rock G", as the 5th note in the scale (D) is emphasized over the 3rd (B), making it a more consonant voicing that works a bit better with overdrive.

It's also a nice fingering for pop/rock because it's an easy change to/from Cadd9 and Dsus or D, which is a common sequence found in more songs than you can oscillate a baton at:

Cadd9
E A D G B e
X 3 2 0 3 3

Dsus
E A D G B e
X X 0 2 3 3

The "rock G" also works well with Em7 and A7sus4 (a la Wish You Were Here):

Em7
E A D G B e
0 2 2 0 3 3

A7sus4
E A D G B e
X 0 2 2 3 3

Bob-Dubery

One reason for NOT playing the 3 2 0 0 3 3 fingering is that it takes up all your fingers.

If you play 3 2 0 0 0 3 with the pinky on the 1st string and the middle finger on the 6th you have the index finger free which comes in handy for adding a 4th to the G chord for a little colour and variation.

The 4th is the C. You would finger the G 4th
3 2 0 0 1 3

And with that free index finger you can throw in that 4th note in passing by hammering on the C and then pulling back off to the B. Generally it's handy to have a finger free (though not always possible).