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I'm not sure how the rest of the World works, but here DownUnder, more often than not a chord chart is as much as you get at your average recording session. The detail is up to the player, guided by the producer.

Many of my students get confused by chords like D7 / F#, or Bb / F. All it means is that the usual tonic, or root note, or I, has been replaced by a new note. So a D7 / F# is simply a D7 chord with an F# bass note. In this case it's the III, and no doubt the next chord will be the one built on the IV note, the G chord. These chords are often used as passing chords, linking chords.

You can use any note of the scale as a bass note. Experiment and listen to the differences. Try a plain old D chord, then D/E, /F#, /G, /A, /B ( another way of saying Bm7 ), and D/C#, a kind of bottom end Major7. If you're into writing, I'm sure you've been exploring these inversions already.

Try playing (say, two beats per chord ) D - D/B - D/E - E7/G# - D/A - G/A - D. Melodies leap out of a chord progression like that.

If you're confused about the layout of the fretboard, and how to find positions and voicings, come and read about my book PlaneTalk, which reveals the "trick" to it all.

Have fun

Kirk Lorange
PO Box 186
North Tamborine
Queensland 4272 Australia
Ph / Fax +6175 545 0138
lorange@kirk.net
http://lorange.kirk.net

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