What are some of the biggest tips or things you learned from your three most favorite guitar players?
I learned about chords from Eric Johnson. How he voices chords are completely amazing. He once said, "you can move a melody around from inside the chords." I learned from him is that the last note on the very bottom of the string is voiced always as a root (depending upon the chord), or a major 2nd (or nineth), a major or minor 3rd, perfect fourth (sus4 chords), perfect fifth, a major or minor sixth, a major or minor seventh voiced at the very bottom of the chord on the fretboard.
For example, say if I had a C chord and that C chord had x3201x the last note in this chord is C in this particular example. The chord has the root placed at the bottom (Notes of the chord: xCEGCx. Now if the chord had a major third at the bottom it would be written like this x32010 or x3555x (Notes of the chord xCEGCE for alt. xCGCEx) as you can see the major third of the chord voiced at the bottom (the last note of the chord voiced on the guitar fretboard. Now for the suspened chords would usually have a perfect fifth or the perfect fourth placed at the bottom of the chord. Let's choose to play a sus4 chord with the perfect fifth on the bottom a C sus4 x35563 (notes of the chord xCGCFG (as you can see a fifth is placed at the bottom of the chord) Now with a major sixth with a 3rd placed at the bottom. Now for major and minor sixth chords would usually have a 3rd (major or minor) the 6th (major or minor) placed at bottom for a different voicing
Let's choose to play a major sixth chord with major 3rd placed on the bottom x3525x (notes of the chord xCGAEx) as you can see the 3rd is placed on the bottom. Because if you look at notes of C major scale C D E F G A B E and E would be the third note in the key of C that's how you can tell what note is placed on the bottom of the chord if it's root 2nd 3rd 4th 5th etc... Just write the notes out according to the chord you want to voice.
Now lets look at the major7 chord. For the major 7 and minor 7 chords usually have perfect fifth, major or minor 3rd, major or minor seventh placed at the bottom of the chord (please understand not the root of the chord, but the last note in the chord and how it's setup on the guitar fretboard.) Okay, lets choose to play the C major seventh with a fifth played at the bottom of the chord x35453 (notes of the chord xCGBEG) as you can see the fifth note is placed on the bottom of the chord.
But I said all of that to say that what Eric Johnson does is move a melody around whether it be a root, 3rd or fifth which is why he make chords sound good. I've seen where he moves chords played up in fifth's or played in third's around, which is fairly easily to do on the guitar. Usually the smaller chords are voiced with a root or with a perfect fifth or with a major or minor third at the bottom. With all that being said try to know your favorite chord. Try to tell whether it has a root, major or minor third or perfect fifth in there or even a major or minor sixth or a major or minor seventh placed at the bottom of the chord. That's why its good to know inversions and being to able tell whether you want the root or third, or fifth placed at the bottom of the chord.
With all that being said here is what I came up with: Cmajor-Csus4-Fmaj-Gmaj-Fmaj-Cmaj7
C major - x3201x / notes: xCEGCx
C sus4 - x35563 / notes: xCGCFG
F major - xx3565 / notes: xxFCFA
G major - xx5433 / notes: xxGBDG
C maj7 - x35453 / notes: xCGBEG
Breakdown: What's going on in the music?
chord one has a root placed at the bottom
chord two has a perfect fifth placed at the bottom
chord three has a major third placed at the bottom
chord four has a root placed at the bottom
chord five has a major third placed at the bottom
chord six has a perfect fifth placed at the bottom
As you can see there is a sequence going on in the progression and it is going on based on the note placed at the bottom and it is root-fifth-third-root-third-fifth. Can you see this pattern going on in the music?
As to say, how can I tell if what likes to move to what? Does a chord with the root placed at bottom like to move to a chord that has a fifth at the bottom or third or seventh or a sixth at the bottom? Which is the question. You will have to use your ear and once you do write the pattern down. Good luck!
