Lets work on the five patterns of major and minor triads. By now you maу have noticed these chords sound somewhat different even though they are the same letter name and type. This is because they are different voicings.

The voicing refers to the order of chord tones upward from the bass note.

• One voicing might be: 1,5, 1. 3, 5,1.

• Another might be; 3, 1. 5, 1,

• Another might be: 1, 3, 5,1, 3.

So the order in which the chord tones occur has some effect on the sound, but it does not change the basic sound quality. For example, all major chords will sound major, but different voicings will have a somewhat different shade of sound.

Here are some variations of the five basic chord shapes for major and minor presented in the previous article about the five patterns. The smaller shapes extracted from the larger ones are very important because they have a different density of sound and are more appropriate for some situations. Part of having a good rhythm guitar vocabulary is knowing which voicing is correct or the style and instrumentation. Be sure to compare the variations to the original. Most of the times, they are a smaller version of the original shape. Fingerings are left out so that you can focus or the octave shapes. See the root! Experiment with all possible fingerings!

Alternate voicings for major chords

Alternate voicings for minor chords

These variations are often inversions of the chord. See which note is in the bass as you learn each shape. The trick to using these smaller shapes is to see them as part of the larger shapes. Put them into some „basic moves“ and progressions so you can hear them as a certain type of chord sound. Also see where the root lies in every shape.