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major and minor chords

Hi all quick question, withe the 151 tuning its fairly straight forward to get the power chords and although I know the fingerings to get major and minor chords but as im still learning playing slide mostly I was wondering if its possible to substitute the major and minor chords with single note from top and bottom string?

For example instead of playing a G major chords I just pluck the bottom string in a GDG tuning, same applies for A major chord except this time press the second fret on bottom string? Etc

For minor chords the same as above except use the top string?

I am aware it wont sound perfect but with a bit of distortion to help was wondering if anyone else has done this starting off!

Thing is the more I play the more I want to learn more but when things get difficult I dont play as much, so if I get a few songs done in an easy to play fashion I know ill want to progress more ie getting the major and minor chords properly!

Thanks in advance for any help!

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Permalink Reply by robert jones on June 14, 2014 at 12:50am

Yeah, it's called a broken chord.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on June 14, 2014 at 2:24am

its also called an arpeggio or arpeggiating :)

don't be too quick to change your tuning. It is an approach for sure, but hardly the only way; each tuning has its strengths and weaknesses. We have stripped strings away in order to SIMPLIFY things right ?

tuning to a third note is only one of the answers :)

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Permalink Reply by Scruggy on June 14, 2014 at 2:58am

Guna stick with tuning I have but planing on either building or buying another so nice to know other options of tunings down the line!

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on June 14, 2014 at 3:31am

yes. Well i'll tell you what i'd recommend is consider doing a four string one with GDGB. See this is the tuning you're learning now, and Robert's there both rolled into one? You only add another D and G up above that (same, same) and you know a full 6 string open tuning ! (tho usually on guitar this tuning is done in D or E)

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Permalink Reply by robert jones on June 14, 2014 at 4:54am

Never said my suggestion is the only option but it is a simple solution to get you in the game with the string set currently on the guitar.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Curley on June 14, 2014 at 8:48pm

It's an arpeggio but that's not what I meant. It's more about dropping this whole notion of chords, or arpeggios, being the only way that you can move through a song. Al chord sequence simply indicates how the harmony should move, how you do that is up to the player and their chosen instrument. A 6 or even 4string guitar can strum along with a few chords but with only 3strings you'll get much better results, regardless of the tuning, if you can find other ways to do it.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on June 14, 2014 at 3:18am

well this has sure gone bezerk eh ?

I'll just add this, obviously having written a couple huge blogs on the subject, I'm not a guy who thinks you can unravel all the mysteries of harmony in a nice short, trite answer...

Theres truth in all these answers here, 'oh to make a chord minor you just need to "♭" the "iii" .....'

yep, this is spot on.

But it's not really how minor chords come about. I'd argue that its a (very common) misconception to consider a Gminor chord a G chord at all. Its (Gm) actually a B♭ chord. How did I find that note? (B♭).. Well its the iii note that other bloke was talking about, after we '♭' it.

You see each chord has a minor counterpart, called its relative minor. The relative minor is three frets below its major brother, and it should be seen as the minor flavour of that major brother. (working harmony the way most of us do, tertian harmony, see the i see threes blog for more info) A chord is made up of every second note in the scale. So the (i) chord is (i) (iii) (v), the (ii) chord is (ii) (iv) (vi).. etc.. If you follow this all through you'll find the (vi) chord is (vi) (i) (iii). Compare that to the (i) chord for a second. See the common ground? So another way to look at it is 'to go minor from any major chord you take the (v) note and raise it two frets to the (vi) note. This way we go minor without actually changing key, we remain in the same scale. Of course playing your GDG guitar in Gm is entirely possible and this is the key advantage of that tuning, but as soon as you add that B string then this stuff is def worth knowing, cos in Gm that B string is the 'devils note', a ♭ii.

Sorry its not simpler :(

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Permalink Reply by robert jones on June 14, 2014 at 4:49am

LOL Simple just went out the window now didn' it. :D

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Permalink Reply by Scruggy on June 14, 2014 at 5:36am

Its simple enough for an irish idiot like myself, lol

Yes I do understand what you mean, took a few reads but I got there!

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Curley on June 14, 2014 at 8:13pm

Woah there Kid. Gm is not a G chord? Can't let that one go. It's not G major but it most certainly has a tonality based around the G tonic and that makes it a G chord.

You can't equate a minor chord with its relative major, they share some notes, but they're not the same! One is major and one is minor for a start, they have different root notes.

And in Gm the B is the diminished 4th. (It's Gm not Bb)

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on June 14, 2014 at 4:04am

The answer is easier....if you change the problem.

You can go with the 2 string in the bottom position, and tune the guitar G-D-B for a major chord (1-5-3). To get a minor or M7, you then detune the bottom string 1/2 step to a Bb. You can then play music with a mix of minor/M7/Major chords by barring the chord for the minor and M7 chords and fretting 1 position ahead of the barr to form a major chord.

I do this all the time on 4 string CBGs to make much more interesting play and have done it on 3 string CBGs when that was all I had and wanted the musicality.....