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Guitar Chords in country music
When you hear Billy Ray Cyrus (or any other country music artist) sing, there usually is solid wall of sound that provides the backing for the song. It sounds "right". All the notes played are in perfect harmony. Now THAT is a chord. About.com's definition: "Involves using your pick to strike at least two notes (often more) on the guitar simultaneously". There are many types. Let us look at some of them, and which ones we will use to play along with most of Billy's songs. The normal guitar chordThese are the type of chords we often use. It is common in most types of music. You can describe these as being "in fifths". There are two subsections to this. Major and Minor. Major chordsA major, in layman's terms, is described as sounding "happy". Most people with absolutely no knowledge of music can tell if a chord is major. Minor chordsA minor is described as being sad. You can easily change a major to a minor by just taking the second note from the base note, and moving it one step behind. For example, if your 2nd note is 3rd fret on the fifth string, move it down one step, so that it becomes 2nd fret on fifth string. The dominant seventhThis type of chord is generally not used by many beginners. It has that "unfinished" sound. The dominant seventh chord is most commonly found in rock music. I don't think i've ever heard a dominant seventh in any of Billy's country music! Here's how you play a dominant 7th on a guitar (works best if your chord involves fretting the 1st string). Let's say we are using a D chord. Fret your chord normally. Since you are fretting the 2nd FRET on the 1st string, move your finger on the 1st string 2 frets BACKWARD. Thus, to play a Dominant 7th D chord, you play normally, but with an open 1st string. Simpler than it sounds, really. We'll look at some of the chords and how to fret them in the next section.
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