I need some help

[bobby0283]

I've only been playing for a short while and would like some help/opinions on something. I'm workin on a mellow song, and need to find another chord to follow what I have in the same key. So far I have Asus2 (x02200), A (x02220), and Dm(add9)/A (x03230). Any suggestions?

[Willdridge]

It really depends on what you're aimming for. There's a pretty corny type one if you play E (022100). You could try going be to A, as this adds a fair amount of resolve to the progression (relase of tension caused by the Dmadd9.
Without knowing what you're trying to achieve it's not the easiest of things to help with.
Hope that's some help. Good luck!

[Kevin Taylor]

if ya wanna be really corny you could play x02020, then d, then dm, a, e7
--sorry the caps lock on my wireless keyboard ain't working ;0

[bobby0283]

What I was going for was something a little lower in tone than the Asus2, then back to the A -> Dm(add9)/A -> A, so that it went Asus2->A->Dm(add9)/A->A->(chord I'm looking for)->A->Dm(add9)/A->A. I know it sounds kinda corny but it's for my girlfriend.

[chris mood]

I'm not sure if the D chord your talking about is major or minor, I'm assuming it's minor. If so try some form of g minor. You can add a 9th on to it to mellow it out(a), or a 7th ( f ). You can also play a Bb maj. or dominant (Bb7) before going to the A & then to the D-, this is a cool turnaround that is used in minor blues.

[Willdridge]

It's a crazy thought, but why not try Aadd9 (x02420) before going back to Asus2?
It's biggest draw back is that it's still basically an A chord, so you run the risk of it sounding too "simple," but I think that's also one of it's good qualities.

[blackrose]

Dm, Em, G/B.

[bobby0283]

Thanks for the suggestions, it's helped a lot. I looked at all the chords you suggested and variations of them and I think that an E/A works well.

[Hootayah]

I'm a little lost here.
What does stuff like E/A mean?
I've seen stuff like that before (like G/B or C/G etc) but can't figure out what it means.
Is it an ascii way of notating chords or does it mean to slide up or something?

[chris mood]

The first letter, in this case E, tells you what chord is being played. The 2nd letter tells you what note is in the bass.

[Willdridge]

The classic example is Bb/D (xx0331) - (Used often by Brian May from queen). Tonally, it's a Bb chord, i.e. it sounds like a Bb, bt the lowest note (as Chris said the bass note) is a D.
Something like Dm/C would look like this (x3x321). The D string is muted as, in most cases, it would sound too much like a Dm7 chord.
Hopefully this is making at least some sense...There's no real secret behind it, it's just one of those things that isn't often explained and therefore quite a few people just don't know about it...

[Hootayah]

Excellent. Sounds simple enough.
Thanks!!

[chris mood]

If your playin in a band situation you don't necessarily need to play the bass note indicated, it will be provided by the bass player & will have the same effect (Chords that do not have the root in the bass often sound unstable & want to resolve elsewhere)

Here's some terms you should be familiar ;
1) E/A is known as a slash chord
2) a chord that does not have the root as the bass is known as a inversion