Chapter 19: Diatonic 7th Chords on the A-String. 4 New Shapes to Double Your Advanced Chords.

Awesome work! You've got those 7th chords down on the E-string, and you have a whole new set of high-performance tools. Now, it's time to take that same idea and apply it to a new string.

We're not learning a totally new system, which is great. We're just using the one that works, this time on the A-string. You'll learn four new, simple, moveable shapes. With these, you'll literally double your options for playing all these sophisticated 7th chords. The payoff for this keeps growing. You're building a musical vocabulary that will really make your playing sound amazing.

8 Shapes → 7 Diatonic 7th Chords × 12 Keys × 2 Voicings = 168 Advanced Chord Options

Let's get started.

The System: Four New Upgraded Shapes for the A-String

This is our next set of shapes. It's the same four advanced emotional tools we learned, just rebuilt for the A-string.

The A-String Major 7 Shape. Your "jazzy," "sophisticated," and "dreamy" chord for this position.

The A-String Dominant 7 Shape. The ultimate "tension" chord that demands resolution.

The A-String Minor 7 Shape. Your "cool," "soulful," or "introspective" chord.

The A-String Half-Diminished 7 Shape. Your high-tension, "unstable" chord for maximum drama.

The system is identical: Find the root note of the chord you want on the A-string, and apply the correct upgraded shape. That's it.

Putting the System to Work: Building C Major 7th Chords on the A-String

You know the 7th chord pattern: Major 7, minor 7, minor 7, Major 7, Dominant 7, minor 7, half-diminished 7. Now we just apply our four new shapes to the right root notes on the A-string.

The Major 7s (Imaj7, IVmaj7): Cmaj7, Fmaj7

Find C (3rd fret) and F (8th fret) color-coded in red on the A-string.

Apply The A-String Major 7 Shape to each one.

You've just built the sophisticated major 7th chords from a new position.

The Dominant 7 (V7): G7