Regardless of your level of experience as a guitar player, it is possible that you haven’t explored the characteristics of the individual notes in chords (chord tones) and how to enhance your playing with the information you acquire. Just as each note of the scale has its own character, each chord tone possesses qualities that guide the ear in a particular way. For example, the root and the 5th outline the chord, whereas the 3rd and 7th define the harmony.
In this lesson we will look into the root (1) of the chord and the fifth (5). If you are playing accompaniment, these will be the chord tones that you will want to understand and use first. Increase your familiarity with these tones by playing a I – IV – V progression in each of the following keys and finding the root and fifth of each chord on one of the three lower strings, or bass strings:
C, G, D, A, E
This means that in the key of C you would find the root and fifth for the C chord (I), the F chord (IV) and the G chord (V). Do this in each of the above keys and as you play the chord tone, sing the notes with the appropriate number as lyrics. By doing this, you will not only be drilling the notes, but also training your ear.
Try playing a few of the songs you know in these keys and incorporate the root and fifth as an alternating bass into either a strumming or picking pattern with an alternating bass. You have probably been using an alternating bass already, but take the time now to recognize the notes and the numbers of the chord tones. You can do this with a simple strumming pattern, such as bass – strum – bass – strum. To create an alternating bass when playing a G chord, use the 6th string (root) followed by a strum, then the 4th string (fifth of the chord) followed by a strum. On the D chord, choose the 4th string (root), followed by a strum, then the 5th string (which is A, or the fifth of the D chord), followed by a strum.
In addition to bringing your awareness to the root and 5th in chords, be sure to practice finding them in the arpeggios that you extract from the scale patterns.