Chords for Chop Chord Shortcuts: Mandolin Lesson

[D] _ _ _ [A] _ [D] _ _ _ _
G'day, it's Heath here from PickingLessons.com.
[A] Now if you find yourself [D] playing chopped chords on [G] the mandolin and just can't quite get this
four [N] finger chopped chord that you would normally play perhaps for a G or an A shape or a B
shape a little further up, this video lesson is going to be for you.
We're going to take a look at three different ways of playing the major chopped chord that
only use either three notes or two notes.
So we'll have a bit of a look at those three shapes.
Now this lesson is going to be broken down into three parts and here in this first part
we're going to take a look at the three major shapes and here we'll put them together in
a 1-4-5 chord progression and have a bit of a slow practice through.
In the second part, if you jump onto the website at PickingLessons.com, we're going to take
a look at a minor shape, so the relative minor, the 6th chord in the key and we'll have again
a bit of a practice using the 1-4-5 and the 6th minor chord in a tune Billy in the Low
Ground, backing that one up.
And in the third part of this lesson we're going to take a look at how we can move these chords around.
So we'll have a look at where the root note is and how we can shift it up and down the
neck to where we need it and then how we can also rearrange the chords so that we
can play in any key we like.
So first of all, let's have a look at the three major chord shapes.
Alright, so the first chord shape we're going to take a look at is a 3-finger chord.
Now this chopped chord we're going to play right at the moment is in the C position.
So first of all we're going to take our 3rd finger and that's actually on a C note there
on fret 5 of string 4.
The next finger we're going to need is finger 1 and that's on fret 2 of string 3 and then
finger 2 is going to be on fret [C] 3 of string 2.
Now you'll notice that I'm only playing 3 strings there.
_ So that first string, the last string when we're strumming, wants to be taken out.
So when we play what we don't want to hear is this.
We don't want that note.
Because when [Db] we move that chord [Gb] around [C] that note becomes, basically becomes not part of the chord.
So we need to make sure that we're blocking it out.
And the way that we're going to do that is using the base of the fingers as we curl around
from our chopped chord, touching just the inside of the finger against the string.
So lean your hand over so you can block the first string and then the first string is
muted and it just can become part of the chopped chord sound.
So there's our first shape. _
_ Alright so the next shape we're going to look at, if we call this our 1 chord in the key
of C, the next [Am] chord we're going to take a look at is the 4 chord.
And the 4 chord we're going to find really easily and it's a [N] 2 note chord.
All we need to do from the C shape we have is move up finger 2 to the 3rd string.
So from our C chord we had, we're taking our 2nd finger and moving it up to string 2.
And that's on fret 3.
Sorry, onto string 3 on fret 3.
And when we're chopping this one, we've only got 2 strings in the chord so [F] that's string
3 and string 4.
Which [N] means ideally you want string 2 and string 1 muted.
Again using the same method, the inside or underneath of the 1st or 2nd fingers, whichever
ones [F] you can manage in there.
I'm using my 1st finger. _
[C] So the 2 chord shapes we have are C and _ then 2nd finger moving up to the 3rd [F] string to the F.
_ Alright, so moving on to the 5 chord in this case.
So it's going to be a G.
And first of all we can actually [N] just take these 2 fingers we already have on the F and
they're going to slide up 2 frets to our G position and that's 2nd finger on fret 5,
string 3.
3rd finger, fret 7, [G] string 4.
So _ 2 notes for our G chord.
[C] So we have our C shape. _
[Fm] 2nd finger moving up to the F.
[G] Slide that across 2 frets to the G.
[Db] And then we'll go back [Am] and finish on the C.
_ [N] So have a look at the chart.
The fingering's in there.
But we have our C shape, our F shape and our G.
Now just before we go into the play through for the 1-4-5 chord progression, let's have
a quick look at an alternate way of playing both the F and the G shapes.
So at the moment when we're playing C and then moving into F, our 2nd finger's moving
up to the 3rd string.
The other way of playing the F chop shape, we can actually take fingers 2 and 1 from
the C chord, take off finger 3 and move fingers 2 and 1 to the 3rd and 4th string.
So there's our C chord.
And moving up fingers 2 and 1 to string 3 and 4, removing finger 3.
Again, we need string 2 [Dm] and 1 blocked.
That's an F with those 2 notes.
_ _ [N] And we can actually move those 2 across now, [Ab] 2 frets.
And there's another [Eb] way of playing G.
_ [Bb] So [B] you can make your choice.
[F] I tend to play the [G] F and G like that if I'm using these shapes.
But it works equally as well if you [C] play with the alternate [F] fingering [G] 2 and 1.
[C] _ [Abm] So take your pick.
Both of those variations are on the chord chart.
Okay, so have a bit of a practice of those chord shapes.
Make sure you're familiar with them.
But right now, we're going to have a go putting those chord shapes together.
And we're going to have a play through a 1-4-5 chord progression.
Pretty much along the lines of Blue Ridge Cabin Home, but there are lots of [A] songs that
use a very [C] similar chord structure. _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ Visit my website at www.pickandlessons.pi.com and you'll find some charts for what we've been talking about, plus the next two videos in this lesson and then the charts that go with those as well. Cheers, I'll