Introduction

Most of us learn a ton of chords one by one, often times using many of the chord dictionaries out there. Then we learn bar chords and power chords and are able to move them around using only a few simple shapes. But the chords are usually seen as one solid block and are usually large cumbersome chords. Chords can be much more powerful than that and also used as soloing aids.

As we progress on the guitar we can move beyond the common chords that everyone plays and into lighter chords also use an awesome technique known as voice leading. Voice leading is a term that describes the method of moving from one chord to another in as smooth a motion as possible. This means each note moves a minimum of distance between chords, perhaps a half or whole step (1 or 2 frets).

The following system teaches you how to build any chord, focusing on 6th, 7th, 9th, 11 and 13th chords (and their alterations). These are powerful, moveable shapes, and in order to do this you need to understand where each interval is within a chord. Let’s get started!