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The added benefit to these chord shapes is that there is no need to lift your fingers off the fretboard to change chords as you do when changing from and to open string chords. These guitar chords are called movable chords. All you have to do is, fret the chord shape (with the correct fingering), then slide your fingers up and down the guitar neck and stay in contact with the strings as you slide up or down to another fret. As long as you stay on the same strings as the original chord shape, and move them whatever fret you want to, there is no need to lift your fingers off to change them. And as you will hear, you will create some great new sounds to play on your guitar.

The chords above are fairly standard so they shouldn't be a problem to play. To play the Dsus4 chord, simply keep the normal D major chord fingering and add you 4th finger. Placing the 4th finger down and raising it again, while you are strumming, creates a great sound when played with the D chord.

Okay, so go and have a lot of fun with this. I want you to challenge yourself to come up with at least three different musical ideas, all created by simply sliding the chords up and down the fretboard. It doesn't get much easier. You can even try these chords with a guitar capo on any fret. You can also put more than one chord per measure if you want to. And remember you can use whatever strumming or picking combinations you like. The possibilities really are endless and only limited by your imagination. These simple chords can, and will add spice to your own song writing efforts. Maybe one day I will hear your music creations on the radio.

About the author:

Gold Coast born and bred Allen Hopgood, first picked up a guitar on his thirteenth birthday. It was a gift from his older brother. On the condition that he had to pay it off at $5 a week! Well it was the gift that just kept giving. Today, not only has he become an accomplished guitar player, Allen is the director of his own guitar teaching business where he teaches, leads and inspires his students to become the guitar players that they want to be.

Okay, it's time to be creative. If you're regularly practising your guitar, going over your chord changes and strumming patterns and maybe some scale shapes, you might find that it can get a little stale and boring doing the same thing all the time. But as guitar players we always want to learn 'new stuff'. While that is a good thing to do, we often don't look at different ways we can get more out of what we know. Plus the ultimate thing a musician wants to do is to create music, right? In this short article you are going to learn some simple things that can make you a more creative and expressive guitar player. Sound good? Let's get to it then.

As you know playing standard open and barre chord shapes over and over again, while sounding good, can become tiresome after a while. Your ears hear the same thing and you can become disinterested with what you are playing. At this point it's very easy to slip into what is know as playing rut. Playing guitar is meant to be fun and creative. So what you're about to learn is so easy, so simple to play, that you just can't help but have fun with it a - LOT of fun!

To help you break out of the standard open chord changes, you are going to use a couple of those chords, and variations on them, in a great way. Remember, this is really easy and fun to do. All you will do is, learn the chord shapes below, (or review them) and simply slide the shapes up and down along the strings. To any fret you like on the fretboard. If you like the sound of the chord on that fret, use it. If not, move the chord shape to another fret. It's that simple! You will do this to start creating some great new sounds on your guitar.

To be creative with these chords, use whatever strumming pattern you like. If you prefer, apply a picking pattern to them instead for a cool sound. Combine strumming and picking together. Use standard 4/4 or 6/8 – any time signature will work. There are no restrictions or rules to follow here. You only aim is to determine whatever sounds good to you.

Play the shape. Slide it to any fret. Play it again. Listen to it. Do you like the sound of it? Simple. Easy. Fun!

Here are the chords:

Getting Creative With Super Easy Chord Shapes To Make Cool Sounds On Your Guitar
By Allen Hopgood