Here’s a video which shows how to make chords and a little of the theory behind how we make chords.
Before doing this video lesson, I recommend you first do these introductory lessons on chords:
I think it’s best to start by doing. Just learn the chords, play them in progressions and then in simple tunes. After practicing them a bit, you’ll be in a better position to understand the theory behind it and to construct your own chords.
Also, I recommend you watch this video on triads as preparation for (or as a supplement to) this video:
• Triads - Technique Lesson
Basically, we use something called “triads”. A triad is the first, third and fifth degrees (or notes) of a scale (major or minor). To play a chord on the fiddle we simply pick two out of the three notes from the triad and play them together (a double stop).
We’ll look at the G major triad and chord first. Start by playing all the notes from the triad in first position:
G0-2-D0-3-A1-3-EL2-4.
Then we’ll start picking two notes out to make double stops.
G major (G) chords
__________________________
G 0 2 2
D 0 0 3 0 3 3
A 1 1 3 1 3 3
E L2 L2 4
We do the same process for G minor. The triad notes are G0-L2-D0-3-AL1-3-EL2-L4
G minor (Gm) chords
__________________________
G 0 L2 L2
D 0 0 3 0 3 3
A L1 L1 3 L1 3 3
E L2 L2 L4
Note that certain finger patterns work for BOTH G major and minor: G0D0, D3A3, A3EL2. These are called POWER CHORDS.
We can do a cool chord progression now:
G /Gm, which can be fingered:
G2D0-GL2D0
--
This will also be helpful:
Single-Double Stop Alternation video: • Single and Double Stop...
I made some “Learning Chunks” on the FiddleHed site to help you do this. These focused exercises contain sheet music, tabs and mp3 snippets to guide you on each step of your fiddle journey.
These and all new lesson pages can be viewed for one week after publication with a FREE trial membership. Check it out here: fiddlehed.com
And after you sign up, I’ll also send you a mini-course of lessons specially designed for your skill level.
Alrighty. Play every day, have fun 😀 and thanks for making music 🙏
Now, go fiddle with it...
Jason 🎻