11 Ways to Spice Up a Bland Chord Progression

I don’t plan on getting all theory heavy here. First, it would be an endless blog post that no one would have the patience to read and second I get paid to explain the details! But if you’re reading this I’m guessing you’re sick of your chord progressions and need a kick in a new direction. Let’s see if anything in this list helps.

And if you already know this stuff, then fist out…respect! But not everyone is super awesome as you.

Likewise, some of the tips might be confusing, which means you want to hit up Youtube or a cool lesson forum such as www.ibreathemusic.com.

1. Are you using only the basic open major/minor chords and power chords? Then you need to check out bar chords, sometimes called the Caged System. Lots of killer books & website detail it.

2. Already know the basic major/minor bar chords? Then it’s time to dig into some inversions on those shapes. There’s a Wikipedia entry that will either inspire you or confuse the hell out of you. If it’s the latter, don’t sweat it…pick up a chord book and learn some new shapes that sound cool. At some point the theory will come along from that book, a teacher, etc.

3. Are you always strumming ALL the strings in every chord you play? Try taking the same progression and only playing, for example, the highest two strings in each chord. Or find a common tone between the two chords and keep it the same between the same two string progression. This will likely sound a little thinner than bashing out the whole chord…hey, you wanted something different, right?

It’s also very common to play only the 3rd and 7th of a chord, letting the bassist or piano dude fill out the low end. If you’re confused by that, just ignore it for now. But when you finally do learn it you’ll be very happy!

4. If you’re playing the same chord for a long time (say, several measures), trying playing different inversions of that chord around the neck. A sequence of low to high register A chords can make your rhythm part sound more complex while keeping the basic chord in place.

5. Know any arpeggios? Instead of, say, playing the same E major for eternity you could play an E major arpeggio…a cool riff giving the E major sound without the usual strumming mumbo jumbo.

6. Speaking of strumming, how well do you know your rhythm? All those quarter notes, sixteenths, and dotted notes offer an ocean of ideas. Hey, my guitar poster will decorate your wall with some quality theory and rhythm lessons!

(What, you didn’t see that coming? )

7. Instead of playing, for example, a C major chord exclusively, try playing that chord for half a measure, then play notes from a C major scale (or arpeggio) for the second half, a cool blend of chord and lead.

You could do the same thing with octave chords, the ones where you mute the middle string while strumming it along with the two notes (same note, an octave apart) on each side.

8. Something my buddy Joe Pass taught me, you can approach any chord in a progression with another chord a half step (one fret) away. Basically, play a “wrong” chord on the way to the right one and it sounds cool, a little bluesy.

9. Add open strings to chords that don’t have any or turn a fretted note in a chord into an open string. Cool? Weird?

10. Relative Major/Minor experiments. A minor is the relative minor to C major. If you have a song with C major in it try playing A minor instead.

11. Do you know what suspended chords are? They’re detailed in my poster too, not to mention a Google search.

These are a few that came to me without getting too theory mad. Anyone got additional tips? This is far from a comprehensive list!