{"id":8740,"date":"2015-09-29T05:14:41","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T05:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/?p=8740"},"modified":"2015-10-11T09:41:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T09:41:20","slug":"chord-clusters-develop-your-guitar-chord-playing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/chord-clusters-develop-your-guitar-chord-playing\/","title":{"rendered":"Chord Clusters &#8211; Develop your Guitar Chord Playing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script src=\"https:\/\/petersen.leadpages.co\/leadbox-908.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" data-leadbox=\"14a4e2273f72a2:944713b9d\" data-url=\"https:\/\/petersen.leadpages.co\/leadbox\/14a4e2273f72a2%3A944713b9d\/5905658549370880\/\" data-config=\"%7B%22type%22%3A%22time%22%2C%22settings%22%3A%7B%22seconds%22%3A0%2C%22days%22%3A0%2C%22views%22%3A0%7D%7D\"><\/script><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Blog-Chord-Clusters-600.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8765\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Blog-Chord-Clusters-600.jpg\" alt=\"Guitar Chord Clusters\" width=\"750\" height=\"425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Blog-Chord-Clusters-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Blog-Chord-Clusters-600-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Blog-Chord-Clusters-600-220x126.jpg 220w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Blog-Chord-Clusters-600-460x260.jpg 460w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Chord Clusters is a Guitar specific thought process that involves grouping all the chords of a single key together in a concentrated area of the fret-board.<\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>Chord Clusters &#8211; The mind set<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There are two ways in which you can approach playing chord progressions. The first is to sit down, study the progressions and chord shapes and commit them to memory. This works great and is a definite stepping-stone when learning to play the guitar.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The second (and my personal favourite I might add) is to commit the chord structure to memory and improvise the actual chord voicing\u2019s on a case by case basis. These patterns that you use to improvise are what I call chord clusters.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The process of building chord clusters is quite easy but before we do that, lets work through the whole thought process.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You might have a progression that consists of D, A, Bm, G. A standard approach would be to play all 4 chords in the voicing that you\u2019re most familiar with. So you may play them all in open position, and use a Root 5 minor shape for the B on the 2nd fret.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8748\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8748\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/I-V-VI-IV.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8748\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/I-V-VI-IV.jpg\" alt=\"Chord Clusters I-V-VI-IV positions\" width=\"768\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/I-V-VI-IV.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/I-V-VI-IV-300x98.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8748\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram 1: I-V-VI-IV Positions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Chord Clusters approach involves firstly recognising the key you are playing in. The second step is to work out what the chord numbers are in that key.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So in the above example D, A, Bm, G. Your key centre is D Major and the chord numbers are I, V, VI, IV. These chord numbers are taken from the process of building 3 note triads off the D Major Scale. This is called the D Harmonised Scale.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8746\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8746\" style=\"width: 766px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/D-Harmonised-Scale-e1443439524550.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8746 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/D-Harmonised-Scale-e1443439524550.jpg\" alt=\"Chord Clusters: The D Harmonised Scale\" width=\"766\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/D-Harmonised-Scale-e1443439524550.jpg 766w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/D-Harmonised-Scale-e1443439524550-300x65.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 766px) 100vw, 766px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8746\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chord Clusters Diagram 2: The D Harmonised Scale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>\u00a0Building Chord Clusters<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This brings us to the Chord Clusters themselves. Chord Clusters is the name I give to the process of building harmonised scales in a concentrated area of the fret-board. This process is used to take the guess work out of playing new chord progressions and also keeping the movement between the notes of the chords to a minimum.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The easiest starting point for this is to have Chord Clusters built in 3 positions. These 3 positions would be based around the Tonic or Chord 1 being on the 6th string, the 5th string and finally the 4th string. This would give you 3 completely different Chord Clusters to play around as well as the open chord positions. Depending on the key, this could potentially give you 4 separate positions to play each chord and gives you a massive advantage when it comes to improvising around chord progressions as well as sight-reading charts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The following 3 chord listings give you the Chord Clusters based around the tonic being on each of the 3 strings. It is important to note that these chord clusters are completely moveable. You simply reposition the 1st chord to the desired key and then all following chords move relative to Chord 1.<\/p>\n<h2>Root 6 Chord Cluster<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root6-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8763 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root6-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg\" alt=\"Root 6 Triad Chord Cluster\" width=\"870\" height=\"664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root6-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg 870w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root6-Triad-Chord-CLuster1-300x229.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>Root 5 Chord Cluster<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root5-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8762 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root5-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg\" alt=\"Root 5 Triad Chord Cluster\" width=\"870\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root5-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg 870w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root5-Triad-Chord-CLuster1-300x248.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>Root 4 Chord Cluster<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root4-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8761 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root4-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg\" alt=\"Root 4 Triad Chord Cluster\" width=\"870\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root4-Triad-Chord-CLuster1.jpg 870w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Root4-Triad-Chord-CLuster1-300x248.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This article is based on concepts from\u00a0<strong>the LICK FACTORY&#8217;s <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/set-1\/\">Set 1<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/set-2\/\">Set 2<\/a> courses. To develop your chord playing or fill in the blanks, check out these lesson packages.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Need a quicker fix? <a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/ucg-vol-1\/\">the ULTIMATE CHORD GUIDE: Volume 1<\/a> might be the answer.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Who&#8217;s your teacher?<\/h2>\n<div style=\"width: 20%; padding: 0 10pt 0 0; float: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8717\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Kris Petersen 'Meet You' Profile Picture\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/nickycarrallphotography.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nicky Carrall Photography<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 70%; padding: 0px 10pt 0px 0px; float: right; text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Kris Petersen<\/strong><\/em> is a true veteran of the Australian Music Industry. From clubs to stadiums, Kris has performed on every continent in the world and shared the stage with some of the worlds biggest artists. In the last few years alone, Kris has shared the stage with Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Orianthi, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Matt Sorumn (Guns n Roses), Eric Martin, The Drifters, Buckcherry, Daryl Braithwaite, The Living End&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/whos-your-teacher\/\">read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chord Clusters is a Guitar specific thought process that involves grouping all the chords of a single key together in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[93,34,35,94,30,10],"class_list":["post-8740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-guitar-lessons","tag-chord-clusters","tag-free-guitar-lesson","tag-free-guitar-lessons-2","tag-guitar-chord-clusters","tag-guitar-lesson","tag-kris-petersen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Blog-Chord-Clusters-600.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4qE6j-2gY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8740"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8941,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8740\/revisions\/8941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}