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Gerald Jones - The Only Three Chord Forms You Really Need To Know To Play In a Bluegrass Band...
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The Only Three Chord Forms You Really Need To Know To Play In a Bluegrass Band...

by Gerald Jones

On the banjo there is really only three practical ways to make a major chord. By using these and moving them up and down the neck you have all the major chords in any key. The example below shows the F form, D form and A form. I just named them that because that's the lowest natural chord (not flat or sharp) that they each make.

You can make all the minor and seventh chords just by altering the three chord forms above. Below are the three forms and how to change them to make each a minor or a seventh version.

Finding the Next Higher Version of All Chords

There is a simple formula to easily find the next inversion of the three major chord forms. Know these rules let you quickly find chords as you need them and not have to memorize the entire neck all at once. Remember, I just named these form F, D, and A so we would have something to call them. What chord they really are depends on what fret you place them. The small numbers below each chord diagram is the interval of each note of the chord. Major chords have just the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale. The 1st is the name of the chord.