It’s an extremely important aspect of understanding the guitar to really know your partial chord forms as they move up and down the fretboard. One of the ways we can achieve this is to break the chords down into 3-note “block” shapes that can be easily moved around and located on the neck.
In the case of these examples, we are showing the I, IV and V shapes, as these are the most closely related chords, as well as being the most likely to be played in relation to each other. The particular chord positions we are using here are on the top three strings; the high E, B and G, and it’s to help you to recognize not only these three-note forms, but also the split two-note forms that can be derived from these.
You cannot imagine how critical these positions are in terms of learning your improvisation and correct spots on the neck to work out certain chord work. It also will help you as a lead player playing “rhythm” guitar, and finding new voicings that can work well in relation to any of the other players in the band who may be playing in another octave, or chord configuration. —Arlen Roth
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