What chord is the open strings of a guitar?

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What is it if we simply play the open strings of a basic tuned guitar? That's a question that a lot of my guitar students have asked me throughout the years. So today I am not just going to respond to that question, but I'm going to put this open string guitar to use in an actual tune.

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0:00 Introduction.
0:37 Calling the chord.
4:22 Utilizing the chord in a progression.
6:53 Composing a song with the development.

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42 Comments

  1. Depends on the context of the rest of the song. But just on its own, absolutely.

    I really like the chord progression you created.

  2. Fun fact: This chord is also nearly identical to the “So What chord” Bill Evans used on the Miles Davis song “So What” (with the exception of the high E). It’s interesting how the overtones of the instrument can have such an impact on the sound of a chord. What sounds jazzy and moody on the piano sounds more muddled on the guitar.

    1. I wrote a tune in G minor dorian (F) that uses this chord (in Gm) played as the bottom 3 strings followed by the top 3 two beats later as a device to get from the major part of the solo in F back to the minor part of the verse. The progression is:
      Bb /F /C /F C/Gm7sus4/.. C/Gm7 /
      . F /Gm7 /Bb /Gm7 /F /Gm7

    2. I think the octave plays a big role on why it sounds muddled. The open strings are one octave down compared to that chord in that tune. If you play it an octave up on guitar, it already sounds less muddled.

    3. @RoundPiano I think it’s also the fact they’re all open strings. We like open strings because of their sustain. But six of them together is almost too much sustain. If you came up with a voicing where 2-3 of them were fretted, I think it would already start to sound better.

    4. I guess technically that IS a Gm7add4 since the third is played. Open E7sus4 (no rhird) would be 2nd fret on the A and G strings.

  3. This isn’t something I’ve necessarily wondered but I’m very interested so this is going to be a good video. 😁

    1. I [heart] Sweetwater! Bought some Webcasting gear… and a plain, non-electric tenor guitar. Good prices and friendly folks.

    2. @Jade Cat When they sponsor you, you promote them. And David Bennett Piano must have tens of thousands of US/Canadian viewers.

  4. In the band I was in ages ago, we used to joke that if we ever release an album, we’d dedicate it to the Em11 chord, without which we wouldn’t have made it thus far.

  5. Let’s call it bar none, because it’s the simplest chord to play by every measure. You can then use your indexfinger to make bar chords like bar one, bar two et cetera.

  6. I like it. I was just thinking, man this song needs a bass line and boom, there it was. Couple pointers, don’t be afraid to use some of those cool extensions in the bass. Go ahead and play a 4 or 7 or 11 in the bass. Even if it’s just for one note on one beat, it can help make those chords pop. And use that thing’s lower register. It’s there for a reason. Let the guitars have the upper octaves. On another note, anyone else getting serious late 90s Matthew Sweet vibes from this?

    1. Exactly, I had the very same impression! This is a great song, it’s almost hard to believe that it sounds so smooth yet it uses that weird open strings chord. Maybe the fact that that the open strings give Em7 (after just muting one of them) explains somehow why the E minor key is one of the most convenient keys to play in for guitarists.

    2. that’s a huge compliment for David as we all know he’s a big radiohead fan! and yes i echo that statement too – it does sound quite a lot like them, but distinct all its own. congrats on another awesome lesson!

  7. wow. Thanks so much for this. I’ve been learning guitar for a few years now and, early on I really frustrated all my musician friends as I’m a terribly logical person and I asked them this exact question. None of them, even the guitarists, could answer me. And so i was frustrated. Amazing stuff…

  8. i came up with sth simpler: i decided that ‘a’ is the root so alternating between Fm#7 shell voicing and open strings i get that pedal point in ‘a’ which removes that ‘a’ wanting to become ‘b’,… additionally, when going from open strings back to F#7 i retain e and a strings ringing to give me A5 and play g/b – f#/a – d/g double stop line before starting Fm#7 again

  9. a complication to using the open strings of a guitar is what exactly that sound is: the open strings of a guitar. even in a justifiable song context, this specific voicing of Em7add4 will always sound like a guitar that’s been accidentally bumped or strummed frantically by a toddler. as a guitarist, it is incredibly difficult for me to hear it as anything intentional. maybe a capo higher up on the neck would change the timbre enough for it to sound like an actual chord?

    1. I left a very similar comment! After 20 years of playing guitar my brain simply can’t process this as something musical. Lol. Even though he used it super tastefully in that arrangement, when it hits that chord it just jumps out at me like, oh — what happened?

    2. It’s literally a video about the open strings of a guitar. I think it’s reasonably appropriate that he, you know, used a guitar

    3. I was thinking the exact same thing. As awesome as the piece was at the end of the vid, it still just sounds like the open guitar strings… not a chord (even though it is)

    4. What if … certainly not an inflationary way , wants to use this chord voicing very deliberately ,

      For its specific tension and in the context where the majority of “appropriately” fretted chords heals the wounds previously cut by it. There is a difference between musicians who are capable of arranging the proper voicings and progressions and within this mix throw in such a weird one, delibereately and those ppl on Guitar who cannot even barre all six strings up the neck no other finger than the index, and thus can only play it open and will.

      David and his Singer have done something very cool here, that is perfectly valid in all its aspects.

  10. This might just be your best video yet – not only are you answering a question that’s common but I haven’t seen anyone answer yet, but you also add context, provide a tangible and fun example, and turn it into a really cool song. 👏

  11. Glad to know Im not the only one who has fiddle about with the open chord and its various barred brothers. I’ve encountered it twice . 1st in The Strokes ‘ “Whatever happend” where both guitars hammer it in the pre chorus to build tension. 2nd is The Smiths’ Nowhere Fast.Johnny Marr, bless the genuis, uses it as the last chord of the chorus before the re-intro. He does a classic cowboy whammy dive on it, or rather the E9sus4, right after a higher voiced e minor.Great video as always.Cheers!

    *Just remembered Deaner uses the All Barre chord on Ween’s “Mister Won’t you please help my pony” at the second fret

    1. Kurt Cobain would occasionally play it between other chords. You can hear it briefly at the end of each phrase in the “Big Cheese” riff, for example.

    2. You mentioned The Strokes and The Smiths, so I thought I’d add, in some versions of Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division, the very first chord played is that.

    3. If memory serves, that open chord is used pretty well on acoustic, in the Verve’s _Made it Til Monday._

  12. Fascinating take on a chord every guitar player has heard countless times, yet probably not thought about its “name”. Bravo, David!

    1. I encountered people of the opinion to never ever strike the six strings with no string fretted nor muted, not even briefly during chord changes. Well, maybe they mean it so, to not play this chord briefly … instead, let it breath and ring out, or it’s fully barred sisters and brothers up the neck to serve other keys

  13. The contrast between her voice and that dark progression sounded absolutely incredible. Wow

  14. Great Video David.
    Many years ago I was told that chord was called the”Lennon” chord because John played it very much.
    I also used the wrong name for that chord. Some Beatles transcriptions use a different labeling.
    Thanks for clarifying.

    1. Great song!
      And happy you remember this, because I would’ve been trying to remember where it was I saw this chord forever 🙂

  15. I remember asking my guitar teacher exactly this as a young kid. He was cool enough to go through it with me then.

  16. It’s as if Noel Gallagher and Thom Yorke wrote a song together. Pretty great!

  17. Wow, David. Always love your work, and this one is absolutely next-level fantastic!

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