Chords using Flats and Sharps

[Davide101]

Hi, I need help on playing some chord progressions. How do I play the progression Gb,Ebm,Abm,Db7 is it F#,D#m,G#m,C#7?, someone told me that in order to play those Chords you have to turn them into Sharps. Any Advise?

[StoneDragon]

Whether a chord is called by it's sharp name or flat name depends on what key the song is in. Changing the name doesn't change the chord though. It's still the same chord.

Usually, in determining the key, you would want to go with whichever naming gives you the least amount of sharp or flat notes to deal with. It's easier on the brain that way. In the case of the progression you have here, it makes no difference whether you think of it in Gb or F#. Both keys have the same number of sharps or flats (Gb = 6 flats, F# = 6 sharps).

So much for the theory.

Now, what exactly are you having trouble with? Are you needing to know how to play each of those chords on the guitar?

The easiest(?) way would be to use barre chords:

--2-----6-----4-----4---------------
--2-----7-----4-----6---------------
--3-----8-----4-----4---------------
--4-----8-----6-----6---------------
--4-----6-----6-----4---------------
--2-----------4---------------------

If you have trouble with barre chords, then you could just play the top four strings of each chord:

--2-----6-----4-----4---------------
--2-----7-----4-----6---------------
--3-----8-----4-----4---------------
--4-----8-----6-----6---------------
------------------------------------
------------------------------------

These aren't the best voicings that you could use for a progression like that, but they'll get you in the ballpark.

If you're feeling a little more adventurous, you could try this:

------------------------------------
--7-----7-----7-----6-----6---------
--6-----8-----8-----4-----3---------
--8-----8-----6-----6-----4---------
--9-----6-----------4-----4---------
--------------7---------------------

That has better voice leading (how the notes move from chord to chord), but it may not sound all that exciting (I don't have my guitar handy at the moment so this is off the top of my head). The Abm in this case is Abmin7 and the final chord is GbMaj7, which is where this type of progression would normally come to rest.

[Fixed a typo on the Abmin7 chord - SD]

[This message has been edited by StoneDragon (edited March 08, 2001).]