Mandolin Chord Form Lesson
Moveable
Closed Chord Forms for Mandolin
Major I Major III Major V
  
1 5 3
1 3 1 5 3 5 3 1 5
Minor Chord Forms
Minor
I
Minor III Minor V
  
1 5 3
1 3 1 5 3 5 3 1 5
7th Chord Forms
youTube lesson - Click Here!
7th I 7th III 7th
V 7th V alt
1 7 3
1 5 1 7 3 5 3 7 5 7 3 1 5
7th VII
1 5 3
7
The major chord forms
are named by the top note of the chord (I, III, or V), the note in the lead
or the melody note. A closed chord form refers to one that
does not have any open strings where every note is fretted.
The "I or one" chord has the root or tonic or "Do" of
the chord in the lead, a "III or three" chord has the 3rd or
mediant or "Mi" of the
chord scale in the lead and a "V or five" chord has the 5th or
dominant or "So" as the
lead note. The 7th chord forms also include the 7th tone
of the scale in the lead for the VII chord voicing. With
these basic chord patterns all chord inversions are possible
with the I, III, or V of the scale in the lead note of the
chord.
The Roman numeral under the
chords note the positions of the I, III, and V or Do, Mi and So
or the tonic, mediant and dominant notes of the scale
of the chord. A major triad must have all 3 notes (the I,
III, and V) to complete
the chord. The letter above the chord does name the chord
but it's the chord form and it's fingering pattern that I'm stressing here.
These closed chord forms can be moved to any fret giving you any
chord or key needed. A closed chord form is one that has
no open strings.
These chord forms also
serve as the foundation of using melody chords so the lead note
of the melody can be maintained on the highest sounding string
while the other notes below or lower sounding notes
self-accompany that lead or melody note. To help you
distinguish the three major chord forms (I, III, V) remember
that the "I"
major chord form is barred on the 2 bottom strings, the "III" is
barred on the middle 2 strings and the "V" form is barred on the
top 2 strings. This is an easy way to relate to each major chord
form. Also notice that each chord form has what I call a
"junior" or 3 note chord form on the inside or bottom three
strings (the lowest sounding 3 strings). Inside the "I"
(4 note closed) form
is a Jr.III (3 note closed) chord, inside the "III" (4
note closed) form is a Jr.V (3 note closed) chord and
inside the "V" (4 note closed) chord is a Jr.I (3 note
closed) chord form. These 3 major
chord forms interlock with each other to form different
inversions of the same chord. Most (but
not all) of these four note chord forms also have the same note
on the bottom string as well as the top string just two octaves
apart.
Playing with and using these chord forms
Mandolin Chord Inversions
      
I jr III
jr V jr
I
III
V
I
  
V
I
III
  or
I jr
III
V
V
VII
Notice these inversions
follow the I, III, and V or Do, Mi, and So of the scale of the
chord. Also the VII for the D7 scale.
I =
Do = one = tonic = (also called the root of the chord)
III = Mi = three = mediant
V = So = five = dominant
Once you master these
inversions for every chord it will add much more freedom to your
playing. Start with the basic keys like G, A, D, C and
work your way through every chord if desired. The patterns
remain the same for playing the inversions of the chord, then to
change the chord all you need to do is change it's starting
point to the appropriate fret of either of the I, III, or V
chords. For example play the last 4 G major chords above
up 1 fret to G#, then up 2 frets to A and so on. Play
these inversions forward and backward to get a feel for their
position on the fingerboard. You might even get good
enough to forget what key or "gear" you are in! That's
when it all starts to fall into place! These patterns can
also be expanded into many other forms by adding 6th, 7th, 9th
notes and many other notes to color the foundational chords.
G Major Melody Chord Scale
youTube lesson - Click Here!
Play these scales
forward and backwards
The next octave...
You now have 2 octaves
of major melody chords to play any major scale melody in the key
of G
Learn to move your
chords around so you don't bore your listener with the same worn
out chords. Instead of playing 4 beats or strums on the
same chord try playing 2 strums on one chord form and
moving to another form of the same chord for the second 2 strums
or beats. Try moving between the major and dominant 7th
(or flatted 7th)
chord forms on the IV and V chords the same way. Learning
these chord forms and their connection to each other will expand
your chord playing horizons.
Major Arpeggios
for Mandolin / Violin
Here are the major
arpeggios for 4 major scales, G, D, C, A. A major arpeggio
is the Do, Mi and So of the scale or the I (one), III (three),
and V (five) of the scale. In the key of C major these
note would be C = I or Do, E = III or Mi, G = V or So.
Notice that the A and C arpeggios are both in closed position
(no open notes/strings). These two patterns can be moved
to any key or any position up and down the fingerboard simply by
moving up or down a fret (or number of frets) to the desired
key. These patterns also outline the underlying major
chord forms. The fingerings are also very important so
don't go too far off the path. These patterns or forms
also apply to any instrument that is tuned in fifths such as
violin, viola, cello, mandolin, mandola, mandocello, tenor
banjo, and tenor guitar to name a few. These arpeggios
cover 2 octaves starting the the root of the chord. The
pattern is as follows:
I, III, V, I, III, V, I or Do-Mi-So-Do-Mi-So-Do....you can think
of it either way.
Play these patterns up
and down and in various 3 and 4 note patterns if possible
   
“Move those
chords” exercises - Click Here!
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