Chords and More Chords for DGdg Tenor Banjo

By Mirek Patek
This tenth article about the fingerstyle tenor banjo in DGdg tuning will be focused on banjo
accompaniment, i.e. on playing chords. The goal is to play basic chord progressions for the favorite
songs in various keys (you know, summer campfire season is coming) in the oom-pah-oom-pah
fingerstyle manner – with the correct bass note played by thumb and with the pinch of IM fingers. The
capo usage will be also reviewed. Finally, the seventh chords will be presented on the Autumn
Leaves chord progression in several keys.

Basic triads
Let’s start with the the chord progressions shown in this YouTube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O14LbX83gU8
There are used the tonic, sub-dominant, and dominant major triads, as well as two minor triads in
those major keys suitable for DGdg tuning. There are also the dominant seventh chords, but they will
be broadly presented in the latter section. (Please refer to other web sources for the explanation of
the terms related to music theory as there is lack of space to cover this here). Apparently, the most
suitable keys for open G tuning DGdg are those ones which contain the G chord as one of the
harmonic functions emphasized above. The chords are presented in tab and as the chord diagrams,
but I cannot resist adding also the music notation.

For the oom-pah-oom-pah accompaniment style, the chord voicings on the DGdg banjo are designed
with the aim to have always the root and the fifth of the particular chord in the two thickest strings
(they are numbered as the 4th string D and the 3rd string G). The interval between these two strings
is the perfect fourth, which is the same as in lower strings of guitar; therefore the relative position of
bass notes is similar. Basically, there are two options:
1) The root of the chord is on some fret of the 3rd (G) string and the fifth of the chord is on the same
fret of the 4th (D) string.
2) The root of the chord is on some fret of the 4th (D) string and the fifth of the chord is two frets
higher (closer to the bridge) on the 3rd (G) string.

On the remaining strings – 1st (g) and 2nd (d) there is usually the third of the triad, determining the
major or minor sound, and the repetition of either the root or the fifth of the chord. Or, there are just
repeated both the root and fifth of the chord and the result is incomplete chord without the third – the
power chord in the guitar terminology. Because of the number of options shown above, there are two
shapes for these power chords, as discussed later.

You can see that the first note in the measure played by thumb is always the root of the chord (C
note in case of C major), and the second thumb note is the fifth of the chord (G note in case of C
major). Before new chord is coming, there are often some passing tones played by thumb, which lead
the ear to the root of the new chord. When playing another chord progression of your choice, your
task is to figure out the passing tones for the other chord sequences not shown here – the goal is the
stepwise motion to the next root.

Sometimes there may appear the passing chord (e.g. at the end of the 2nd measure there is in fact E
minor chord, and at the end of the 4th measure there is G major chord) or some dissonance (e.g. at
the end of the 6th measure the F# in the bass against F played by index finger). The barre shape of A
minor chord as well as the open shape of G major chord do not contain any third note of the triad –
this is the first of two shapes of the power chord suitable for both major and minor chords. And yes,
the bass note of the F major chord 3532 shape is played by left thumb wrapped around the neck.
The next progression is in the key of G major. Note that the second half of the 6th measure differs
from the YouTube video where I have played wrong passing tones into the D major chord. The D
major chord shape shown here (0202) does not contain the third (with the third it would be 0242), so
this is the other shape of the power chord – in addition to the barre shape of G and A(m) chords. Up
the neck, you may play this power chord (e.g. 5757 for G chord) either with all four left hand fingers,
or with the help of index finger barre – this may speed up the alternation e.g. between the power
chords 5757 (G) and 5555 (C).
The third progression shown in the YouTube video is the key of D major. In the Bm chord shape
(4404) you can hold both D and G strings on the 4th fret with your middle finger simultaneously, or
your middle finger may jump from one string to the other as needed; in the latter case the middle
finger on the 4th fret on D string is angled to mute the 3rd G string in order to avoid the dissonant
sound of G against F#. You can observe that the different chord progressions vary in the amount of
passing tones – it is up to you if you stick with basic root-fifth bass or you strive for some walking
bass.
Final progression in the YouTube video is in the key of F major. Unlike the previous progressions, I
did not [succeed to] play the second part (the third line) as the repetition so there are two different
versions (third and fourth line). I have corrected the second part of 27th measure (F to Dm in the
fourth line) where is notated the A7 passing chord (misplayed in the video). The Gm to C connection
in the 21st measure (G-A-C bass line instead of A-Bb-C in 29th measure) sounds bit pentatonic, but I
left it there. For the fingering of Bb major chord shape (3303) there apply the same options as for the
Bm chord (4404) discussed above – the left middle finger either covers the 3rd fret of both strings or
jumps from G to D string as needed.
Apparently the key of F has been bigger struggle than the previous keys so maybe the capo could be
good choice here – let’s discuss this topic before we move to the seventh chords.

Where to put the capo?

I play mostly out of the key of G, C, or D. Other major keys are easily accessible with the capo as
shown in the table.

The preferred options are highlighted in bold – they use the capo in the area close to the nut (called
“down the neck”) in order not to waste unnecessary big portion of the fretboard. There may be
occasions when the capo is put higher, e.g. on the 5th fret for the key of C, if there is particular lick or
melody which needs to be played “out of the key of G” – with the “G shapes”. Similarly, for the key of
D there are tunes which are playable without the capo (out of D), other ones are easier with the capo
on 2nd fret (out of C). For the key of F discussed above, I would typically go for the capo on the 3rd
fret and play out of D.

For the songs in minor keys there are more options. Instead of putting them into the complicated
table, here are two examples.

1) The song in B minor can be played

1a) without the capo (in fact out of the key of D, the relative major key of Bm). The shapes for tonic,
sub-dominant and dominant chords would be
Bm = 4404, Em = 2420, F# = 4643
1b) with the capo on the 2nd fret (if the song touches the B dorian mode where the A major chord
fits). The shapes for tonic, sub-dominant and dominant chords would be
Am = 2222, Dm = 0232, E7 = 2401
1c) with the capo on the 4th fret. The shapes for tonic, sub-dominant and dominant chord would be
Gm = 0000 or 0003, Cm = 5510 (quite stretchy) or 5555, D = 0242

2) The song in E minor can be played

2a) without the capo; the chord shapes would be
Em = 2420, Am = 2222, B7 = 4412
2b) with the capo on the 2nd fret; the chord shapes would be
Dm = 0232, Gm = 0003, A = 2222 (or A7 = 2220 shape with the middle finger on the 2nd string and
the index finger making the partial barre over the 3rd-4th string)

Seventh chords
In the oom-pah-oom-pah accompaniment style discussed in this article, there are used the chord
shapes which generally contain all four notes of the seventh chord, the only exception being the A7
chord shape 2220 which does not contain the third for the sake of easy fingering. As a rule, the root
and fifth are again on the 4th and 3rd string (to be played as the bass notes by right thumb). As
discussed in the Basic triads chapter, there are the same two options of the root location – either it is
on the 3rd (G) string, or on the 4th (D) string. Here is the video of so called 1-6-2-5 chord progression
containing major seventh, dominant seventh, minor seventh and half-diminished chords:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEJya3yjWWo

Instead of presenting here the tab transcription of this video, there follows the chord progression of
section A of Autumn Leaves, the jazz standard with music written by Joseph Kosma, in four different
keys. Note that in case of Cmaj7 and Cm7 shapes there is auxiliary partial barre with the left index
finger which I use for easier grip. The Am7 shape uses both index and little finger partial barre.
Similarly to F major triad 3532 (and not shown Fm triad 3531), the F7 shape uses the right thumb
wrapped around the neck.
When you are tired of the oom-pah-oom-pah sound (or oom-pah-pah in case of waltz 3/4 rhythm),
you can play all presented chord progressions with some right hand fingerpicking pattern – start with
the TIMI TIMI roll shown in the Example 1 of my June 2010 article at http://banjosessions.com/?p=60.

Practice the tunes from your songbook, play the correct bass notes (root first!) and explore the
passing tones between the chords. Enjoy!

P.S. In case you miss the diminished seventh chord, the complete four-note shape is
3401 or 6734 or 9-10-6-7 or 12-13-9-10 for Fdim, Abdim, Bdim and Ddim chords;
4512 or 7845 or 10-11-7-8 or 13-14-10-11 for F#dim, Adim, Cdim and Ebdim chords;
5623 or 8956 or 11-12-8-9 or 14-15-11-12 for Gdim, Bbdim, Dbdim and Edim chords.
If it is too stretchy for your left hand, start with the up-the-neck positions (closer to the bridge with
smaller fret distances) and gradually practice the ones down the neck.
About the Author

Mirek Patek from Prague, Czech Republic started in 1999 the fascinating
expedition to the terra incognita of fingerstyle tenor banjo tuned in open G
tuning DGdg, which matches the open G tuning and range of 5-string banjo. He
adopts the techniques from bluegrass banjo, frailing banjo, guitar, and ukulele.
He uses three fingerpicks on his thumb, index, and middle fingers for
fingerpicking plus the fingernailpick on ring finger for frailing and strumming. His
ultimate goal is to legitimize this playing style on tenor banjo tuned either to
DGdg or to Irish ADad. More info at www.mirekpatek.com

Mirek Patek proudly plays the Czech made tenor banjos Janish (boosted by
Prucha 5-string bridge with 4 notches in Crowe spacing) and Capek .