Spiced Up Voicings in the Key of E Major

In today’s lesson we’ll be learning how to spice up basic open chords.

We’re going to use a 4156 progression in the key of E.

In addition to learning chords like: Aadd9, Eadd9, Bsus4, C#m7, Amaj9, E5, Badd4, and another version of C#m7.

These chords are perfect if you want to spice up your acoustic guitar playing.

Be sure to check out the follow up lesson to discover how you can use these new voicings to create some melodic movement in your playing!

Alright so our 4156 progression in the key of E will be A E B C#m. Those chords are cool but what if you want to spice them up a bit?

Let’s check out a few options!

Instead of A we can play Aadd9:

Instead of E we can play Eadd9:

Instead of B we can play Bsus4:

Instead of C#m we can play C#m7:

So now with these new chord shapes and a basic strumming pattern, here’s our riff:

The two open ringing strings add a really cool vibe to these chord shapes because those notes remain the same while we change chord shapes.

Here are another 4 voicings for the same 4156 progression in the key of E...

Instead of A we can play Amaj9:

Instead of E we can play E5:

Instead of B we can play Badd4:

Instead of C#m we can play another variation of C#m7:

Let’s add a strumming pattern to these chords and here’s our riff:

The next time you’re playing in the key of E using the 1645 chord shapes, try adding these shapes in your playing for some fun new sounds.

If you’d like to get a PDF version of this lesson, PLUS a backing track to jam to, just click the button below to sign up!