Creating Chord Voicings with Barre and Shell Chords

This lesson builds on the Chord Name Decoder Ring lesson. Now that you know how to decipher any chord name, here are some techniques for figuring out how to create those chords on the fretboard without looking up a chord reference.

Between these two lessons, you should be able to decode and create voicings for any chord you come across. Let me know if you come across a chord you can't figure out, and I'll work on integrating it into this system!

If you'd like playable shapes in front of you while you practice this, the Voicing Finder — a Gold-tier tool — hands you hand-picked voicings for any chord you type, the ones most guitarists know first.

Creating Chord Voicings with Barre and Shell Chords

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to create your own voicings for any chord in a chord chart, using barre chords rooted on the 5th and 6th strings and shell voicings. By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to analyze a chord name, find its intervals, and create a playable voicing on the fly. We will build on concepts from the "Chord Name Decoder Ring" lesson, which taught you how to break down a chord name into its component intervals. This lesson has some overlap with the "Cowboy Chord Superpowers" lesson, but here, we'll tackle more complex chords. The song "Take the 'A' Train" will serve as our practical example, providing a variety of chord types to work with.

Understanding Barre Chords

Barre chords provide a full voicing that includes the root, third, and fifth of a chord, often with some notes repeated. They serve as an excellent foundation for understanding chord construction because their structure is consistent and easy to manipulate. We’ll use the E-shape and A-shape barre chords as templates for creating more complex voicings, applying the interval decoding methods from the "Chord Name Decoder Ring" lesson to customize these shapes. By identifying and altering specific intervals—such as the root, third, or fifth—you can unlock a wide variety of chord types with minimal effort.

E-Shape Barre Chords

When we construct a major chord using the E-shape barre chord rooted on the 6th (low E) string, each string contributes a specific interval to the chord.

The root of the chord is found on the 1st, 4th, and 6th strings. The major third is located solely on the 3rd string. And the perfect fifth is present on the 2nd and 5th strings.

By understanding the roles of these intervals and their positions, you can modify this shape to create more complex voicings. Each interval in a chord needs only to be played on one string, so we have some flexibility.

Let's look at some examples.

We can lower the third to create a minor triad.

We can lower the root on the 4th string to create a maj7 chord (R-3-5-7) and lower it again to make a dominant 7 chord (R-3-5-♭7).

From the dominant 7, we can lower the third on the 3rd string to make a minor 7 chord (R-♭3-5-♭7).

If we start from the minor 7 chord and lower the fifth of the 5th string, we almost have a m7♭5 chord (R-♭3-♭5-♭7). We just need to adjust the 5th on the 2nd string. It's not easy to move it down to a ♭5, but it is easy to move it up to a ♭7.

Or we could go with the lowered fifth on the 2nd string and just play the top four strings.

Instead of lowering the fifth, we could raise the ♭7 of the m7 shape up a semitone to create a m(maj7) chord (R-♭3-5-7).

Going back to the major triad, we can move the third up a fret to create a sus4 chord (R-4-5).

Or we could mute the third string and raise the root on the first string up two frets to create a sus2 chord (R-2-5). This is an example of doing a little bit of problem-solving to find a workable fingering, although it’s still tricky to mute the 3rd string on this voicing.

A-Shape Barre Chords

When we construct a major chord using the A-shape barre chord rooted on the 5th string, each string contributes a specific interval to the chord.

The root of the chord is located on the 3rd and 5th strings. The major third is found on the 2nd string. And the perfect fifth is played on the 1st and 4th strings.

Let's look at some examples of how to modify a major A-shape barre chord to create other chord types.

We can lower the third (2nd string) to make a minor triad.

We can lower the root on the 3rd string to make maj7 and 7 chords.

From each of those, we can lower the third on the 2nd string, giving us m(maj7) and m7 chords.

Starting from the major triad, we can lower the third on the 2nd string two frets to make a sus2 chord or raise it one fret to make a sus4.

To make a m7♭5 chord, we can start from a m7 chord, lower the fifth on the 4th string one fret, and mute the 1st string.

Not every chord type can be easily created from each starting point, but by understanding how each interval fits into the shape, you can adjust the voicing to suit a wide variety of harmonic needs. It's worth experimenting with replacing or muting intervals to craft your own unique voicings.

Introducing Shell Voicings

Shell voicings simplify chords by omitting the fifth, which is often non-essential to the harmonic identity of a chord. These three-note voicings are particularly useful for 7th chords and their extensions.

The most common shell voicings are rooted on the 6th and 5th strings. The 6th string shell voicing is taken straight from the E-shaped barre chord. Here's the dominant 7 voicing.

This is easy to convert into a maj7, m7, or m(maj7) just by shifting the 4th string 7th interval and the 3rd string 3rd intervals.

And it’s also possible to play 6th chords based on this voicing.

The 5th-string-root shell dominant 7 chord places the third on the 4th string and the seventh on the 3rd string.

It is similarly easy to manipulate to create maj7, m7, and m(maj7) shell voicings.

6th chords are also relatively easy with this shape.

Knowing your options: Color tone neighborhoods

To create richer voicings, such as “add” chords, it is helpful to know where other intervals fall on the upper strings for each of these shell voicing shapes. Each root position has its own “neighborhood” of color tones available.

For the 6th-string root, the root also appears on the 1st string, making it easy to play a 9th there to create a 9th-chord shell voicing, or to add a #9. Below that is the 5th of the chord, putting the 6 or 13 within easy reach.

The shell chord rooted on the 5th string is equally flexible.

The 6 or 13 is easily accessible on the 1st string, and the second string provides easy access to the 9 and #9.

Putting it into practice

Now that you know how to modify barre and shell voicings, let’s apply this knowledge to a real chord progression. “Take the ‘A’ Train” by Billy Strayhorn includes 6th chords and several chords with chromatic “add” notes.

“Take the ‘A’ Train” chord changes.

Practice creating chord voicings for each chord in the chart by using the principles we discussed above. Try keeping all your voicings inside in one part of the fretboard. Here are example voicings for the first two chords.

I’ll leave the others as an exercise. Between this lesson and the "Chord Name Decoder Ring" lesson, you should be able to decipher every chord on the chart and multiple unique voicings for each chord without referring to a chord reference book!

Experiment with different ways of playing the same chords. You’ll find that some voicings sound better than others, and this is a space worth exploring. Try applying this to other chord progressions, and let me know if you find a chord name you can’t decipher or can’t figure out a way to play!