Turnarounds are chord progressions with the last chord taking you back to the first chord thus making it possible to play these progressions over and over again as an intro to a song, an ending or between verses. Here are some nice sounding but easy turnarounds for you!
In order not to mess up the layout with the guitar tab staff I will not include left hand fingerings but I suggest that you choose left hand fingers carefully so you don't get into trouble!
However, in order to learn to play these guitar chord progressions as intended I will say something about your right hand fingerings.
When you play these progressions on your guitar I suggest that you play the bass notes with your thumb and the first three guitar strings with you first finger, middle finger and ring finger.
Of course you can use a pick if you hate picking with you right hand fingers. If you strum the chords you will have to mute unused strings with your left hand fingers or otherwise you can pluck the strings with your pick using different patterns.
The first chord progression includes the guitar chords A F#m7 Bm11 and E7. You can use any right hand pattern you like as you play the chords.
1. ---0---0---0---0---
2. ---2---2---3---3---
3. ---2---2---2---1---
4. -------------------
5. ---0-------2-------
6. -------2-------0---
Our second turnaround consists of the guitar chords Amaj7, F#7, Bm11 and E7. When you learn to play these turnarounds I strongly suggest that you follow my advice above about left hand fingerings.
When you have found the most effective fingerings for the guitar chords it is important that you stick to the fingerings so that you can learn the progressions by heart and be able to move between chords fluently.
1. ---0---0---0---0---
2. ---2---2---3---3---
3. ---1---3---2---1---
4. -------------------
5. ---0-------2-------
6. -------2-------0---
Turnaround number three is a bit harder to play, at least the last chord which requires a bit of stretching. The chords are A, F#7+, Bm11 and Bb7add+11.
Try to move your fingers as little as possible when changing chords. To keep the fingers close to the fretboard will help you change chords smoothly. Here is the guitar tab:
1. ---0---0---0---0---
2. ---2---3---3---3---
3. ---2---3---2---1---
4. -------------------
5. ---0-------2---1---
6. -------2-----------
The last guitar tab turnaround consists of the chords Aadd9, C9, Fmaj and Bb9+11.
The most difficult and most important thing when playing chord progressions on your guitar isn't to hold a chord but to change between chords.
To practice really effectively you can choose two consecutive chords and practice changing between them in a slow tempo.
1. ---0---0---0---0---
2. ---2---3---1---1---
3. ---4---3---2---1---
4. -----------3-------
5. ---0---3-------1---
6. -------------------
Now you can play four guitar progressions that of course can be mixed. You can replace the second chord in a progression with a second chord from another progression and so on.
I will end this learn to play guitar article by showing you a right hand pattern you can use with the chords. Use the pattern once for every chord in the progression. The thumb will of course be on different bass strings depending on the chord.
1. ---a---a---
2. ---m---m---
3. ---i---i---
4. -----------
5. ---p-------
6. -----------
There are many common turnarounds that are used frequently in pop songs like the old pop song Diana, Last Christmas and many more. To practice the common progression C, Am, Dm, G7 in different keys is a good way to learn how chords are related and also a good way to practice the art of changing between chords in a smooth way.
Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music guitar tab and learn to play guitar resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com
Written By: Peter Edvinsson
