Hardest guitar chords that are worth learning?

'59

Active member
You can look anywhere to find a list of tough guitar chords. But those list are tough chords for the sake of tough chords.

What are the hardest chords I can learn that actually have a use to them? Such as the f chord shape with the thumb wrapped around, it was tricky to pick up at first, but I've found it a very useful chord shape to know.
 
I like big root 6 voicings. Take this one for an A maj7th chord (5x7654), I get tons of mileage out of it (try substituting it in place of a C#m chord in a progression you know for example). It seems complicated at first because you're using all four fingers and your thumb, but it's a comfy grip to grab after a little practice. Usually you can re-voice a chord by moving it to another location on the fretboard and/or dropping notes (or playing them with different fingers)so they're not too hard. Like if you found that Amaj7 voicing too hard, you can always abbreviate it to a tighter shell voicing like 5x66xxx.

As far as physically difficult chords to play . . . it's just big stretches that I find hard to play. The add2 arpeggiated bits of Every Breath You Take killed my fingers when I was starting out (F#madd2 spelled as 246---), but it's definitely worth learning - they sound cool!. As long as there aren't any huge stretches, usually the tricky part is simply practicing enough that you remember where to put your fingers.


If you're just looking for pop tunes with more interesting than the usual barre chords in them . . . off the top of my head, in Stevie Wonder's Superstition I like to play this big B dim in the chorus: 789797. John Mayer's No Such Thing starts out alternating between some nice Emaj9 - 07687X and Eadd9 - 07697X chords. Incubus does a really cool Em7 chord (079080) for their tune Drive. There are a ton out there though. Zeppelin stuff is full of cool chords - What is and Should Never Be uses a lovely open C/G chord 3x2013 in the main riff, and some cool open string including chords in the bridge like this Gish chord -09780 and Dmish chord -07760.
 
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I really don't find any difficult in of themselves at this point -but maybe the transition from one awkward one to another in time without noise or a flub is where I get amused and challenged

I find a lot of Warren Demartini riffs with some awkward pinky stretches to nail from a barre chord position to be uncomfortable.
 
I do not know how useable these chords are outside Allan's music, but "Reaching for the Uncommon Chord" will definitely twist your fingers into pretzels.

https://www.amazon.com/Allan-Holdsworth-Reaching-Uncommon-Classes/dp/0634070029

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I forget what the technical name for the chord is, but I've gotten a lot of mileage out of that one chord that can best be described as barring the 5 highest strings except the d string is one half step flat.

It's not hard per say, but very useful for blues and reggae.
 
Wow, in my mind this entirely is driven by the style of music.

With pop|rock, I find the most useful chords are the right in your face but unnoticed chords. For example bar a G chord on the third fret and take the bar away and you have my favorite e minor when I'm working around the a minor at the 5th fret. Play the five Root F major 7 and take away the bar and you get my favorite a minor chord...

Seeing the chords as they sit across scales on the neck makes everything easy and combines horizontal and vertical at the same time. Play a root 5 A major and Hammer on two fingers to turn it into a b minor 7..Take a look at something ridiculously simple like Mike Campbell's intro to breakdown and the two Note cords are everywhere.

In a similar manner all the C, D and G style bars are extremely helpful. I avoid capos as much as possible and find lots of voicings that are as good if not better than capos with cowboy chords {Don't get me wrong.. some songs like Here Come the Sun really cannot be played without open strings and a capo}.

Actually, by far, the most important advancements around chords for me was learning hybrid picking. At that point you can pick any three note group and comp voicings that are far more flexible than six note chords. Just sit on a regular sixth root bar and move back and forth from the three high strings to the low three strings! In fact my favorite chords are usually passing tones and melodies where it isn't clear if you're looking at a c chord with a major seven passing tone or a C major 7... Of course they're the same thing it's just two sides of the coin.

Probably next important would be first inversions followed by second inversions across the neck. It's so funny how everybody knows how to put a C sharp underneath an A barr at root 5 4th fret but they Don't recognize the g first inversion 6th root on the 7th fret and and all its brothers and sisters moving up and down the front board.

In that same direction, progressions can be more useful than learning individual chords. Learn your ii V I all over the neck and you can improvise across practically everything in any style without having to think chords.
In the opposite direction, learning your diminished and half diminished chords is crucial for jazz and jazz pop. But once you jump on that boat, the chords start voicing themselves... you just need to follow the progression on that side of the neck. And this inserts well into practically any style of music.

And that leads to circle of fourths. Grabbing those progressions with two or three voices is unbelievably useful everywhere. Connecting jazz, pop, rock and country, it's probably the best way to interject inharmonic content that still sounds harmonic. 6th chords fall into that same category.

From there, learning minor 7, diminished cycles changes everything. You can sit on a single cord, loop around back to that same cord, yet ​​​sound like you went somewhere that was natural and harmonically complex at the same time.

Everything else is gravy... If you need a nine or a flat 9, just add it.

So now that I think about it, pretty much all of this is extremely useful in any style other than metal.

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I would work the other way of getting to know how to spell every type of chord. Then learn how to work out their shapes on the guitar. If they're shapes that you can grab and use then use em. If you can't feasibly grab em then don't use em.
 
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You know - my take on this is a bit philosophical...but note I spent some time as a kid learning Chord Melody, so there were some freaky-but-slick-shapes used there.

The most "practical" chords are whatever you need to use to play the song you want to play. As mentioned, if that is Alan Holdsworth, well, there is gonna be some strange stuff. If that is Black Sabbath, not so much.

I applaud learning something tough just for the exercise of it. And knowing more music is knowing more. But if it calls for a painful chord, then learn it. If it doesn't call for one, then don't.

I think more than complicated chords I am fascinated by the very lean triads and substitutions that work perfectly in context. Or as Mincer said "Oh no - you caught me using the 1 finger chord!" in a pic once. I find the 1 or 2 finger, 2 or 3 string chord as fascinating as the 6 fret/six string chord. Perhaps more so.
 
I love the sound of 'simple' chords as much as the rich, expressive, hard to reach stuff.

I am so much there with you. When we do Superstition, there is a part where I am comping with a simple E dom9 for a while under the keyboard solo. Adding different textures and pulling different tones out of the chord is as much fun and work as a more complex chord progression.
 
I am so much there with you. When we do Superstition, there is a part where I am comping with a simple E dom9 for a while under the keyboard solo. Adding different textures and pulling different tones out of the chord is as much fun and work as a more complex chord progression.

Im an alternate voicing junkie... especially open string interaction. I often play entire shows without a single barre or power chord -and think I do it as much out of curiosity and preventing boredom as for the textures -as I enjoy the sounds of simple chords too

For me playing a Ramones set is way more challenging things than a complex composition Its a different discipline to play 3 or 4 chords in various very related orders without mixing it up, also 6 string power chords at speed is a way underrated task to play well.
 
My 2 cents on the topic: When I was studying classical, the point was to find the most ergonomic and easy way to do difficult things. There's no value in wrenching your fingers out of position for the sake of difficulty, other than ruining your hands and shortening your career. Music, however, should be written however it needs to be written in order to have the right emotional impact and affect. But the playing and execution needs to be as easy as possible in order to achieve that desired affect with authority.
 
My 2 cents on the topic: When I was studying classical, the point was to find the most ergonomic and easy way to do difficult things. There's no value in wrenching your fingers out of position for the sake of difficulty, other than ruining your hands and shortening your career. Music, however, should be written however it needs to be written in order to have the right emotional impact and affect. But the playing and execution needs to be as easy as possible in order to achieve that desired affect with authority.

This is what I was thinking. Why beat yourself up when you can achievé what you're looking for easier?
 
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I don’t think it’s worth learning fancy full chords. I did back in the day for jazz and sure I use them a lot when I play on my own but not really in a band setting.

If you play in some kind of band you likely just want to play 3 or 4 notes. The bass will have the root, the fifth is kind of tasteless unless altered. In my experience the best is to stick to the 3rd, the 7th and that gives you plenty of space to add additional flavor if you want. If you have another guitar or keys, less is more. That will blend in better than playing awkward 6 string voicings. So it’s better to learn intervals and then build whatever voicings you feel like for a given song. Just my opinion, of course :)
 
So the difficulty to play the chord and how tech the chord actually is or how advanced the music is aren't proportional. Learn how to spell every type of chord and use fingerings that are useful, not fingerings that aren't useful. Or go by what style of music you're focusing on and what type of chords that music uses. As you can see, you can play tech chordal music without spanning your fingers at all. From the jazz guitar forum:

 
I really don't find any difficult in of themselves at this point -but maybe the transition from one awkward one to another in time without noise or a flub is where I get amused and challenged

I find a lot of Warren Demartini riffs with some awkward pinky stretches to nail from a barre chord position to be uncomfortable.

I’m glad I’m not the only one that find some of his riffs tricky to tackle
 
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