How to Play Chords Like Jeff Buckley,

Part 1
Although upon first listen Jeff might not sound like the most technically impressive
player, he uses a diverse and interesting choice of chord shapes which contribute to his
unique sound. He is fond of sixth chords, moving shapes around the neck to ring against
open strings, slash chords, open tunings, and even ja!influenced extended chords. "ver
the space of a couple of lessons #$ll try to get inside his head and work out some common
techniques to work out how to we can get a bit of his sound into our own playing.
%or this lesson #&ll be concentrating on sixth chords. #&ve split the lesson into ' parts(
)heory
*hapes
+sing ,th chords.
%eel free to skip the theory section if you don&t know anything about music theory-
Theory
*ixth chords come in . varieties( major 6th and minor 6th chords. /ajor ,th chords are
written as D6, 6 or !"60 and #inor 6th chords are written as Bm6, $m6 or C%m6 etc.
)he theory behind these chords is simple, they consist of a triad 1the 1st, &rd and 'th2
with the 6th added. )hus the chords formulas are(
#ajor 6th( ( & ' 6
#inor 6th( ( "& ' 6
*ome examples of ,th chords written out are therefore(
$6( $ B D !
m6( C ! )%
*ome people will point out that ,th chords are also an inversion of *th chords 1C6 3 C !
$ , m* 3 C ! $, same notes in both chords2. However # found that thinking of it
this way can actually be a little confusing at first as ,th chords and *th chords have very
different sounds. %or now we&ll treat 6th chords as just 6th chords-
/ore information can be found here.
"k so that&s the theory all done- 4on&t worry if you didn&t understand everything, you can
still play with the examples below. "nto the fun stuff-
+ha,es
Here are chord shapes for 6th chords(
(oot on the ! +trin-
$6 $m6
- 3 - - - - - 3 - - 3 -
- 5 - - 3 - - 5 - - 3 -
- 4 - - 4 - - 3 - - 3 -
- 5 - - 2 - - 5 - - 2 -
- x - - x - - x - - x -
- 3 - - 3 - - 3 - - 3 -
(oot on the +trin-
C6 Cm6
- 5 - - 0 - - 5 - - - -
- 5 - - 1 - - 4 - - 1 -
- 5 - - 2 - - 5 - - 2 -
- 5 - - 2 - - x - - 1 -
- 3 - - 3 - - 3 - - 3 -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
(oot on the D +trin-
)6 )m6
- 5 - - - 4 - - - - - - -
- 3 - - - 3 - - - - - - -
- 5 - - - 5 - - - - - - -
- 3 - - - 3 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
5ractice moving these shapes about to other positions to get all other 6th chords. *ome of
these chords sound different from others, for example some have the ,th interval as the
highest note in the chord wheras some have it lower down. 6xperiment with all of them
and work out which ones you like the sound of the best.
.sin- 6th chords
7hy use ,th chords8 Although there&s nothing wrong with regular chords, ,th chords just
contain more drama, something that definitely suits Jeff$s music and voice. )he major ,th
has a pleasant warm sound and the minor ,th has a darker haunting sound than the
regular minor chord.
Example 1 is from the chorus of 9+o (eal9 at ::(',. )he chorus simply alternates
between the chords ;, and Am,, with the voicings below. )he chords are strummed for
< beats each.
C6 m6
- - - - - -
10- - - 5 -
9 - - - 5 -
10- - - 4 -
- - - - - -
8 - - - 5 -
=isten to the recording and play along. After you&ve got the C6 and m6 under your
fingers, try playing just C to m and notice how much more dramatic the 6th chords
sound.
Example 2 is the arpeggios played in the intro of 9#ojo Pin,9 which are C6 to m
1::(.>2. )his time the chords are played in the open position.
C6
- - - - - - - - - - 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 - - - -
- - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
m
- - - - - - - - - - 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 - - - - - 3 p 1 - - -
- - - - - - - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2 - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
His choice of using a C6 instead of a regular o,en C chord gives the song the vibe that it
has.
Example 3 is from 9Lo/er 0ou +hould1/e Come 2/er.9 )he key of this song is D
#ajor and the chord #&m focusing on in this song is the $m6 he uses. )his is a classic
use of the minor 34 chord. )he shape for $m6 is(
- - -
- 3 -
- 3 -
- 2 -
- - -
- 3 -
He uses this chord for the fantastic build up to the outro at :?(:'. #t is also the second
chord in the outro itself, which #$ll look at in more detail in the next lesson. Again, he
uses the $m6 chord because it has more tension than a simpler $m triad.
Example 4 comes from the song 9$race,9 where he uses an ascending sequence of ,th
chords in the pre!chorus at ::(<@. )he chords are !m 5 )%m6 5 $6 5 6(
!m )%m6 $6 6
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
0 - - - 4 - - - 5 - - - 7
0 - - - 2 - - - 4 - - - 6
2 - - - 4 - - - 5 - - - 7
2 - - - - - - - - - - - -
0 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 5
Aote that this song is originally played in dro,5D, however the chords above have been
changed to be played in standard tuning
Example 5 is from 9Dream Brother,9 which features the ascending chord sequence B"6
5 Cm6 5 Dm* 5 !"maj* at :>(<@. He uses '!note chord fragments here and utilises voice!
leading to link the chords together. # have included the root notes on the ?th string in
brackets0 Jeff doesn&t play them on the album but it always helps to mentally know where
the root note is, and there is nothing to stop you playing the full shapes in your own
songs.
B"6 Cm6 Dm* !"maj*
- 3 - - 5 - - 5 - - 3 -
- 3 - - 4 - - 3 - - 3 -
- 3 - - 5 - - 5 - - 3 -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
-(1)- -(3)- -(5)- -(6)-
- - - - - - - - - - - -
=ater in the song 1'(<?2 the same chord progression is played but Jeff moves the chords
to a higher position to create a build!up. He is playing the same chords but uses the
following shapes(
B"6 Cm6 Dm* !"maj*
- 6 - - 8 - - 8 - - 6 - -
- 8 - -10 - -10 - - 8 - -
- 7 - - 8 - - 7 - - 7 - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - (6)
-(6)- (8) - -(10) - - - -
Bou&ll notice the top!' string shapes for B"6 and !"maj* and exactly the same. )he
notes in each chord are(
B"6( B" D ) $
!"maj*( !" $ B" D
Coth chords share notes $ B" and D, which is actually a $m triad. )his is called a chord
fragment. )his means that to play a B"6 or an !"maj* chord you can just use a $m
sha,e. However this really only works with smaller ' notes shapes like the ones shown
above. )his is called chord substitution is used a lot in ja.
Conclusion
)hat concludes our first look at playing chords like Jeff Buckley. 7e found one
particular type of chord, ,th chords, and looked at how he uses them in ? of his songs. He
uses a lot of different shapes but don&t feel overwhelmed, it&s ok to just pick one of two
shapes and get comfortable with using them in your playing. )ry using ,th chords in your
playing and songwriting and see if they can inspire you and give you a new sound to play
with.