Make it Funky!

By Dan Cross, About.com Guide

There seems to be a preference in funk music to use chord shapes that have the root on the first string. Since the first and sixth string are both "E" strings, learning to use these chord shapes should be easy for guitarists who have already learned their note-names on the sixth string.

The major chord above gets used reasonably often, although many times, funk guitarists will only play the top two notes of the chord, which makes it identical to the 5th chord displayed above.

The minor chord above is also used extensively. Note that this minor chord shape is identical to the 9th chord with root on fifth string, when the bottom two strings are not played. So, many funk guitarists would play the above chord shape on the fifth fret for both an A minor chord and a D9 chord.

The above 5th chord is extremely popular. This two note chord is VERY versatile, and can be used for many things. Since a 5th chord can be used to play either a major or minor chord, the above shape, played at the fifth fret, could be an A major or an A minor chord. It could ALSO be the top two notes of a D9 chord. This chord shape is used to represent all of these chords - it's a popular one - so get comfortable with it.