In the previous chapters you have seen some very useful systems for moving chords up and down the fretboard. However, when using one system exclusively you will often be jumping around a lot. To avoid that you can combine the systems. In this chapter you will see two different ways to combine the open moveable chords you have learned. You can see them as two different systems of a harmonized E major scale, and you can create many more systems yourself.
The first system is often used by various artists. Using this set of chords has two advantages. Firstly, it makes use of chords which are relatively closely positioned to each other, so you don’t have to jump around the fretboard. Secondly, it makes use of anchored finger positions. Notice how the third and fourth finger stays in the same position throughout thus making it easy to switch between the chords. We start out with a plain open E chord on the first degree. The second and third degree use the Em7 shape from chapter 7 and the rest of the chords use the A shape from chapter 5.
The second system makes use of many different chord shapes. This makes it possible to keep all chords positioned within only four frets. First degree uses the A shape from chapter 5. Second degree uses the Cm7 shape from chapter 7. Third and fourth degree uses the D shape from chapter 5. Fifth degree uses the E shape from chapter 4. Sixth degree uses the Em7 shape from chapter 7, and the low seventh degree uses the G shape from chapter 5.
