The 2 Position Guitar Chord System
Two grips per chord, all over the neck
Most chord books hand you hundreds of shapes with nothing connecting them. This one gives every chord two grips, both taken from the same two positions as your scales, so your chords, fills and lines all come from one map.
Two grips per chord, from the same two positions
Most chord books give you hundreds of shapes and no way to connect them. You learn a C7 here and a C7 there, and none of it tells you where the next chord is or what scale you’re in while you play it. More shapes don’t fix that.
An arpeggio is a chord played one note at a time, so turn it round: keep one note per string from an arpeggio position and you have a grip. Every chord in this book gets two, and the bottom note tells you which one you’re holding. Position 2 puts the root on the bottom. Position 1 puts the 3rd on the bottom. That rule holds for triads, sixths, sus chords and sevenths, so you apply one idea to every chord type instead of memorising shapes.
From Chapter 1: A minor, root on the 5th fret of the low E string. Same chord, two bass notes: the root in Position 2, the 3rd in Position 1.
Chords and scales on one map
Because the grips come from the same positions as your scales and arpeggios, the scale notes are always right there under your fingers. Fills, connecting lines and the next chord all come from the notes around the grip, and you can play through a whole progression in one area of the neck without moving your hand.
For seventh chords, Position 1 drops the root. You get the 3rd, 5th and 7th: a rootless voicing, which is what a lot of working guitarists play when the bass player already has the root. It sounds odd written down. It sounds right in a band.
Where the system has limits, such as diminished chords and half-diminished voicings, the book says so and shows you what to do instead.
What’s inside
The two positions in brief
Both positions from scratch, so you don’t need the scale book to start here.
From arpeggio to grip
One note per string. The rule that turns every arpeggio position into a chord.
The warp applies to chords too
What happens when a grip crosses onto the B string, shown once and then left to you.
Triads
Major, minor, diminished and augmented, with two grips each.
Seventh chords
All the common sevenths, with rootless voicings from Position 1.
Sixths and sus chords
6, m6, sus2 and sus4, from the same two positions.
Extensions
9ths, 11ths and 13ths, made by keeping three strings and moving one note.
The chord inside the scale
Each grip shown with the scale around it, so you can see your fills.
Scale pairs as chord colours
One note changes between two scales, and the chord changes with it.
How the positions interlock
Every position ends on a root that starts the next. The cascade across the neck.
Stacking: full chords
Grips combined into six-string chords, and where CAGED fits in.
Progressions without leaving position
Minor blues, I–IV–V and ii–V–I in one area of the neck, switching positions as you go.
Reference
Every chord type, with the scales that contain it.
Who it’s for
You know your open chords and a few barre chords, and the rest of the neck still feels like somewhere you visit rather than somewhere you play. You don’t need the scale book: the first chapter teaches both positions from scratch.
You don’t need to read music either. Everything is on fretboard diagrams labelled with intervals, so it works in every key. If you want a dictionary with every voicing of every chord, this isn’t it. It’s a small system you can actually hold in your head.
Two grips per chord. One map.
The 2 Position Guitar Scale System
Where the system starts: two positions per scale in every key, with scale changes, stacking and arpeggios.
See the book →The 2 Position System
Scales and arpeggios, chords, exotic scales and bass, and the PDF bundle with all four for less than buying them separately.
See the series →