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So I saw this chart: http://guitarteacher.com/2009/02/17/major-scale-chords-guitar-keys-of-caged/

Now I am asking myself: if you take a simple chord with 1-3-5, why do they look different in different keys? doesn't another key mean a different starting position, but the positions are the same on every key?

Thanks!

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When we use barre chords instead of open, yes, the relative chord shapes will look the same - or certainly can.

Here, the simpler open chords are shown, using open strings where possible, so the shapes are dictated by that restriction.

For example, each root chord here shown has a different shape, C A G E and D, so it would follow that the other chords, say, V, would all suffer the same fate and all have a different shape too.

Once you progress to barre chords, and find a set of seven, then moving them all up by the same number of frets , with the same shape for each ii, iii, IV etc. will incorporate the same shapes, just moved up. This cannot happen with different start shapes, as the open chords dictate.

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  • So the reason why for example the F chord in the key of F Major doesn't look like the G chord in the key of G, is because for the G chord, you would have to use barre and therefore you just change the chord, to avoid using barre chords?
    – TheGuitarist
    Oct 8 '17 at 18:13
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    Right, the F on the 6th string is on the 1st fret. So if you want to use the "G" shape then you'd have to shift the whole thing down 2 frets. But you can't do that because the G is already using open strings and can't be shifted down at all. You could however use that G shape and shift it up to the 13th fret which is the F an octave up (and use a barre instead of the open strings). But if you want to stay in open position as this article does, you'll have to take the notes of the F chord wherever they happen to fall within the open position.
    – user37496
    Oct 8 '17 at 18:28
  • @TheGuitarist Yes. If you look at the 2 most common barre chords "E shape" and "A shape", then you'll see why they're called that. In a way you can think of any open chord as a chord with a barre at "fret 0", the nut. A Capo works on the same principle, it barres the chord for you, and still leaves all your fingers free. So a G chord with a capo on 2 uses the same set of notes as an A chord with no capo.
    – Some_Guy
    Oct 10 '17 at 11:08

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