In this Cabin Camp session, Penny Lea reviews the three main major chord shapes and teaches how to turn them into minor and 7th chord shapes! You’ll understand how these chords work and how you can modify any chord shape yourself by changing its notes.
For an introduction to the three major chord shapes Penny uses, check out the lesson Mandolin Chord Strategy with Penny Lea.
Discuss the Mandolin lesson: Inside Cabin Camp: Modifying Your Chord Shapes with Penny Lea
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Great lesson. I should shape up on the chord shapes. Penny explained and demonstrated very well. I wish when I dabbled with a mandolin back in the 80s, the internet and a lesson like this existed when learning about chords. All I had then was a Mel Bay book. Back then shape number two was easier for me to do for closed shapes. It wasn’t until I got back into the mandolin around 2020/2021 that I got comfortable with the chop chord shapes. On another note, I hope your (Ben) shoulder heals up really well.
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Wow. Excellent lesson. Pure joy to be able to extract so much from that little fingerboard. (PS - strict adherence to doctor’s orders!, Mr. Clark. Get well soon!)
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BTW, for the downloadable pdf resource tab, shouldn’t the 4-finger shape #1 be a D (7th fret) instead of C# on the low G string? Same for the G minor below it? Maybe I’ve got it all wrong…
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Oops, that’s my error when I created this graphic some time ago… thank you for catching that. Just fixed it.
Thanks for using this content, Ben. I was in that session with Penny, and it’s good to see this as a review for some of the things that I missed at the time. I’m sorry to hear that you are in pain from the surgery, and I’m praying for your complete recovery. (A bit of a silver lining… it’s your off side.) Don’t slack on the PT!
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Ooooh, I’m way above my pay grade here. I’m just in the beginner/intermediate stage but I’m trying to follow this. I tried to open the following but it didn’t work. Please help…thanks… Fred. I tried to go to : Chord Shapes- Major, Minor, & 7th and got nothing.
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Hi @Fred_G Fred, You need a PDF reader installed on your device in order to open that file Something like the FREE Adobe Reader
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If you go to the lesson page you should be able to download the pdf. Sometimes you need to refresh that page as it will time out if you’ve been on it too long: https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/inside-cabin-camp-modifying-your-chord-shapes-with-penny-lea-mandolin-intermediate
Thanks so much for this lesson! I took from Penny two years ago at a cabin camp, and this has been a great follow-up. This is all so practical and logical! Now I just have to practice it until it becomes second nature—but at least that is do-able, now that I have the information. Thanks again. This lesson is worth its weight in GOLD!
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