Chord shapes / keys

A question on banjo chord forms in different keys

Student Question
I understand the concepts of playing back up as explained in the encyclopedia and other books I have but I can't find anything specific concerning backup in alternate tunings, particularly and specifically Dm...if the only options are to play simple rolls or partial melody lines within the chord progressions of the song then I guess that's all there is but I'm curious as to whether there's some way to work vamping into it and how do you go about it since standard chord forms don't work in alternate tunings...?


My Answer

I think the answer is to just learn the chord forms in the different tunings and play backup the same way as you would in G, remember you only have to learn three chord forms for each tuning, and.....the barre form works in any tuning, the 12th fret barred for instance will be Dm in Dm tuning if you need a major chord, barre the correct fret and add a finger or two and you can make the major chord in that tuning easily, it shouldn't take long for you to figure that out if you sit down and work it out.

Thanks again,
Sincerely,
Ross Nickerson
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