Song Help Request What is this chord?

I've been trying to figure out a song and the few versions out there are a little off and I'm trying to figure out what the right/better sounding chords should be on certain passages. One of the chords I came up with is 2003. (I hope I noted that right. The G string is noted first and the A string is noted last.) What chord is that?

It's an alternate Am, I think - I use that one a lot!

If the first string is an "A" and the the two open are "C" and "E" and you are doubling on the "C" on the a-string. The chord is still AC&E so I think it would just be an alternate way of playing Aminor with one A note and two C notes as apposed to two "A" notes and one "C" note

(Oh, what Janeray said)

Brian1 said:

If the first string is an "A" and the the two open are "C" and "E" and you are doubling on the "C" on the a-string. The chord is still AC&E so I think it would just be an alternate way of playing Aminor with one A note and two C notes as apposed to two "A" notes and one "C" note

(I think)

Click to expand...

Ha ha, that was my reasoning too - I actually had never thought about it before (hence my own "I think") but I do know I use it instead of the standard Am a lot of the time.

janeray1940 said:

Ha ha, that was my reasoning too - I actually had never thought about it before (hence my own "I think") but I do know I use it instead of the standard Am a lot of the time.

Click to expand...

I guess our Lessons are paying off
<high five>

Ah, thank you for the quick responses! I was moving from a C chord and then (through trial and error) added a finger to make it 2003. Now that you point it out, an Am works just as well and probably even better. I should have been able to figure that one out! :wallbash:

It drives me nuts some times when you are looking for the chords to an old song and only find 1 or 2 examples out there and they are not right. They might be mostly accurate but then there are certain parts that when you play them, it makes you wonder how the poster performed the song because it just wasn't working and I couldn't make what was written work even by trying to spin it a bit. This one was probably about 80% right but that remaining 20% was driving me crazy! I think I have it now.

I think you may have bumped into what's called "chord substitutions." Many times you can make a harmony richer, more interesting, by using well known substitutes for a given chord. As you may have guessed, Am is a sub for C. In fact, a chord which is a minor third below your given chord is often the 'right' sub for that chord. So, C becomes Am, G becomes Em, F becomes Dm, etc. So, when trying to flesh out the harmony in your typical three chord tune, check out those substitutions. You'll be surprised how often they work!

I've just been calling it Am/C.

Or even Am7 (5430) which I particularly like in a linear tuning.

VegasGeorge said:

I think you may have bumped into what's called "chord substitutions." Many times you can make a harmony richer, more interesting, by using well known substitutes for a given chord. As you may have guessed, Am is a sub for C. In fact, a chord which is a minor third below your given chord is often the 'right' sub for that chord. So, C becomes Am, G becomes Em, F becomes Dm, etc. So, when trying to flesh out the harmony in your typical three chord tune, check out those substitutions. You'll be surprised how often they work!

Click to expand...

This is a great post. I have been doing this without knowing this 'rule' in one song that I learned where it goes back to G a lot so I started using Em sometimes to vary it. I will definitely explore this more. Thanks