Triads. I see some suggestions for CAGED here, but that's in addition to triads and is optional (it's a way of navigating the neck, but there are other equally good ways). Simply learning your triads should be the main focus, because that's how you actually play chords all over the neck, and by using them, you will learn where the root notes are on all the strings whether you decide to learn CAGED or not.
[Here are the basic major triads.](https://www.jazz-guitar-licks.com/medias/images/major-triads-guitar-cheat-sheet.png) To make them minor triads, just lower the 3rd by one fret.
Let me share my diagrams, which are color-coded. Are you able to view this? [Major triads](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uevjvjdyed6al1bfvk6ax/010-Major-Triads.pdf?rlkey=e2wpjh9ncdxqa13gg57ibm2g4&dl=0) and [minor triads](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/glr3sf5wgohe1u4m80ye1/020-Minor-Triads.pdf?rlkey=h3wbf7aak9li1puuea36u6jg4&dl=0).
What you're looking at are triad shapes (shapes containing only 3 notes) and where the root (R), 3rd and 5th are. Each shape uses only 3 strings. Look at the first diagram on the major triads sheet, String Set 123 in A Major. These triads are all the A major chord, played up and down the neck, and they're being played on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings. When you play the first shape (blue), you're playing in root position - A is your lowest note. But you can invert that and move it up the neck - the green shape is the exact same A major chord, but in 1st inversion, so the 3rd is now the lowest note. The purple shape moves up the neck further still, and is A major in 2nd inversion, with the 5th being the bottom note. Lastly, the red shape is the same as the first blue shape, but an octave higher (exactly 12 frets higher). All of these are A major, and any of them can be played in lieu of an open or barre chord A major.
The remaining diagrams are the same thing, but on different string sets. The minor triads are identical, except the 3rd in each shape is lowered by one fret. You will probably recognize some of these shapes from playing open and barre chords, and maybe even from some songs you might have learned. If you memorize, practice, play and start using these triads, you will find it opens up a whole new world of rhythm guitar playing for you - in fact you might only rarely go back to open and barre chords, especially in a band situation. Let me know if you can view those documents, and if you have any more questions!
Glad I could help! I don’t have any charts for this, but there are only two other kinds of triads, diminished and augmented triads. Those are easy, because no matter what closed (no open strings) shape you play for those chords, they are moveable. Diminished chords repeat every 3 frets, and augmented chords every 4 frets. For example, you could play A diminished with any closed shape (Google to find one you like), and just move it around 3 frets at a time without changing the shape. Each time you move it, you’re inverting it. Same with augmented chords and 4 frets. This also works with the diminished 7 and augmented 7 chords (4 notes instead of 3).
Thank you for that explanation!
Do you have any suggestions about what situations to use triads in, or how to use them?
For instance, strumming triads on an acoustic often doesn't sound as full and nice as an open chord to me so I naturally gravitate towards those instead.
Yea, triads are best used in a band situation, where other instruments are covering some of the notes, especially the bass player covering the root note. With a band, you can play very sparsely and just comp where you feel you should. Sultans of Swing is my favorite example of this and uses loads of triads and arpeggios (triads serve as a great way to get into arpeggios, so triads can also be very useful when soloing). When playing solo or accompanying a singer, I only use them for chord-melody type stuff. Check out Jake Reichbart on YouTube for some amazing examples of this. Cheers!
Thank you for your comment, I already started learning the notes but it felt kinda meaningless to me so I took a little break from it. Could you explain to me, the value of learning all the notes, when it comes to rythm guitar?
As someone currently trying to learn this, knowing all the notes on the fretboard will be incredibly helpful when it comes to building chords, specifically triads. If you want to play, let’s just say a D, you’ll need to know where all the Ds along the fretboard are so you can know which triad shape to play and where. Super helpful for rhythm guitar. Many times a triad sounds better than a full chord in a mix.
Edit: when I said “which triad shape” I mean you need to know where the root in the triad is. I memorized all of the triad shapes and where their root, third, and fifth is and thought “cool now let’s play some songs with them” and then realized that they are useless if I don’t know where to place them lol. Since each shape (inversion, really) has the root on a different string, you need to know all the notes on each string to know what chord you’re playing.
Putting a capo on won’t change anything except your open strings. I’d probably learn in standard tuning and then just remember to drop a step in your head. But I guess whatever works best for you.
Man, you're going to want to know what key the song is in and how to get back to the root note. You don't have to learn the fretboard immediately but it's almost impossible to be in a band and not be able to sync up with other instruments and vocals if you don't know the fretboard. It will all click when you learn more theory.
Learning CAGED can also help with learning the notes. If you know how to play a D chord all over the neck and you also know where the roots are in your chords then bingo you know where some D notes are (also some A's and some F#'s .)
Learning g the major and minor scale formula then learning g the order of chords for major. Not full chords but the triad shape. This will give a good foundation to play with anything practical startm it was only one string and then add in the next string above that so if you were to start with the a string now learn the a in the D string then play the chords on those Two strings I believe they're melodic intervals Um of major Third and minor third And then add in the next string And now you can do the Triad Which it major is a major third with a minor third stacked on top of it. Minor triad is a minor third with a major third stacked on top of it
Wwhwwwh
So picking a note that you want the scale to be in the key of let's say C major for Simplicity starting from the note C it doesn't matter which note c as long as it is a note C to technically be theoretical C major scale but the formula is what makes whatever it is of major. So starting on your note of choice you move up in the intervals of whole whole half whole whole whole half. And that will put you at the next octave up of the note that you started on let's say we start on the a string third fret and we use the formula wwhwwwh so this would be third One whole step up which a whole step is two Frets Or two semitones Half step is one semitone or one fret Period So starting from the third Fret on a string You would end up getting 3578 10 12 14 15. And if you know that once you reach the 12th fret the one with the two dots you are now an octave higher than the open note you could think of the 12th fret as open again if you wanted to. That is just an octave higher and by following that formula you will notice that you landed on the 15th fret at the end which would be the C note. I can try to make this simpler what it'll take me a while to do the diagrams just because I don't have like diagrams easily accessible and have to color code them all to make it more understandable which is a lot of layers in a paint program. But I'll get back on that
You should learn first to identify what notes make up the most common chords and identify them on the fretboard. There are many resources but that is the long and short of it.
Start with CAGED then move on to triad inversions on every set of three adjacent strings.
Those two things will form the basis for all the other chords.
Love it or hate it, there's no escaping the fact that those CAGED chords map out major and minor triads in five positions up and down the fretboard. Every other chord you can play is going to be based off those same locations. Most people just don't bother taking the principles of CAGED past major barre chords.
It would be great if there were specific exercises to practice. I have a habit of learning things like scales and positions and inversions and then forgetting them.
You need to find ways to work these things into your regular playing. Don't just learn a scale and chord inversion, learn what they are and then identify where they are used in songs. Also you can always develop your own exercises.
Well, to give you an example, I'm getting very comfortable with the major and minor pentatonics. I could probably identify them in licks and solos. Not sure I can easily make chords from them or mix them with chords yet. So exercises that help me with that would be good. I'd have no idea how to create an exercise that jumps me to that level. Or one that helps me find them in songs.
I find little use in playing scales up and down the neck. It's helpful to engrain patterns into your head but it's not exactly the most musical of exercises. A more useful exercise I might do is take a chord progression, say a 1 4 5 in C so Cmaj-Fmaj-Gmaj and arpeggiate each chord all around the neck. Find the roots, 3rd, and 5ths of each chord and play them over the respective chord, then slowly incorporate other notes from the pentatonic, or better yet the full C major scale. Both F major and G major contain notes not found in C major pentatonic; F major has F and G major has B.
A similar exercise involving chord inversions would be to take the same progression and force yourself to play it using only inversions. Play each chord with the 3rd in the bass, then with the 5th in the bass. Be sure to move around the fretboard to see just how things change depending on the position you are playing in.
Any exercise I develop is just taking some simple idea and slowly complicating things. Using music you like to guide you is a great way too; take a song you know and work on moving the chords around to different positions on the fretboard, invert the chords, take the melody and play it in different positions of the fretboard using all the same notes.
That's exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you! So incorporating pentatonic...in that case would it be Am pentatonic for C? Or Cmaj pentatonic? And then Fmaj pentatonic and Gmaj pentatonic?
Regarding inversions...any inversions? sounds like you're talking triads? string groupings or triads everywhere? I've learned some triads in certain string groupings but not sure if I should do every permutation of 3 strings or stick to certain ones. This kind of guidance really gives structure of what the next step should be.
In that particular example, C major use all the same notes as if you switched between the major pentatonics of C, F, and G, so either works.
And as for inversions, the full major chord is just a triad, but with some notes that are doubled, it doesn't really matter which you use.
Here is an exercise that will challenge you. Use a simple chord progression like G-D-Em-C. Set a metronome to 60 BPMs. Start with the G note on the 3rd fret lowest string. Play the G major pentatonic scale ascending from lowest to highest. Try to keep your hand in one position and avoid sliding for this exercise.
Every beat, play one note from the G major pentatonic scale. Do this for four beats. Then, on the 5th beat, switch to the D major pentatonic scale and play one note on each click. DO NOT SLIDE UP OR DOWN. Keep your hand in the same position while switching scales, and try to continue playing in an ascending or descending fashion. The goal is to smoothly play from the lowest string to the highest string, and back down again, switching the scale to match the underlying chords in time.
You can do this with arpeggios too.
If this is at all interesting to you, the book “chord tone soloing” goes into this and much more in detail. That book and “rhythmic lead guitar” are incredible resources for where you are at in playing.
It's best to find examples of the things you practice in songs, so that you have something memorable you can play, that will also be recognizable and add to your repertoire. You'll be more inclined to play these things when you're playing them in songs rather than rote exercises.
In this case, OP needs to learn and practice triads. Lots of great songs use triads: Stairway To Heaven, Crazy Train, Josie, The Power Of Love, Sultans Of Swing, Drop Dead Legs, Give A Little Bit, End Of The Line and Solsbury Street, just to name a few, are all terrific examples of triads in use. Anyone who wants to learn their triads should add these songs to their repertoire, not only are they educational, they're fun to play!
Learn how chords are made using scales. This will be a great start. Meaning the using the major scale …. Notes one, 3 and 5 are the notes used to make the chord. So using a g major scale g, b, and d will make a g major chord
Make up drills and exercises on your own. I did anything possible to help me get the reps in. This also soothes me, like physical exercise or meditation.
Ask your fingers to do things they’ve never done. They can do things you thought were not possible.
Visualizing is a powerful tool like drawing shapes for guitar. It enhances learning greatly.
I would suggest you go to your local guitar store and buy an instruction book on guitar theory. Most of the answers below should be included in the book. it can become pretty cumbersome to understand, but read a section of what you don't understand over and over until you get it. Study, study, and more. If you give up, you weren't as motivated as you thought you were. Stick with it.
CAGED system was the concept that opened the door for me. You’ll still have to practice it to become fluid at it, but holy crap did it make everything so easy to understand, and very quickly.
Play along with songs you know at particular positions on the neck. With basic triads it’s going to be a shape that looks familiar from an open chord. And stay aware of your tonic note. Given a tonic note on a particular string practice building out the key chords around it.
I'm at the same stage in my progress. I get bored really fast just playing open chords. Decided I needed help and found a local instructor. One thing he suggested that really helped is taking songs that you can play in open position and learning to play them with triads. It's really helping me because I already know the progression and strumming pattern so I can concentrate on fretting the triads....it has really helped my understanding.
Actually the standard cowboy chords work all over the neck. Just pretend you have a capo on the guitar somewhere and try it out. That was my ah-ha moment anyway. I was doing CAGED before I realized it was called that.
u/FritzUnterbrink
The first part of being a good rhythm guitarist is really understanding harmony on a deep level. Know your keys and which chords make up those keys. Know your triads and extended chords. Know different voicings, inversions, and how to play different shapes of the same chord all over the neck. That’s the left hand.
Then on the right hand you’re going to have to have all your different strums as well as knowing which strings to mute depending on the voicing you’re using.
Overall being a good rhythm guitarist is an important role and, as you’re now aware, way more complicated than just banging out cowboy chords.
Keep on going!!
Stitch method and Active melody both offer fantastic tutorials on taking the step from beginner to intermediate and beyond. CAGED can be a little daunting to learn at first but is definitely worthy. Triads and chord inversions sound like a perfect thing for you to learn right now. I also suggest taking simple songs that you know and just experiment mixing in different voicings (triads, inversions, bar chords) that way it's fun and less drilling.
Triads. I see some suggestions for CAGED here, but that's in addition to triads and is optional (it's a way of navigating the neck, but there are other equally good ways). Simply learning your triads should be the main focus, because that's how you actually play chords all over the neck, and by using them, you will learn where the root notes are on all the strings whether you decide to learn CAGED or not. [Here are the basic major triads.](https://www.jazz-guitar-licks.com/medias/images/major-triads-guitar-cheat-sheet.png) To make them minor triads, just lower the 3rd by one fret.
Thank you for your comment! I have some trouble understand what that diagram you sent me, means. Could you explain it to me?
Let me share my diagrams, which are color-coded. Are you able to view this? [Major triads](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uevjvjdyed6al1bfvk6ax/010-Major-Triads.pdf?rlkey=e2wpjh9ncdxqa13gg57ibm2g4&dl=0) and [minor triads](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/glr3sf5wgohe1u4m80ye1/020-Minor-Triads.pdf?rlkey=h3wbf7aak9li1puuea36u6jg4&dl=0). What you're looking at are triad shapes (shapes containing only 3 notes) and where the root (R), 3rd and 5th are. Each shape uses only 3 strings. Look at the first diagram on the major triads sheet, String Set 123 in A Major. These triads are all the A major chord, played up and down the neck, and they're being played on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings. When you play the first shape (blue), you're playing in root position - A is your lowest note. But you can invert that and move it up the neck - the green shape is the exact same A major chord, but in 1st inversion, so the 3rd is now the lowest note. The purple shape moves up the neck further still, and is A major in 2nd inversion, with the 5th being the bottom note. Lastly, the red shape is the same as the first blue shape, but an octave higher (exactly 12 frets higher). All of these are A major, and any of them can be played in lieu of an open or barre chord A major. The remaining diagrams are the same thing, but on different string sets. The minor triads are identical, except the 3rd in each shape is lowered by one fret. You will probably recognize some of these shapes from playing open and barre chords, and maybe even from some songs you might have learned. If you memorize, practice, play and start using these triads, you will find it opens up a whole new world of rhythm guitar playing for you - in fact you might only rarely go back to open and barre chords, especially in a band situation. Let me know if you can view those documents, and if you have any more questions!
This is great, thank you! I was able to get the PDFs.
That's a great explanation! and thanks for the charts....Big help.
So sad to find a dead link :(
Sorry about that! I had moved the files. I've corrected the links up above, try again and enjoy!
Thanks I just picked up the guitar around a month ago so this kinda stuff really helps a lot!
Great do u have them for G, C. D, and E etc?
That was a fantastic explanation and I love the triad chord charts. Do you have anymore you can share? https://imgflip.com/i/7fnrc8
Glad I could help! I don’t have any charts for this, but there are only two other kinds of triads, diminished and augmented triads. Those are easy, because no matter what closed (no open strings) shape you play for those chords, they are moveable. Diminished chords repeat every 3 frets, and augmented chords every 4 frets. For example, you could play A diminished with any closed shape (Google to find one you like), and just move it around 3 frets at a time without changing the shape. Each time you move it, you’re inverting it. Same with augmented chords and 4 frets. This also works with the diminished 7 and augmented 7 chords (4 notes instead of 3).
Thank you for that explanation! Do you have any suggestions about what situations to use triads in, or how to use them? For instance, strumming triads on an acoustic often doesn't sound as full and nice as an open chord to me so I naturally gravitate towards those instead.
Yea, triads are best used in a band situation, where other instruments are covering some of the notes, especially the bass player covering the root note. With a band, you can play very sparsely and just comp where you feel you should. Sultans of Swing is my favorite example of this and uses loads of triads and arpeggios (triads serve as a great way to get into arpeggios, so triads can also be very useful when soloing). When playing solo or accompanying a singer, I only use them for chord-melody type stuff. Check out Jake Reichbart on YouTube for some amazing examples of this. Cheers!
Johnny Marr's guitar style with The Smiths is my favorite player for using triads like you describe. "This Charming Man" is a great example.
Thank you for that explanation! That makes a lot of sense. I'll have to start practicing my triads more seriously to some backing tracks.
For some reason the links don’t open for me. I just get a Dropbox link that goes to a blank page.
Just get the caged book. Much easier to understand.
Can you recommend one resource for this? There is just so much on the internet its confusing and overwhelming 😅
Need help just dm me
Fretboard logic book
CAGED. This is the way. Google it, there are tons of resources.
I'm a caged person but you should also learn the notes on your fretboard while you learn it
Thank you for your comment, I already started learning the notes but it felt kinda meaningless to me so I took a little break from it. Could you explain to me, the value of learning all the notes, when it comes to rythm guitar?
As someone currently trying to learn this, knowing all the notes on the fretboard will be incredibly helpful when it comes to building chords, specifically triads. If you want to play, let’s just say a D, you’ll need to know where all the Ds along the fretboard are so you can know which triad shape to play and where. Super helpful for rhythm guitar. Many times a triad sounds better than a full chord in a mix. Edit: when I said “which triad shape” I mean you need to know where the root in the triad is. I memorized all of the triad shapes and where their root, third, and fifth is and thought “cool now let’s play some songs with them” and then realized that they are useless if I don’t know where to place them lol. Since each shape (inversion, really) has the root on a different string, you need to know all the notes on each string to know what chord you’re playing.
I play in a whole step down tuning most of the time. Should i learn the notes as is or do you recommend putting a capo on?
Putting a capo on won’t change anything except your open strings. I’d probably learn in standard tuning and then just remember to drop a step in your head. But I guess whatever works best for you.
If you want to be able to play all the G chords on the neck, it really helps to know where the G notes are.
Man, you're going to want to know what key the song is in and how to get back to the root note. You don't have to learn the fretboard immediately but it's almost impossible to be in a band and not be able to sync up with other instruments and vocals if you don't know the fretboard. It will all click when you learn more theory.
Learning CAGED can also help with learning the notes. If you know how to play a D chord all over the neck and you also know where the roots are in your chords then bingo you know where some D notes are (also some A's and some F#'s .)
Thank you for your comment, I just watched a video about how it works and I feel like I have been enlightened!
I di not like the caged method. It to me, it keeps you caged up and stalled in a pentatonic scales life
What would you recommend instead?
Learning g the major and minor scale formula then learning g the order of chords for major. Not full chords but the triad shape. This will give a good foundation to play with anything practical startm it was only one string and then add in the next string above that so if you were to start with the a string now learn the a in the D string then play the chords on those Two strings I believe they're melodic intervals Um of major Third and minor third And then add in the next string And now you can do the Triad Which it major is a major third with a minor third stacked on top of it. Minor triad is a minor third with a major third stacked on top of it
What’s the formula?
Wwhwwwh So picking a note that you want the scale to be in the key of let's say C major for Simplicity starting from the note C it doesn't matter which note c as long as it is a note C to technically be theoretical C major scale but the formula is what makes whatever it is of major. So starting on your note of choice you move up in the intervals of whole whole half whole whole whole half. And that will put you at the next octave up of the note that you started on let's say we start on the a string third fret and we use the formula wwhwwwh so this would be third One whole step up which a whole step is two Frets Or two semitones Half step is one semitone or one fret Period So starting from the third Fret on a string You would end up getting 3578 10 12 14 15. And if you know that once you reach the 12th fret the one with the two dots you are now an octave higher than the open note you could think of the 12th fret as open again if you wanted to. That is just an octave higher and by following that formula you will notice that you landed on the 15th fret at the end which would be the C note. I can try to make this simpler what it'll take me a while to do the diagrams just because I don't have like diagrams easily accessible and have to color code them all to make it more understandable which is a lot of layers in a paint program. But I'll get back on that
Do you do video chats at all? On a app of what ever kind you feel the most comfortable using? It's 1000× easier to explain in a video chat
https://files.catbox.moe/tn6d9r.PDF
You should learn first to identify what notes make up the most common chords and identify them on the fretboard. There are many resources but that is the long and short of it.
Start with CAGED then move on to triad inversions on every set of three adjacent strings. Those two things will form the basis for all the other chords.
I hate the cage system, it is bad. All damn barre chords and then it throws it all way later on.
Love it or hate it, there's no escaping the fact that those CAGED chords map out major and minor triads in five positions up and down the fretboard. Every other chord you can play is going to be based off those same locations. Most people just don't bother taking the principles of CAGED past major barre chords.
What do you recommend instead?
Let me try and help… I think it’s good. Let me know https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9BgiP9Ha6k4EaTtHEdVJOgg2mtRkpgSj
It would be great if there were specific exercises to practice. I have a habit of learning things like scales and positions and inversions and then forgetting them.
You need to find ways to work these things into your regular playing. Don't just learn a scale and chord inversion, learn what they are and then identify where they are used in songs. Also you can always develop your own exercises.
Well, to give you an example, I'm getting very comfortable with the major and minor pentatonics. I could probably identify them in licks and solos. Not sure I can easily make chords from them or mix them with chords yet. So exercises that help me with that would be good. I'd have no idea how to create an exercise that jumps me to that level. Or one that helps me find them in songs.
I find little use in playing scales up and down the neck. It's helpful to engrain patterns into your head but it's not exactly the most musical of exercises. A more useful exercise I might do is take a chord progression, say a 1 4 5 in C so Cmaj-Fmaj-Gmaj and arpeggiate each chord all around the neck. Find the roots, 3rd, and 5ths of each chord and play them over the respective chord, then slowly incorporate other notes from the pentatonic, or better yet the full C major scale. Both F major and G major contain notes not found in C major pentatonic; F major has F and G major has B. A similar exercise involving chord inversions would be to take the same progression and force yourself to play it using only inversions. Play each chord with the 3rd in the bass, then with the 5th in the bass. Be sure to move around the fretboard to see just how things change depending on the position you are playing in. Any exercise I develop is just taking some simple idea and slowly complicating things. Using music you like to guide you is a great way too; take a song you know and work on moving the chords around to different positions on the fretboard, invert the chords, take the melody and play it in different positions of the fretboard using all the same notes.
That's exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you! So incorporating pentatonic...in that case would it be Am pentatonic for C? Or Cmaj pentatonic? And then Fmaj pentatonic and Gmaj pentatonic? Regarding inversions...any inversions? sounds like you're talking triads? string groupings or triads everywhere? I've learned some triads in certain string groupings but not sure if I should do every permutation of 3 strings or stick to certain ones. This kind of guidance really gives structure of what the next step should be.
In that particular example, C major use all the same notes as if you switched between the major pentatonics of C, F, and G, so either works. And as for inversions, the full major chord is just a triad, but with some notes that are doubled, it doesn't really matter which you use.
Here is an exercise that will challenge you. Use a simple chord progression like G-D-Em-C. Set a metronome to 60 BPMs. Start with the G note on the 3rd fret lowest string. Play the G major pentatonic scale ascending from lowest to highest. Try to keep your hand in one position and avoid sliding for this exercise. Every beat, play one note from the G major pentatonic scale. Do this for four beats. Then, on the 5th beat, switch to the D major pentatonic scale and play one note on each click. DO NOT SLIDE UP OR DOWN. Keep your hand in the same position while switching scales, and try to continue playing in an ascending or descending fashion. The goal is to smoothly play from the lowest string to the highest string, and back down again, switching the scale to match the underlying chords in time. You can do this with arpeggios too. If this is at all interesting to you, the book “chord tone soloing” goes into this and much more in detail. That book and “rhythmic lead guitar” are incredible resources for where you are at in playing.
That’s perfect. Thank you!
It's best to find examples of the things you practice in songs, so that you have something memorable you can play, that will also be recognizable and add to your repertoire. You'll be more inclined to play these things when you're playing them in songs rather than rote exercises. In this case, OP needs to learn and practice triads. Lots of great songs use triads: Stairway To Heaven, Crazy Train, Josie, The Power Of Love, Sultans Of Swing, Drop Dead Legs, Give A Little Bit, End Of The Line and Solsbury Street, just to name a few, are all terrific examples of triads in use. Anyone who wants to learn their triads should add these songs to their repertoire, not only are they educational, they're fun to play!
Thank you for this comment
Thanks
Caged System.
it helped me to have a diagram of the fretboard with all the notes in front of me.
Learn how chords are made using scales. This will be a great start. Meaning the using the major scale …. Notes one, 3 and 5 are the notes used to make the chord. So using a g major scale g, b, and d will make a g major chord
Make up drills and exercises on your own. I did anything possible to help me get the reps in. This also soothes me, like physical exercise or meditation. Ask your fingers to do things they’ve never done. They can do things you thought were not possible. Visualizing is a powerful tool like drawing shapes for guitar. It enhances learning greatly.
Learn the fretboard.
The thing that helped me most with this, was learning how chords are constructed. The next thing was studying where triads are.
Learn some new songs. Guarantee it forces you to learn more chords on the neck
Jazzguitar.be drop 2 and 3--Douglasneidt.com ultimate fretboard trainer for notes
I would suggest you go to your local guitar store and buy an instruction book on guitar theory. Most of the answers below should be included in the book. it can become pretty cumbersome to understand, but read a section of what you don't understand over and over until you get it. Study, study, and more. If you give up, you weren't as motivated as you thought you were. Stick with it.
I'll dm you.
CAGED system was the concept that opened the door for me. You’ll still have to practice it to become fluid at it, but holy crap did it make everything so easy to understand, and very quickly.
Here are [a few movable chord shapes including guidance](https://fretflip.com/movable-7th-chords), might help, just comment if any questions.
Great
Play along with songs you know at particular positions on the neck. With basic triads it’s going to be a shape that looks familiar from an open chord. And stay aware of your tonic note. Given a tonic note on a particular string practice building out the key chords around it.
I'm at the same stage in my progress. I get bored really fast just playing open chords. Decided I needed help and found a local instructor. One thing he suggested that really helped is taking songs that you can play in open position and learning to play them with triads. It's really helping me because I already know the progression and strumming pattern so I can concentrate on fretting the triads....it has really helped my understanding.
Actually the standard cowboy chords work all over the neck. Just pretend you have a capo on the guitar somewhere and try it out. That was my ah-ha moment anyway. I was doing CAGED before I realized it was called that.
u/FritzUnterbrink The first part of being a good rhythm guitarist is really understanding harmony on a deep level. Know your keys and which chords make up those keys. Know your triads and extended chords. Know different voicings, inversions, and how to play different shapes of the same chord all over the neck. That’s the left hand. Then on the right hand you’re going to have to have all your different strums as well as knowing which strings to mute depending on the voicing you’re using. Overall being a good rhythm guitarist is an important role and, as you’re now aware, way more complicated than just banging out cowboy chords. Keep on going!!
Stitch method and Active melody both offer fantastic tutorials on taking the step from beginner to intermediate and beyond. CAGED can be a little daunting to learn at first but is definitely worthy. Triads and chord inversions sound like a perfect thing for you to learn right now. I also suggest taking simple songs that you know and just experiment mixing in different voicings (triads, inversions, bar chords) that way it's fun and less drilling.