Here's a chart I made up to show how to make absolutely any chord on the banjo. In the spirit of a puzzle I would like to see how many players can figure this out with no explanation.

The chart shows how to play and actually know the reasoning behind the fingerings of 31 different types of chords M, m, 7....... etc in all 12 keys so that's a total of 372 chords.

This is about knowing what you're doing instead of memorizing a bunch of shapes and licks which means your skill as a musician will increase dramatically. Good luck!  

3 days later MMUUSSIICCAALL added:

Okay it's time to explain what this is all about: In my 40 years of teaching I've had many kinds of students sit across from me. In my early days of teaching I would ask “why are you here” and some would say something like “I'm here to learn chords and I’ve been playing for six years or so.”

I would then find out how many chords they knew and it seem to always be between 15 and 18. Now If I started showing them how to play chords from chord diagrams, so what, they could do that without me. Oh but wait, they had 6 years to do this on their own. I’d say “Why don’t you just buy a chord book and look at the diagrams yourself.” They would say something like “It’s so overwhelming because there’s so many of ‘em and I don’t know which one’s are important” So I found chord books to be a dead-end.

So I decided to start teaching chords in a new way like teaching them to fish instead of giving them a fish. Instead of using even scale numbers (135) I  thought about the names of all the different chords (M m 6th sus) etc.Then I put them in order that they seem to be used, just like the chromatic scale there are 12 levels used as shown below.

7         M7

b7        7

6          6          13

b6        +        b13

5          5        (12)

b5        -         #11

4        sus        11

3        M          (10)

b3      m           9+

2        2             9

b2     b2          b9

1       root

The bold columns are what I eventually called CHORD TALK the other is what I call SCALE TALK. 

These CHORD TALK terms spelled out in english are: root, flat nine, nine, minor, major, suspended, diminished, fifth, augmented, sixth, seventh, major seventh. The b9 thru 13 column are other names for the root thru M7 column, they imply a higher octave which means 12 frets higher than the normal.

As an example, in CHORD TALK if you ever add a note to a chord that is 3 frets higher than it’s root that’s a minor, 5 higher is sus, etc. 

If you look at the banjo neck I just started splicing this CHORD TALK sequence onto the fingerboard. As you look at the neck it is in the key of D 

The formulas for the chords are in the middle of the page. They have been changed to CHORD TALK instead of the usual SCALE TALK. By the way their is a chord type for every human emotion, like minor for sad and diminished for scary, and I have listed the common emotions. Interestingly enough you were programmed to respond emotionally by the cartoons you watched as a kid. Like when they ‘tied her to the railroad tracks’ the music in the background was full of diminished chords.

Whew, O.K. anyway when you play an open D chord on the banjo the pitches are as follows:

fourth string = R at second fret,      third string = 5 at second fret,     second string = M at fourth fret,     first string = R at fifth fret 

As the formula for a major chord is RM5 any combination of these will work. This is shown by the yellow highlighting. These highlighted notes are the basis from which to work from to find all the other chord types. For example if I want to play a D7 in open position I just change the R on the first string  to the 7 at the third fret as shown by the picture  (D6 same but at second fret, DM7 at the fourth fret, Dsus means you would change the second string M to the fifth fret sus) This can be anywhere up and down the fingerboard as in another way to play a D

fourth string 6th fret= M, third string 7th fret = R, second string 7th fret = 5, first string 9th fret= M 

Now I could of made 12 diagrams, one for each key, but it would be even more overwhelming so the tricky part is that this chart is kind of virtual. Let’s say you want a C chord. You go to the C to the left of the chart and that is the new beginning of the fingerboard, for example an open position G chord is 

 fourth string second fret= 5, third string open= R, second string open= 5, first string second fret= M 

This kind of tricky and usually takes a while to see it. If I were just to concentrate on the first string open in D it is the 5 but in 

C it is the 6 

B it is the b7 

A it is the R 

G it is the 9 

F# it is the + 

E it is the sus 

My advise is to play every chord you know and find it on the chart so that you can see why your fingers need to be in those positions. Then look up chords you don’t know and look at their diagrams to analyze them and eventually this chart will be burned in your memory. You won’t need to look up chords anymore! Sorry for all the words here in explanation but I tried to put myself in the place of a beginner. I’m sure there will be questions and will try to answer any. p.s. A great book of chords that can all be deciphered by this chart is on this site at banjohangout.org/topic/275068