Originally Posted by: icebreaker1588Okay so I reviewed all of the lessons at least once to understand the concepts.[/quote]
Good idea!

Let's start by remembering that any given group of notes can be named in multiple ways. When you name a chord you can pick any of the notes to be the root & then regard the rest of the notes as relative to that root. Same for chord progressions. There is sometimes more than one way to label it so one of the chords is the I chord & the rest are measured as some distance from that root note.

How do you know which of the many possible options to use? Which ever one makes the chord & the progression easier to understand & the best option that matches how the chords sound.

The clip sounds nice! Congrats on a nicely played acoustic part. :)

Originally Posted by: icebreaker1588
This is the full progression I made from the original post.


V) D/F#
I) G
III) Bmno5
II) Ano5add4 or Dmaj7no3/A
?) Dno5
?) Ano5add4 or Dmaj7no3/A
I) G

e|-x--x--x--x---x---x---x--------------------------------------------|
B|-x--x--x--x---x---x---x--------------------------------------------|
G|-2--4--7--6--11--6---4--------------------------------------------|
D|-0--0--0--0---0---0---0-------------------------------------------|
A|-x--x--x--x---x---x---x-------------------------------------------|
E|-2--3--7--5--10---5---3-------------------------------------------|


Looks like I"m in the Key of G major because G is my I chord.
[/quote]
It could be. Or it could be that the D chord is the I chord. :)

Also, you've done a good job of labelling the most of chords by using the lowest note of each chord as the root. But that's not always the best option. Let's take it one chord at a time.

Originally Posted by: icebreaker1588
V) D/F#
I now know that this is a chord inversion. A D chord with F# being the lowest note in the chord.
[/quote]
Good idea.

Originally Posted by: icebreaker1588
I) G

My tonic chord because it's the resolution (even though it's not the chord the progression is started on )
[/quote]
Possibly. But also consider that you've got an A chord with a C# as the major 3rd. Usually, when you have a D major, G major & A major chord played together in a progression you've got a I-IV-V in D major.

D major (I chord)
G major (IV chord)
A major (V chord)

So, you can consider your progression to be in G major with a II chord (A major) or you can think of it as in D major. We'll review that at the end.

Originally Posted by: icebreaker1588
III) Bmno5
Someone is probably going to have to explain the no5 part to me.
[/quote]
no 5 means the chord has no 5th degree. This chord has the notes B & D. But a B minor chord consists of: B (1st) - D (minor 3rd) - F# (5th). Since your chord has no F#, you label it as B minor no 5th.

Let's also consider this chord from a different perspective. You could regard the note B as the 3rd of a G major chord. That way you've simply got an inversion of a G major chord. The chord doesn't have a G note. But that's okay in this context, because you've already played a G chord, you'll play another one later & that's enough to suggest that this is a G major in 1st inversion: G (no root). :)

Originally Posted by: icebreaker1588
II) Ano5add4 or Dmaj7no3/A
[/quote]
Typically, the most important chord tone is the 3rd to figure out if it should be labelled major or minor. So, in this case, I'd lean toward the A major add4 (no5th), because you do have a C# as the major 3rd. Whereas calling the D the root leaves you with no 3rd to label it major or minor.
[QUOTE=icebreaker1588]
V) Dno5
So this might be my V chord because dmajor is the V and this is just a different voicing from the D/F#?

Exactly! It simply has no A note as it's 5th.
[QUOTE=icebreaker1588]
?) Ano5add4 or Dmaj7no3/A
I'm confused why it says Dmaj7/A. The no 3 part means it's missing the 3rd in the scale?

Exactly. Again, better labelled as a type of A major chord.
[QUOTE=icebreaker1588]
So I understand now that I'm playing these chords the way they are because I like the bass voice on the 6th string as well as when I play the chords this way I can go "up" or "down" with the voices in a specific manner that I wanted. That goes along with your chord voicings lesson and why you choose one chord voicing over the other.

Yes, melody is the essential characteristic of music. Hearing a nice bass voice motion along with a high register melody line is what makes beautiful music.
[QUOTE=icebreaker1588]
When I first looked at this without all the chord names it looked really simple. I basically have 2 strings I have to fret and only 2 chord shapes to remember. My friend had showed me a couple of them. He's been playing guitar a long time, but he's not huge into music theory.

The open D string as a drone string gives this progression a unifying sound making all the chords sound like they belong together. It also provides a Big Clue as to the key. ;)
[QUOTE=icebreaker1588]
Anyway, when you look at it broken down it doesn't look simple AT ALL. In fact I failed to understand the progression I made in several ways. Some of those chords I can't figure out why they're named the way they are and what their function is in the progression. It sounds good to me, but like I said I'm asking myself "What am I doing?" and I'm needing help filling in the gaps.

In bare bones essence your progression could be thought of in G major like this:

D/F# (V) - G (I) - G/B (I) - A (II) or (V of V) - D (V) - A (II) - G (I)

But it might make more sense to think of it as in D major like this.

D/F# (I) - G (IV) - G/B (IV) - A (V) - D (I) - A (V) - G (IV)

The reason is that you've got this D string ringing throughout & all your notes & chords are naturally occurring in D major. But if you think of it as in G major you have to modulate to get the C# of the A major chord. Which is fine, but the simplest & most efficient solution is usually best.

Chord progressions don't have to begin or end on the tonic. Leaving it hanging on the IV chord gives it an interesting "open ended" or "longing" sound.

Or I bet you'll find if you strum a big D major chord at the end of this progression it will put a nice finishing touch on it. :) Or even better an A major, then D major.
[QUOTE=icebreaker1588]
Sorry this is super long, but I'm really excited to learn all this lol

No worries! This is fun to discuss. :) I'm glad you're excited about it, learning & having fun!