What chord is Robert Johnson holding in this photo? Is it a standard blues chord?
Looks like he might be using a capo.
According to this website: Chord Namer
Either a G# 6th Suspended 2nd Flat 5th, A#/G# 7th, or an F/G# Minor 6th Double Flat 5th… unless its something else
The kind you hold for a pose?
They snapped his pic in the middle of a riff.
Second verse, same as the first.
“Strings that aren’t strummed should be set to “Mute” and open strings should be set to zero.”
I’m guessing just a C7 with the seventh (B flat) in the bass. This is assuming standard tuning.
He’s got it right, so far as I see. True, it’s not likely the D string is being muted, but the high E might not even be played. Either way with the D string set as muted or as an open string, you still get the answer of A#/G# 7th (which is a really odd way of naming this chord. That should be a Bb7/Ab). But, since we’re capoed at the second fret, we’re looking a C7/Bb.
Thanks. That’s a long way to go for a C7!
What key might one play in that it made sense to have to work that hard for a C7?
I have no idea if he’s really playing a C7/Bb, but that would be the chord if you think he’s fretting 67258x and playing in standard tuning.
The other possibility I see is that he might be fretting 276582 (with the possibility of the 2s just being xs). That doesn’t really help all the much. I tried looking at four tunings: standard, open G, open D, drop D, and there’s no ah-ha, that must be the chord! that I see. Open D gets you a pretty clean chord, an E, but with an F thrown in on the second (highest) string (E E G# B F E).