Easy Guitar Chords For Beginners
There are five essential chord shapes that anyone wanting to play guitar must learn.
If you learn these five easy guitar chords, not only will you be able to play hundreds of songs, but you will also be able to use the shapes from these chords and move them to other positions to play more chords and many, many more songs.
The five essential chord shapes to learn for guitar are the G, C, D, A and E Major chords.
The G Major Chord The tablature for the G Major Chord is as follows: E|--3-- B|--0-- G|--0-- D|--0-- A|--2-- E|--3-- To play the G chord using the tab (short for guitar tablature) above: Place your middle finger on the 3rd fret of the low E string.
The low E string is also called the 6th string and is often referred to as 'the E string'.
The low E string is the string that is closest to your face.
Place your index finger on the 2nd fret of the A string.
The A string is also called the 5th string.
Place your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the high E string.
The high E string is also called the 1st string and like the low E string, can also be referred to as 'the E string'.
Often when a musician says the E string, they are talking about the low E string, however it depends on what is being played so you can always check by asking if they mean the low E or high E string.
The D, G and B strings (which are also called the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings respectively) are all played as open strings, denoted by the '0' in the tab above.
With the 3 notes fretted and 3 open strings, strum the low E to high E strings and let the notes of the G Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
The C Major Chord Another easy guitar chord to learn is the C Major Chord.
The tab for the C Major Chord is as follows: E|--0-- B|--1-- G|--0-- D|--2-- A|--3-- E|--x-- To play the C chord using the tab above: Place your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string.
Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
Place your index finger on the 1st fret of the B string.
The G and high E strings are played as open strings, again denoted by the '0' in the tab above.
The low E string is not played as denoted by the 'x' in the tab above.
To ensure that you don't play any notes accidentally on the low E string, you can lightly rest your thumb on the E string.
Then if you do happen to strike the string when playing the C Major chord, no notes will sound as the string will be muted.
Strum the A to high E strings and let the notes of the C Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
The D Major Chord The tab for the D Major Chord is as follows: E|--2-- B|--3-- G|--2-- D|--0-- A|--x-- E|--x-- To play the D chord using the tab above: Place your index finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.
Place your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string.
Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the high E string.
The D string is played as an open string.
The low E and A strings are not played.
You can mute the low E and A strings similar to how you did with the C Major chord by lightly resting your thumb, this time on both the E and A strings.
Be sure to lightly rest your thumb on the strings so that if you play the strings they sound dead and no notes sound.
Strum the D to high E strings and let the notes of the D Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
The E Major Chord The tab for the E Major Chord is as follows: E|--0-- B|--0-- G|--1-- D|--2-- A|--2-- E|--0-- To play the E chord using the tab above: Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the A string.
Place your ring finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
Place your index finger on the 1st fret of the G string.
The low E, B and high E strings are all played as open strings.
Strum the low E to high E strings and let the notes of the E Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
The A Major Chord The tab for the A Major Chord is as follows: E|--0-- B|--2-- G|--2-- D|--2-- A|--0-- E|--x-- To play the A chord using the tab above: Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
Place your index finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.
Place your ring finger on the 2nd fret of the B string.
The A and high E strings are all played as open strings.
The low E string is not played.
You can mute the low E string similar to how you did with the C Major chord by lightly resting your thumb on the low E string so that the string will only have a muted sound if you accidentally play the string.
Strum the A to high E strings and let the notes of the A Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
Practice Suggestion and Summary Practice playing these easy guitar chords above for 3-5 minutes per day, for each chord.
Pay close attention to letting the all notes of each chord sound and make sure the strings that shouldn't be played are lightly muted.
This will only take you 15-30 minutes each day.
After two weeks practice you will find you can play each chord with a good level of confidence and skill.
If you learn to play these five chords you will put yourself in a great position to start learning how to play songs on the guitar.
If you learn these five easy guitar chords, not only will you be able to play hundreds of songs, but you will also be able to use the shapes from these chords and move them to other positions to play more chords and many, many more songs.
The five essential chord shapes to learn for guitar are the G, C, D, A and E Major chords.
The G Major Chord The tablature for the G Major Chord is as follows: E|--3-- B|--0-- G|--0-- D|--0-- A|--2-- E|--3-- To play the G chord using the tab (short for guitar tablature) above: Place your middle finger on the 3rd fret of the low E string.
The low E string is also called the 6th string and is often referred to as 'the E string'.
The low E string is the string that is closest to your face.
Place your index finger on the 2nd fret of the A string.
The A string is also called the 5th string.
Place your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the high E string.
The high E string is also called the 1st string and like the low E string, can also be referred to as 'the E string'.
Often when a musician says the E string, they are talking about the low E string, however it depends on what is being played so you can always check by asking if they mean the low E or high E string.
The D, G and B strings (which are also called the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings respectively) are all played as open strings, denoted by the '0' in the tab above.
With the 3 notes fretted and 3 open strings, strum the low E to high E strings and let the notes of the G Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
The C Major Chord Another easy guitar chord to learn is the C Major Chord.
The tab for the C Major Chord is as follows: E|--0-- B|--1-- G|--0-- D|--2-- A|--3-- E|--x-- To play the C chord using the tab above: Place your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string.
Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
Place your index finger on the 1st fret of the B string.
The G and high E strings are played as open strings, again denoted by the '0' in the tab above.
The low E string is not played as denoted by the 'x' in the tab above.
To ensure that you don't play any notes accidentally on the low E string, you can lightly rest your thumb on the E string.
Then if you do happen to strike the string when playing the C Major chord, no notes will sound as the string will be muted.
Strum the A to high E strings and let the notes of the C Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
The D Major Chord The tab for the D Major Chord is as follows: E|--2-- B|--3-- G|--2-- D|--0-- A|--x-- E|--x-- To play the D chord using the tab above: Place your index finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.
Place your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string.
Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the high E string.
The D string is played as an open string.
The low E and A strings are not played.
You can mute the low E and A strings similar to how you did with the C Major chord by lightly resting your thumb, this time on both the E and A strings.
Be sure to lightly rest your thumb on the strings so that if you play the strings they sound dead and no notes sound.
Strum the D to high E strings and let the notes of the D Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
The E Major Chord The tab for the E Major Chord is as follows: E|--0-- B|--0-- G|--1-- D|--2-- A|--2-- E|--0-- To play the E chord using the tab above: Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the A string.
Place your ring finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
Place your index finger on the 1st fret of the G string.
The low E, B and high E strings are all played as open strings.
Strum the low E to high E strings and let the notes of the E Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
The A Major Chord The tab for the A Major Chord is as follows: E|--0-- B|--2-- G|--2-- D|--2-- A|--0-- E|--x-- To play the A chord using the tab above: Place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
Place your index finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.
Place your ring finger on the 2nd fret of the B string.
The A and high E strings are all played as open strings.
The low E string is not played.
You can mute the low E string similar to how you did with the C Major chord by lightly resting your thumb on the low E string so that the string will only have a muted sound if you accidentally play the string.
Strum the A to high E strings and let the notes of the A Major chord all play so that they sound clearly.
Practice Suggestion and Summary Practice playing these easy guitar chords above for 3-5 minutes per day, for each chord.
Pay close attention to letting the all notes of each chord sound and make sure the strings that shouldn't be played are lightly muted.
This will only take you 15-30 minutes each day.
After two weeks practice you will find you can play each chord with a good level of confidence and skill.
If you learn to play these five chords you will put yourself in a great position to start learning how to play songs on the guitar.
