Simple Guitar Chords You Can Discover Tonight
To start playing songs on your guitar you’ll want to first learn some of the easy guitar chords available to you. Later on you’ll have a chance to add to your repertoire but for now we’re going to stick with the 4 simplest chords available to you.
The holy grail for the beginner guitarist is being able to get their fingers to go to the right place, apply the right amount of pressure and not accidentally touch adjacent strings. No easy task. On top of that learning how to change from one chord to another and in time with the music is usually enough to send guitars flying. Follow these instructions carefully and you will bypass these obstacles.
Mastering finger position and chord changes are the most important foundations you will need to work on. So it is no accident that I have chosen four easy chords for you to work with. The E, D, C and G Major Open Chords. We will follow it up with a simple song you can play and a practice session you can use over the next four weeks to help you master finger position and changing between the chords.
Open Chord: E Major
You’ll be using three fingers, your first, second and third fingers to form the E Major Chord. Place your index finger on the 4th string from the top on the 1st fret, your 2nd finger goes on the 2nd string from the top on the 2nd fret and your 3rd finger goes on the 3rd string from the top on the 2nd fret. Strum downwards from the very top string to the very bottom string. All 6 strings should ring clearly, if not check your fingers aren’t accidentally touching adjacent strings, and you’re applying enough force.
GMaj Open Chord
The GMaj Open Chord uses the notes G, B and D. The Low E String is fretted by your 2nd finger at the 3rd fret to give you the G Root Note, the A String is fretted by your 1st finger at the 2nd fret to give you the B note, the D, G and B Strings are played open, and finally the High E String is fretted by your 3rd finger at the 3rd fret for another G note.
CMaj Open Chord
The CMaj Open Chord uses the notes C, G and E. The Low E String is not played at all, we start with the A String fretted by your 3rd finger at the 3rd fret to give you the Root Note C, the D String is fretted by your 2nd finger at the 2nd fret to give you an E note, the G String is left open, the B String is fretted by your 1st finger at the 1st fret to give another C. The final High E string is left open.
DMaj Open Chord
The DMaj Open Chord uses the notes D, A and F#. The Low E String and A Strings are not played. Start from the Open D String to get the D Root Note. The G String is fretted by your 1st finger at the 2nd fret to give you the A note, the B String is fretted by your 3rd finger at the 3rd fret to give you another D note, and the High E String is fretted by your 2nd finger at the 2nd fret to give a F#.
Now let’s learn a simple chord progression that you can play as an endless loop for good practice. We’ll be using the I-V-IV turn around progression as seen in Knocking on Heavens Door by Guns N Roses. Start with the GMaj for a count of two beats, move to the DMaj for a count of 2 beats, then the CMaj for a count of 4 beats and finally resolve back to the GMaj and start again.
I want to now give you the tools needed to practice the finger positions, strumming technique and changing between these four guitar chords. Remember to strum from the Root Note down for each chord. So the E and G Major chords start from the top, the C Major from the 2nd string down, and the D Major from the 3rd string down. Choose a sequence to follow for your practice session, for example G-D-C-E, and play each chord four times being mindful to make each note ring out clearly. Spend several minutes getting into the correct position for each chord before doing your four strums, then move onto the next.
To really get a grasp on changing between chords and increasing the flexibility in your fingers it is essential that you change the sequence of the chords in this practice routine each time you come to use it. Today you might choose D, C, E then G, tomorrow you should change this order for maximum effect.
By doing this practice routine consistently you will be increasing your finger strength and flexibility by changing to chords in a different order each day and by spending 10 minutes on this you will increase your muscle memory. Results will appear like magic.
Master the easy guitar chords for beginners under the watchful eye of Adam Summers. Once you’ve completed this lesson, check out the b chord guitar lesson to understand more about this controversial chord.