Complete Beginner Guide To Guitar Chords
Easily Play The Most Important Guitar Chords
Welcome! In this beginner lesson on guitar chords, we will unveil your classic campfire chords, dive into full-on rock guitar power chords and learn how to play the infamous barre chords. This lesson sums up all essential guitar chords there are!
1. Open Chords: Your Essential Beginner Chords
2. Power Chords: The Power To Rock
3. Barre Chords: One For All
4. General Tips On PlayingGuitar Chords
5. Learning By Doing: Easy Guitar Riffs To Practice
6. Conclusion:Why Learning Chords Is So Important
WTF?! Guitar Chords
A chord is a set of three (or more) notes played at the same time. These distinct notes have a special relation to each other which makes them sound good to our ears.
For now, this basic definition is all you need. If you want to get geeky, you can check out my theory article.
You will also see, that most of the basic chords and riffs in this lesson do not require an uber-human skill. Yet, they sound killer!
Your First 8 Guitar Chords
These guitar chords are the ultimate basics of chords and are therefore very important to learn. They are used in dozens of songs and they just sound beautiful.
The more you progress as a guitarist the more chords you will learn and get to know. If you understand the basic open chord shapes and learn them by heart, you will have an easy time learning more advanced chords in the future.
Open chords are called open chords because every shape has open strings ringing. They are easy to play once you learned them and they cover a lot of ground. You will be surprised how many awesome songs consist of just those basic guitar chords!
In case you don't know how to read the chord charts - check this out:
How To Read A Chord Chart
Ok, ok, we said a chord is a set of three or more notes, right? Let me introduce you to power chords who break this rule.
They consist of only two notes and are therefore by definition no “real chords”. A power chord simply consists of the root note and the fifth. But when was a definition ever a problem for rock ‘n’ roll? Exactly.
Power chords are simple, sound badass and are in the world of the electric guitar just about everywhere! Check out the basic shape of a power chord.
Basic Shape Of A Power Chord
This shape can be moved around on the low E-string and A-string. That means you can play every power chord with just this on shape! Moving the power chord around means that you change the root note which changes the chord.
Moving The Power Chord Shape: A Few Examples
Alright, at the last stop in this lesson are barre chords. A barre chord seems to be every beginner’s nightmare. If you just starting out playing guitar it is hard to fret and grab all the new chords and make all those weird new movements with your hand, right?!
Let’s turn this mush into muscles with your first barre chords!
A barre chord is a chord where two or more notes are fretted with just one finger. Usually, it will be your index finger. Because of that, barre chords require a bit more strength in your fretting hand. Since beginners are just about to develop the needed strength, barre chords are not really comfortable at first.
The good thing about these barre chords is, that we have the same convenience as with power chords. We can just move the barre chords all across the fretboard and change the root note. We can play in all 12 keys with just one shape!
I know the F major barre chord is the hardest to play. If you have trouble fretting that chord just try to play the shape a bit further up the guitar neck.
- Practice each chord separately at first.
- Play the chord as clean as possible.
- Press down the strings with your fingertips and use your thumb as support on the back of the guitar neck.
- Your finger joints are bent if you press down with your fingertips correctly.
Take your time and make every note ring out. If you have buzzing notes or notes that do not ring out - try to find out why and correct it. In most cases, your fingers will just touch strings they are not supposed to and therefore damp certain notes.
The next step is to practice switching between the chords. Being able to switch between chords will get you ready to play your first songs! Which leads us to our final part: Easy guitar riffs for practicing chords and chord changes!
Check out this little collection to get you going. Choose one song you maybe dig personally and go for it! You don't have to learn the whole song right away. Just take the main riff or the verse and practice the chords and chord changes. There is no right or wrong song choice. The main goal is to learn the chords and to have fun while doing it.
Having trouble understanding the tabs? -> How To Read Guitar Tabs
This is a lot for the beginning, right? But this lessons sums up all the most essential and used guitar chords there are! Take your time and learn a chord at a time.
Learning your first chords is and should be the first step for every guitarist. Why? Because guitar chords are the mere basis of nearly every song! They are the harmonic fundament for melodies and ripping solos! Guitar chords are the core of the most epic riffs ever! They enable you to play your favorite songs and even write your own songs!
Play easy 3 or 4 chord songs to really get those chords under your fingers. I know it’s hard at first but when you master open chords, power chords, and barre chords, you cover a lot of ground! You will have the fundament to play a ton of songs and to learn more complex chords with ease.
Thank You and May the Shred be with You!
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