Guitar chords are an essential foundational skill that any novice guitarist should seek to acquire, and this ebook provides easy-to-read diagrams that outline which notes and chord shapes need to be pressed with their fingers.
Diagrams also depict frets and strings with dots and numbers to illustrate fretting/stringing arrangements, including how fingers should be used when playing each one. When dots contain numbers within them, it indicates which finger should use that finger for strumming or fretting.
1. C Major Chord
C major is one of the first chords most people learn on guitar, known as a triad for being composed of only three notes. This chord can be found in numerous songs and serves as an excellent opportunity to practice changing between intervals as you become familiar with how intervals work.
Chord diagrams represent which strings and frets are being played, using circles or other shapes to indicate which fingers are touching each string. Muted strings (Xs) indicate muted instruments while open strings (Os) indicate open instruments.
Keep your hand from cramping up when learning a new chord by only using your finger tips when fretting.
2. G Major Chord
The G major chord is an essential foundational chord found in many songs. As an easy dominant chord to learn for beginners, only three fingers and open strings are needed to assemble it correctly.
Standard voicing of this chord involves placing the middle finger of string 6 at its second fret, the index finger at string 2’s third fret and ring finger on string 4’s fifth fret – this provides an ideal starting point but beginners may have trouble stretching their fingers across six strings! Be patient!
There are other chord shapes that are easier for beginners to play; we will explore some of these later in this lesson. It is vitally important to learn how to move smoothly between chords as you advance on your path from beginner to pro guitarist.
3. E Major Chord
Learn the open E major chord to easily play more songs! It’s an easy chord to memorize, used frequently in songs and worth learning because its versatility will come in handy on numerous occasions.
Be mindful that beginners often overpress down on their strings when first starting out, leading them to apply too much pressure and cause their fingers to hurt while playing a chord. If this is happening to you then this indicates too much force is being applied, which should reduce over-pressure on them and lead to improved results.
Chord diagrams can be an effective tool for learning how to read. By helping you to visualize which strings are being played and where your fingers should be, chord diagrams allow you to gain a clear picture of which frets are being pressed upon. Memorizing chord shapes faster may also prove useful; for instance, an E major chord has a triangular form with all upper strings played simultaneously.
4. D Major Chord
D Major is a common chord found in numerous popular songs such as Led Zeppelin’s Over the Hills and Far Away or John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane. It provides an ideal opportunity to practice muting the fifth string so it clearly sings out.
Chord diagrams (also referred to as chord-grids) depict your fretboard so the headstock points upward, with vertical lines representing strings. Dots indicate which fingers should be placed over which frets for specific chords.
Beginner guitar players typically find it easier to visualize chord shapes than individual notes when starting out on their instrument, which will enable you to fret chords more efficiently as your hand dexterity improves. Remember to only use your fingertips; anything else could flatten across the strings and prevent them from vibrating properly.
5. A Major Chord
The A major chord is an accessible open voicing that’s found in many popular songs. Its fingering is simple, resulting in vibrant open sound with plenty of vibrancy. Furthermore, this chord marks your introduction to intervals – the distances between notes on the fretboard.
If intervals are unfamiliar to you, this article serves as a great starting point to understanding them better. If that is the case for you, I highly suggest reading my lesson on intervals before continuing this article.
Understanding what chords form when harmonizing the major scale is great, but musicians rarely limit themselves to using only chords from one key; oftentimes they combine and match chords from multiple keys in order to produce different musical sounds.