Learning guitar chords is key to becoming a skilled guitarist. Though initially it may appear daunting, with practice you’ll soon be playing various songs!
As the initial step, it is essential to realize that all major and minor chords are triads – this means they contain three unique notes only.
Basics
Guitar chords are essential components of any song, and learning how to form them is the first step to becoming a skilled guitarist. Once you master how they are formed, practicing them together in sequence and creating chord progressions becomes much simpler. Chords form the building blocks of music; by learning them you can play any song regardless of key.
Triad chords are the simplest type of chord. Composed of three notes separated by an interval of a third, they consist of the root note, its dominant counterpart (third note), and fifth (minor note).
Dotted chord diagrams show which fingers to use when creating certain shapes. For instance, numbers within circles represent which fingers should place on which strings. Also, an X at the bottom indicates muting instead of playback for certain chords.
Triads
Triads are the simplest form of chord and form the basis for many different harmonic structures in music. Composed of three notes — root note, third and fifth — their relationship will determine whether a triad is major, minor, diminished or augmented in its quality.
Triad shapes are highly adaptable and can be moved up or down the neck to form any chord imaginable, providing an excellent starting point for chord progression practice. Master the various triad shapes with their root notes so that you can quickly identify all of their chord formations across the fretboard.
As a starting point, learn and master the major triad shapes on strings 1-3 of your guitar’s fretboard. By understanding these triads and their root notes well, you will then be able to move them up and down the fretboard for any major chord that comes your way!
Bar chords
Barre chords are an indispensable tool in the rhythm guitarist’s arsenal, yet can be challenging to learn due to requiring significant finger strength and dexterity. Furthermore, barre chords add an interesting new element of tone with closed strings creating different tones than open ones.
One of the most frequent mistakes guitarists make with barre chords is approaching them from too shallow of an angle, which can result in fingers getting in the way of other strings/notes. Proper thumb placement will also ensure enough pressure is exerted to hold down each string in place.
Start off by playing an E major barre chord. From there, move up one fret and add your 1st finger as a bar across all six strings – creating an F major barre chord voicing with great percussive sound! Practice often and soon you will be ready to add other voicings!
Chord diagrams
As guitarists work to learn their chords, an essential tool they have at their disposal is a chord diagram. A chord diagram works similarly to sheet music but provides extra details on which frets to press for each note of an existing chord – invaluable information when changing its voicing or changing how you play certain notes within it.
Chord diagrams consist of simple lines representing the strings and frets on a guitar, starting at its thickest string to its thinnest, running vertically and horizontally from left to right and often featuring an icon representing each chord name at their base.
Common symbols found on chord charts include numbers in circles. Each number corresponds to finger positions on the left hand; numbers range from 0-6 and represent which fingers to press against strings and frets on specific strings and frets. Following each number will either an “X” or an “O”, which indicate whether to mute it openly or mutes it mute it closedly.