Elton John’s piano-driven melodies translate incredibly well to guitar, so in this lesson you will learn to play a basic arrangement of his iconic song “Your Song.”
Released on his 1973 eponymous album, this upbeat track captures the youthful energy and enthusiasm of weekend nights. The chord progression is straightforward enough for beginners to tackle easily while smooth transitions between chords help maintain an upbeat and enjoyable rhythmic pulse.
E Major
E major is one of the primary chords to learn on guitar and is widely utilized across genres; particularly popular among rock and blues music. Plus, playing it with distortion or overdrive adds an edge and sounds very “badass”.
The E major chord is comprised of notes E – G# – B and has an upbeat sound when played as major triads; minor triads tend to sound melancholy. You can play the E chord using different voicings; adding either its third note (G) to make Esus2, or its second (A) note to create Esus4.
E major is used in 44% of songs analyzed by Hook Theory, making it one of the most frequently utilized chords. With its flexible nature and ability to produce adrenaline-driven bangers or add emotion-laden laments of lost love, E major chord is used across a broad range of songs analyzed.
G Major
The G major chord is an extremely popular chord and can be found in numerous songs. It features a simple but strong sounding chord that can easily be played by both hands – it should first be learned in its root position – G B D before moving on to different inversions.
Add complexity to your songwriting by starting with G Major as a root chord and building outward to create G major 7th and G minor 7 chords, perfect for beginning songwriting projects. G Major chords can also be seen frequently across popular genres from ballads to uptempo dancefloor fillers due to its emotional depth while remaining straightforward for players, especially when using keys with no sharp or flat notes such as G Major.
C Major
The open C major chord is an accessible and popular guitar chord, popularly used across a range of genres of music. From Bob Marley & The Wallers’ “One Love” to Blues Traveler’s new wave synth pop tune “Run-Around,” and even classic rock numbers by Three Dog Night like “Me and Mrs. Jones”, its presence can be heard everywhere!
To play the C major chord, simply place your index finger across all strings at the third fret to form a barre chord and strum the middle four strings alone while muting both lower strings with your ring finger. This will allow you to develop better control of your right-hand fingers so that they do not accidentally hit other strings and create unwanted noise; a challenge common among beginner guitarists but which can be overcome with practice – just retrain your fingers as necessary in order to improve accuracy and precision.
D Major
The D major chord is one of the core building blocks of music, being utilized across genres and found in multiple chord progressions. This article will walk through four ways this versatile chord can be played on guitar.
This open D major chord is a mainstay in rock and blues music. To play it, position your index finger (1st finger) on the G string’s second fret – this gives a fuller sound compared to striking all six strings simultaneously – before positioning middle finger (2nd finger) at 12th fret of A string (5th fret on 5th string – followed by your ring finger (3rd finger) 11th fret on 4th string (D string). Strum all six strings simultaneously without striking E and A strings; this technique known as string muting will produce fuller sounds from your chord.
The D major vii7 chord is a diatonically half-diminished diatonic chord shape. This chord has become an iconic chord in contemporary pop music and has been utilized by artists such as Metallica in their song One.