If you love country music, Chris Stapleton’s Tennessee Whiskey will likely come up in conversation. This track has plenty of emotion and soul.
Guitar-wise, this song provides a simple open chord progression and strumming pattern ideal for beginning guitar players. More experienced students may add simple hammer ons for added rhythmic interest.
1. A Major
A Major is an approachable and beginner-friendly guitar chord. Most beginning guitarists begin their guitar lessons learning this simple chord as one of their initial steps to more complex major and minor chords.
A major guitar chord contains three notes from the A major scale – A, C# and E – known as its first, third and fifth notes respectively. This chord is more commonly known as an open A chord.
Chords can be displayed visually on a diagram known as a fretboard, showing which strings are being played and which fingers are on each fret. On the fretboard, chord symbols include P for pulling off one string; S to move to the next fret; and B to bend or alter notes.
Discovering how to read fretboard charts can be a lifelong pursuit. If it proves challenging, try using a capo or downtuning from standard tuning.
2. D Major
The D major chord is an ideal place to start learning guitar. As one of the most familiar chord shapes, you’ll likely come across it while listening to popular songs.
As you learn the barre chord shapes, it is crucial that they sound crisp and clear so as to develop sufficient finger strength for quicker playing. By doing so, practice will become second nature quickly!
Use these chords to form minor scales by moving them up or down the fretboard – for instance, C major has its own relative minor known as A natural minor.
The key of D major can also be found in many classical works by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms – such as their famous symphonies. This song offers an easy rhythm for beginner guitarists to emulate as well as an exciting guitar riff between verses.
3. E Major
If a note on the chord chart displays this symbol, it means to bend that note. If it appears above an S on the chart, this signifies vibrato on that particular note.
Chords possess personalities; composer Schubert once published a directory that described chords as either being “joyous and boisterous” or ‘quarrelsome and blazing”. E Major is one of the more widely used chords analyzed by Hook Theory: it featured in 44% of songs!
E Major has the advantage of being similar to C Major and easy to remember due to no extra sharps or flats on the fretboard, although it would still be beneficial to study all major scale patterns present on it.
4. G Major
G Major chord is one of the most frequently used chords in music. Easily played using only three fingers (index, middle and ring), its open chord can be played easily using just index, middle and ring fingers. A barre chord version like Example 5a exists which omits its lowest string for those who find it challenging to use their third finger to barre its low E string.
For added complexity in your guitar chords, extending them by creating 7th chords can be simple. Just by adding additional notes to a triad, 7th chords add new layers that can elevate their musicality and lend new flavor. Popular examples are G7 (Dom) and G9 which use only notes from G major scale’s first, third, and flat seventh notes as building blocks.
5. B Major
B Major is an engaging chord, full of charisma. Schubert once described it as being “strongly colored, heralding wild passions”. B Major serves as an emblematic representation of ambition, pride, jealousy, and anger; all emotions associated with human emotions.
As opposed to most open chords, this bar chord requires additional learning. While this might make it more challenging for beginners, once learned it becomes quite straightforward.
Tennessee Whiskey features an easy strumming pattern. While most country songs use 4/4 time signature, this song utilizes 6/8 rhythm which is very similar to Waltz in that beats are counted either two or three (or both), making this an excellent way for beginner guitarists to practice counting skills.