Beginners to guitar can often find it daunting to identify which chords they need to learn first; fortunately, there are some excellent songs out there to get them started with the instrument.
These chords require your fingers to stretch a bit, yet remain straightforward to play. Plus, they’ll help you play all your favorite songs!
A Major Chord
Open E major is an excellent starting point for beginners, easy to memorize but potentially challenging to play due to having three fingers fit into tight spots on the fretboard.
Try this Jimi Hendrix voicing for a great blues-rock sound, making sure to pay close attention to finger placement and avoid touching any adjacent strings.
B Major Chord
The B Major Chord is an easy chord to learn if you already know C and G Major Chord structures.
B Major can sound rather thin at first, but this can easily be addressed by adding bigger-sounding voicings to it. Check out Jimi Hendrix’s variation as an example! It may feel daunting at first, but stay with it; eventually you will come to love this chord and its variations!
C Major Chord
This jazzy chord is ideal for beginners looking to practice changing between open chords. Be mindful to use only your fingertips and avoid touching adjacent strings!
This chord utilizes all six guitar strings to produce an expansive sound, similar to what was taught earlier with D major chord shape.
D Major Chord
This open D major chord features a simple bridge-like shape that’s easy to remember and finger. Try switching back and forth from it to G or A major and back for better transition between chord types.
Beginners may experience difficulty with getting their pinky to cooperate with this voicing; this will take time and practice in order for it to stop blocking the lower strings.
E Major Chord
E major chord is one of the easiest chords for beginner guitarists to grasp, making it a good place to begin learning how to play guitar. Simply place your index finger on the first fret of G string and your ring finger on second fret of A string before strumming all strings with the plectrum.
Add your pinky to the second fret of A string to play a more compact version of this chord and get your fingers used to moving in this new shape. This can help get them comfortable.
F Major Chord
F Major is one of the most frequently encountered beginner chords and serves as an ideal way to practice strumming. Additionally, it makes an excellent foundation for adding extensions, providing fullness and upbeatness in sound.
Many beginners first learn the fully barred version of this chord, where your first finger bars all six strings simultaneously while leaving two of them open ringing ring.
G Major Chord
G Major chord is one of the first chords most beginning guitarists encounter and can be challenging if your guitar has poor setup that makes fretting the strings difficult.
An effective way of getting past this obstacle is to practice G chord for four beats before switching over to another shape – this will enable you to gain skills much quicker.
G Minor Chord
Chords are an essential first step toward multi-note playing. These simplified versions of the G minor chord will help build finger dexterity and control.
Keep in mind that chord diagrams show which strings to strum and which to leave out; an “X” on any string indicates it should not be strung.
Use this minor 6th shape to emulate Django Reinhardt or Bireli Lagrene-style gypsy jazz groove!
A Minor Chord
One of the best chords for new guitarists to learn, this open chord is easy to remember and offers smooth transition between other guitar chords.
Keep your thumb in the middle of the back of your neck pointing upward for easier reach around the fretboard and without accidentally hitting other strings. This will enable faster access and faster finger placement without accidentally touching other strings.
See the chord diagrams to understand what each finger needs to do – if there is an “X”, do not strum that string.
B Minor Chord
Beginners may find this chord more challenging; it requires barrening across strings 2-5 to achieve it successfully. But once mastered, this one produces a fuller sound from your fingers than other versions of the same chord.
Bar chords present new challenges when learning guitar; nonetheless, they provide an essential starting point in becoming a musician.
People often get overwhelmed when learning guitar chords for the first time. Navigating barre chords can be particularly daunting to novice players.
So which are the best guitar chords to learn for beginners? G, C and D chords are among the most useful for learning guitar and can be found in thousands of songs.
G Major
Beginners guitarists will find these open chords easy to learn, as their names are straightforward and do not include bar chord symbols.
Armed with these basic chords will enable you to hone your strumming and chord transitioning abilities more efficiently, as you’ll find songs across various genres that utilize them – everything from Ed Sheeran’s songbook to The Beatles!
C Major
C major chord is an ideal open chord to practice as a beginner musician. Its formation is easy for your fingers and produces a clear sound when strung.
This chord is similar to an F major chord but mutes the high E string with your first finger. Give this one a try; over time it should become easier.
D Major
Beginners often begin learning this chord along with C and F major to develop dexterity and prepare themselves for more advanced barred chords later.
Try stringing these chords together in order and playing some simple song progressions – and enjoy the process of learning music while having fun!
E Major
G, C and D chords are some of the most frequently used chords and feature prominently in many songs. Each contains all 12 notes from the G major scale.
These open chords are easy for beginners to pick up quickly. Repetition will build dexterity while providing practice for more challenging chords (bar chords). You’re likely to encounter them in many of your favorite songs!
F Major
F Major is often one of the first major challenges for new guitarists. This chord shape can be found in numerous songs.
As a beginner, use your thumb to muffle the low E string – this will help make this first inversion chord less focused than its root position counterpart.
Practice switching between these various shapes until it comes naturally!
A Major
A Major is one of the most essential chords to learn, featuring prominently across many musical genres and styles. Use transitioning between A Major and other common chords such as D or E chords as a way of developing finger strength.
The fretboard features three little bars to help guide which string each finger should touch: index (1), middle (2) and ring (3).
B Major
Beginners often begin their chording adventures by practicing easy chords like this one. These chords help build dexterity in your fingers, and help prepare them for more complex forms such as bar chords.
As this chord sits between two frets, stretching your 3rd finger will be necessary in order to play it successfully – be careful to ensure they do not touch!
C Minor
Learning chords can add an emotive sound to your music. Just be sure to practice often and check that each finger is holding down its string properly.
Beginning guitar chords can be easy to learn, yet provide your fingers with practice for more advanced barred chords. Be creative by trying different voicings of these chords!
D Minor
Minor chords tend to have darker tones, with D minor (often written as Dm) being an open chord and requiring your fingers to cross three frets on its highest strings.
Beginning guitarists may find this task to be daunting, yet once mastered it will make your songs sound fuller while helping build dexterity for more advanced chord shapes.
E Minor
E minor is similar to A major, except you move the note on the high E string from its second fret to its first fret on its high E string – remember to mute any low E strings!
Start practicing moving chords back and forth until your muscles remember them easily; once this step is accomplished, use these basic sequences as building blocks for learning songs!
Many new guitar players find it overwhelming when starting to learn chords on the instrument, so an ideal place to begin would be open chords.
Practice chord shapes to develop dexterity in your fingers, and it will prepare you for more advanced chords such as bar chords. Bar chords are used extensively in popular songs like Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd; for instance, just three chords were required: G, C and D.
G Major
G major chord is one of the first beginner chords many novice musicians learn to play, serving as the official key of both British and New Zealand national anthems and being used across classic, country, metal rock pop genres among others.
Beginners often find it challenging to play this chord, as it requires them to stretch their index finger across all six strings while making sure their ring finger hits firmly on the first string. Practice playing simple songs in this key before gradually increasing the complexity of your progressions.
As with other major keys, G major scale has one sharp. For more information, check out our post on Guitar Keys and Scales.
C Major
C major is typically the starting point for new guitarists to learn, and having an understanding of it will allow you to read music faster, improvise more freely, and speak the language of chords more fluently. Furthermore, it will give you a good understanding of how chord shapes (including inversions) in other keys will shift as you advance up the neck.
Beginners typically find the open C major chord one of the easiest chords to learn as beginners since your fingers remain focused on strings 1 and 2, with optional fingerwork added on string four for added challenge. A barred version adds fingerwork on its own fourth string.
Both versions produce identical notes, yet barred versions are more challenging to play as they require greater stretching to get strings over frets and are also lower in tone so must be pressed more securely for stability.
D Major
This beginner chord can be found across many genres and songs. Additionally, it marks the introduction of major sus2 chords, which are easier to play than normal D chords while still sounding great.
This chord requires placing the index finger of one hand on the G string, fret 2, while placing one finger each on the B and high E strings fret 2. By creating a triangle-like formation with your three fingers, this chord shape becomes easier to remember.
Strumming this chord requires careful consideration to avoid hitting any lower strings (A and low E strings). With practice comes reliability in strumming this chord without hitting unwanted strings.
E Major
E Major is often one of the first and most essential chords to learn, as it can be played either with left hand or right hand. Additionally, its sound can resemble that of D major chord.
As it requires three fingers, guitar can be difficult for newcomers to master, making barre chords and sus (suspended) chords better alternatives for beginners.
One simple way to switch between major and minor chords is by lifting your finger off of the first fret of G string so it plays open, thus altering its intervals between tones and turning a lively E major into melancholic E minor chord. A similar trick can also work for other scales.
A Minor
Most chords you will play will be minor rather than major; however, that doesn’t make them any harder to learn; many will look similar to an E major chord with one string added higher.
The B minor chord follows a similar structure to its F major counterpart, however your first finger must mute the low E string in order to create an open minor sound. Although initially challenging to play as open minors are slightly difficult, over time you should become adept at producing them effortlessly.
Note that it’s important to practice each new chord multiple times each day for five or ten minutes at a time in order to help your fingers memorize its shapes more rapidly.