Basic Guitar Chords

The technique of smooth transition between chords is a learning process which we are never entirely finished with. Every time we learn something new on the guitar, that's another sequence of small movements our body learns, and these sets of movements must be executed smoothly by relaxed, calm practice.

There are surprisingly few chords that beginner guitar players need to learn. It takes some work at the start, but once you are on your way it will only be a matter of practice to make these guitar chords your own. If you hear a song on a CD and would like to learn it, the arrangement you are hearing might be beyond the technical ability of a beginner guitarist. But by using simpler versions of the song's chords, or by changing the key the song is in, it becomes more accessible to you if you do not have great technical skill or a library of chords. So with a collection of basic guitar chords you should be able to learn to play virtually any song that you might hear.

So let's start with the basic baby steps and work up to some really useful knowledge about guitar chords and how the dots on the charts relate to musical sounds. You know the frets on your guitar's neck somehow show you where the notes are, so let's get a little more technical.

The basic chords come from the keys of A, G, C and D. The chords themselves can be played at all positions on the fretboard, but beginners start with open chords at the first position. "Open chord" means that at least one note is played on an open string. The basic group of chords is the toolbox you use to begin your guitar playing.

In the A minor chord in the first position on the fretboard, the X tells us that the sixth string is not played. Where the figure 0 appears the open strings are heard. For the rest of the strings, the B string is played at the first fret, the G string is played at the third fret and the D string is played at the second fret.

E 0---------------------

B --1-------------------

G --2-------------------

D --2-------------------

A 0---------------------

E X---------------------

Major And Minor Chords
As with the musical notes, each chord is identified by a letter. If the letter is followed by the word, minor, it's a minor chord. If it is just the letter alone, it's a major chord. Scales contain seven notes identified by the numbers one through seven, except that the first note is called the "root". So the major scale contains a root, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th. Major chords contain the root note, a major third above the root and also a fifth above the root. Minor chords, which have a more "sad" sound, are the same except that the interval between the root and the third note is called a "minor third" which is greater distance by one fret than a major third. So the C major scale reads C D E F G A B and the C minor scale reads C D Eb F G A B. Playing the notes will help you to understand the difference.

We group the basic chords into families:
The A family contains the chords A, D and E.
The D family contains the chords D, E minor, G and A.
The G family contains the chords G, A minor, C, D and E minor.
The C family contains the chords C, D minor, E minor, F and G.
A chord family is a set of chords that have a relationship to each other simply because they sound nicely together. For example, if you are learning a song where the chord at the beginning and end of the song is an A, you will be using the A family of chords which consists of the A, D and E chords.

Moving Triads Up The Fretboard
You will see when you use scale charts to learn to play guitar tunes that in a given position on the fret board, you will sometimes need to move up or down one fret or two frets. If you play the note at the first fret, and then move up to the second fret, you have moved up a semitone. If you have moved up two frets, it is called a tone. The distance between the notes E and F  or B and C is a tone.  The distance between the notes C and D is a tone. So as you learn songs in different keys you will start to see that what you are playing when you play scales is different patterns of tones or semi tones on the guitar neck.

When you are learning chords to accompany songs, you will probably make use of your chord charts showing you chords that use all the guitar's strings. But if you want to get into playing solos start with the three note chords called triads. The three notes in a triad are the basic notes of your chord, so by learning triads you will begin to see how the guitar chords are structured. Also you can move your triads up and down the fret board to make new chords.
Here's an example:
The chord of A Major is made up of the notes A C# and E shown in tab form as:

E-----------------------------------------
B--------------2--------------------------
G--------------2--------------------------
D--------------2--------------------------
A-----------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------

Move that shape one semitone (one fret) up the neck and you get A# or Bb.

E-----------------------------------------
B--------------3--------------------------
G--------------3--------------------------
D--------------3--------------------------
A-----------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------

One fret higher is B Major.

E-----------------------------------------
B--------------4--------------------------
G--------------4--------------------------
D--------------4--------------------------
A-----------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------

This shape played anywhere on the neck will give you a major chord. The fret it is played at tells you the key it is in.

Here are the notes for the triads of the basic chords:
C Major - C E G
D Major - D F# A
E Major - B E G#
F Major - C F A
G Major - G B D
A Major - A C# E
B Major - B D# F#

Now the minor chords:
C Minor - C Eb G
D Minor - D F A
E Minor - B E G
F Minor - C F Ab
G Minor - G Bb D
A Minor - A C E
B Minor - B D F#

The task of playing these chords is easy after a few days of practice, and your focus should be learning chords for your favorite songs and practicing how to change from one chord to another without hesitation or fluffed notes. Changing chords is not something you read about and just go and do. It is a physical skill that takes a particular kind of attention. It is a temptation for a beginner guitar player to try to "move quickly" when changing chords, but the way to practice chord changing or any kind of movement associated with guitar playing, is to do it slowly. If you have noticed guitar players fluff chord changes, it is because they have rushed when they were doing their practice.

If you have watched guitarists play you will have noticed that sometimes they place their index finger across all six strings. This is called a barre. When you begin to learn songs you will be making use of chords played in the FIRST position on the fret board. These are mostly open chords, that is chords that do not make use of the barre. You can try to play barre chords any time, but it's a bit ambitious to expect to be able to use them until after your hands have done some practice with open chords.

Till you start playing barre chords, a tool you should make your friend is the capo. You probably know that this is a gadget that gets fitted tightly over the guitar fretboard to make the pitch of the strings higher. The capo gives you the ability to change the pitch of your guitar to a higher key to suit your voice without needing to learn the chords for a new key.

A handy thing to know once you start playing barre chords is that if you learn the major chord shape, you only need to lift one left-hand finger to play the minor chord.
The A major chord with the barre at the fifth fret is:

E--------------5---------------------------
B--------------5--------------------------
G--------------6--------------------------
D--------------7--------------------------
A--------------7---------------------------
E--------------5---------------------------

The A minor chord with the barre at the fifth fret is:
E--------------5---------------------------
B--------------5--------------------------
G--------------5--------------------------
D--------------7--------------------------
A--------------7---------------------------
E--------------5---------------------------
See where the finger has been lifted on the G string?

Physical Challenges
Holding chords with your left hand is a new skill. It uses groups of muscles we do not normally use, so it takes time to learn the chord shapes without experiencing discomfort. There is light at the end of the tunnel, although sometimes the tunnel seems very, very long.

Another physical adaptation that has to be made when you learn your basic guitar chords is the left-hand fingers need to be toughened up. Callouses form on the tips of the fingers after a few weeks playing, but until they do you need to put up with the pain.

Fortunately learning the notes on the guitar is a job that does come to an end. As you learn more songs, chords and scales you will feel your ease with musical theory and notation growing even if you didn't directly learn much theoretical stuff. If you learnt in your own way the knowledge gets into you by way of constant practice and the enjoyment you bring to your guitar playing.