A small guide to guitar chords for your convenience.
Guitar chords are composed of at least three notes played in unison, i.e., three different notes with three different pitches. Some notes can be expressed as sharp or flat (enharmonic spelling); the notes sound the same, but the song’s key decides their enharmonic spelling. Bring your guitar the next time to a gathering and practice some chords around the people you love or take it with you on your next trip to spend as much time as possible working on your perfecting your art.
Some Facts About Guitars
Chord diagrams are used to represent the chords. Don’t worry if you can’t read them; we’ll explain everything!
- The chord diagram depicts the neck of a guitar from the front like you were holding your instrument towards you. The bass (low E string) will be on the left.
- The frets are represented as squares.
- The black circles indicate where you should place your fingertips. They are labeled with numbers to indicate the position of each finger. From 1 to 4 for the index and middle fingers.
- A cross over a rope means that you should not play it.
- A round signifies that you must play the “open string,” which means you must do so without pushing any squares.
As a novice guitarist, you now have the necessary information to comprehend this fact sheet.
What is the significance of these 12 basic guitar chords?
- It would be best if you learned these major, minor, and seventh chords first while learning to play the guitar for various reasons:
- They are present towards the bottom of the neck and are “open” chords, which means they are simple to achieve and remember! They are tailored to the skill level of a beginner guitarist. There are no bar chords or complicated finger movements here.
- Even if you are a beginner, these chords will allow you to perform numerous tunes! Indeed, they are widely used, so you will immediately gain access to a diverse repertoire in various styles (pop, rock, reggae, blues, folk, etc.). Learning an instrument is still enjoyable!
Some Key Points to Keep in Mind
- You’ll want to keep learning more about the guitar as you go because practice makes perfect, but it’s always better to have a starting point for finding some easy guitar tunes when you first start.
- Most instructors can only teach you so much; you must also be willing to train yourself outside of class.
- Try to keep in mind that you will not be good at first.
- But you must not give up! Make those errors, learn from them, and figure out how to improve their sound. Be patient, since this will take some time.
Let’s look at three simple guitar tunes that every beginner should know:
1. “what’s up” by four non-blondes
- This song features a few more chords than three, utilizing E, Am, G, D, and B chords.
- However, these are all chords you can readily pick up on the guitar. It is also one of those songs everyone knows, so it’ll be a big hit at parties and get-togethers.
2. “love me do” by the Beatles
- When you play this fantastic song, you only need TWO chords for the chorus: G major and C major, until you reach the bridge section, “Someone to love…”, where you add a D major chord.
- A simple tune with only two chords to begin, making it very easy to play.
3. “three little birds” by Bob Marley
- We all want to know that “everything is going to be fine.” It is a well-known track, and if you enjoy reggae music, this is a straightforward song to play on the guitar. Only three major chords are used: A, D, and E.
- Your strumming should be deliberate and have an “island” feel, and your D chord is an open chord, meaning one string is unfretted. It can be a fun continuous jamming song.
Conclusion
Once you’ve mastered switching between chords, you can start using things like a capo and a barre chord to travel up and down different keys or possibly riffs if you want to build on your fingerpicking ability. Bring your guitar the next time to a gathering and practice some chords around the people you love or take it with you on your next trip to spend as much time as possible working on your perfecting your art.