Basic Chords on the Guitar

Basic Chords for the Guitar.

Learn how to read chord charts and understand the correct technique developing that ‘lighter touch’ on the fretboard whilst developing those calluses.


Thumbs up! W/fingertips!

Technique is important. As a beginner you’ll want to train your thumb’s knuckle to be in it’s ‘thumb’s up’ position and half way on the back of the guitar’s neck, If you want to stretch more across the frets, you’ll need to lower your thumb so it’s underneath the neck.

Once you’ve practice this method enough, you’ll then be able to develop that lighter touch’ on the strings. The power actually from the knuckles and wrist and not just the finger tips.


Four common chord types:

There are four main chord names for the guitar. Power, open, closed and barre chords. Here’s an explanation for each. Chords in their ‘open’ position can also be played in their ‘closed’ position.

Power Chords

Power chords for the guitar is a nick name for the 5th Chord. Root, 5th, Octave.

Open Chords

Open Chords are chords which include an open string and usually occur in the ‘open or first position’.

Barre Chords

Barre chords are where you use finger 1 or 3 to cover across two or more strings.

Closed Chords

Closed chords are opposite of open chords. Regardless of their type of chord they all notes are fretted.


Chord theory (basic)

Here’s the musical alphabet in chromatic order. Each of these root notes can have a chord type attached.

A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab

Guitarists would naturally assume A7 for example would be A major 7th.

If the composer wanted the guitarist to play A minor 7, the composer would write A minor 7. ‘The Hendrix Chord’, is the sharpened 9th.

Chord TypeDescriptionExamples
Major ChordsRoot, Major 3rd, Perfect 5thC, G, D, A, E
Minor ChordsRoot, Minor 3rd, Perfect 5thAm, Em, Dm
Dominant 7th ChordsMajor triad + Minor 7thG7, C7, D7, A7, E7
Major 7th ChordsMajor triad + Major 7thCmaj7, Gmaj7, Dmaj7
Minor 7th ChordsMinor triad + Minor 7thAm7, Em7, Dm7
Power Chords (5th Chords)Root, Perfect 5thE5, A5, D5, G5
Suspended 2nd ChordsRoot, Major 2nd, Perfect 5thAsus2, Esus2, Dsus2
Suspended 4th ChordsRoot, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5thDsus4, Esus4, Asus4
Augmented ChordsRoot, Major 3rd, Augmented 5thCaug, Gaug, Daug
Diminished ChordsRoot, Minor 3rd, Diminished 5thCdim, Edim, Gdim
Diminished 7th ChordsDiminished triad + Diminished 7thBdim7, Adim7
Half-Diminished ChordsDiminished triad + Minor 7thCm7♭5, Bm7♭5
Add9 ChordsMajor triad + Major 9thCadd9, Gadd9, Dadd9
Add11 ChordsMajor triad + 11th (Perfect 4th above the octave)Fadd11, Dadd11
6th ChordsMajor triad + Major 6thC6, A6, G6
Minor 6th ChordsMinor triad + Major 6thAm6, Dm6
9th Chords7th chord + Major 9thC9, G9, D9
11th Chords9th chord + Perfect 11thG11, C11
13th Chords11th chord + Major 13thC13, G13, D13
Slash ChordsChord with an alternate bass noteD/F#, C/G, G/

Slash chords in this case aren’t named after ‘Slash’, they’re indicating that you’ll be playing the bass not before the root note. D/A for example, would be your usual D major chord but with string 5 included.

Chart of Basic Guitar Chords

If you’re not familiar on how to read a chord chart, click here.


Finger placements

It’s important to use the fingertips of the left hand when placing a note. This technique allows you to play the note cleanly and over time without muting the string or strings underneath. Eventually you’ll find the correct placement for you and your finger tips.

If you’re completely new to the guitar, I would always recommend learning on a classical guitar. This makes the learning process easier and less frustrating. The strings are made of nylon which means it’s easier to fret and create a clean note.

If you haven’t got a classical guitar and you’re confident your guitar is right for you and your hand size etc the above and following advice still applies.


Basic open chords: ‘The E’s A’s & D’s’.

E major guitar chord, Open Position.

The nice thing about learning open chords is they’re easy to remember, If you’re starting from string 6 it will be an E ‘something’ string 5 A ‘Something’, String 4 D ‘Something’.

E7 guitar chord, Open Position.

When switching between E Major, E7 and E minor, it’s still a co-ordination exercise but with less worry (for now). At this stage, you’ll want to practice manoeuvring between each chord without taking away the placement of the entire chord – which in this case is finger 2.

E minor guitar chord, Open Position.

Because each of these open/beginner guitar chords use a similar set of notes, it’s easy to remove the required fingers and create another chord / shape.

Pro Tip: Rather than taking your fingers away, practice transitioning by keeping the fingers you need on the fretboard.


Open Chords. The A – Majors 7ths & Minors.

Once you’ve established the placement of the A major guitar chord, you’ll soon realise it’s actually very easy to change to an A7 chord. What might not be quite so easy is hearing string g between fingers 1 & 3.

A mAjor guitar chord open position

Manoeuvring between the A Major / A7 to the A minor chord is going to require a bit more thought than manoeuvring between the E chords because it also requires a change of frets.

A7 guitar chord, open position

Finger 1 should move first and finger 2 & 3 should follow whilst ‘brushing’ across the strings’.

A minor guitar chord, open position

Pro Tip: Try rotating your wrist to the left so it’s at a diagonal position. This will allow you to play three notes in the same fret on strings 4, 3 & 2.


D Major • D7 • D Minor (Open Chords)

D7 guitar chord, open position

These set of D chords are often the most challenging for beginners. These chords require less distance for the fingers to stretch. Therefore you have to place the shape of the chord within a smaller area.

D Minor Guitar Chord Open position

Finger 3 will be the challenge here as you’ll want to stretch to the ‘correct’ part of the the fret that guarantees a clean note.

This is to the right side of the fret. When switching from D7 to D minor finger 2 stays the same so you’ll want to practice changing without manoeuvring finger 2..

Pro Tip: As with the A chords you might find it helpful to rotate your hand to the left with the wrist forward.


Exercises:

  • Set a metronome to 60bpm (Google: metronome)
  • Practise strumming each chord on the beat for four clicks each
  • You might want to stop between each chord ‘category’, E to A to D for example.
  • Practice changing from the E to the A & D chords. Without Stopping.

If you’re finding strumming on each click a challenge, practice strumming on every other click and changing after two strums.

Pro Tip: Remember to count yourself in ‘1, 2, 3, 4’.