Here are a few basic open form chords that all guitarists should know. An open chord generally involves open strings in the chord form and/or does not require a barre (barre chords will be covered later). You may have noticed that I have skipped certain chords (ex. B Major and F Major). This is because these chords are slightly more difficult to play and will therefore be included in a future lesson.

I have included chord diagrams and some tips for learning chords below.

Understanding the Chord Diagrams on drguitarlessons.com

• The vertical lines represent the 6 strings of the guitar (the far left line being the low E string and the far right line being the high E string)
• Horizontal lines represent frets (unless otherwise indicated you can assume that the first line is the first fret on the guitar)
• The numbers above the diagram indicate which finger should be used to fret each note(1= index finger, 2 = middle finger, 3 = ring finger, and 4 = pinky finger)
• The dots indicate where on the fretboard you should place each finger
• Green dots/numbers represent the root note of the chord (ie. The root note in an A major or A minor chord is A)
• Red X’s indicate that the string should not sound (with basic chords you simply avoid hitting the given string with your pick, but in some cases you may have to use a finger to mute the string)

Basic Major Chords

Basic Minor Chords

Tips

• When learning chords (or anything on the guitar) try to minimize the amount of unnecessary tension in your fingers, hands, arms, and shoulders. While this can be difficult when you are first learning chords, minimizing tension will greatly benefit you later on.
• When you are first learning a chord form you should play each string individually to ensure that each string involved in the chord is sounding. If it is not you may not be pressing the string firmly enough. Also, try to keep your fingers on the tips so that they don’t touch surrounding strings.
• Instead of trying to learn all of these chords at once, or one at a time, I recommend learning 2 or 3 at a time. Master each chord form, then practice transitioning smoothly between the chord forms. When you feel comfortable transitioning (use a metronome to ensure that you can switch chords and keep a beat), then you are ready to move on to your next few chords. Learning your chords in groups is an effective way of learning
• Try strumming along with your favourite songs. This is important because (in addition to practicing a metronome) it will force you to transition chords smoothly while keeping time. A few songs that only require the chords learned in this lesson are: Yellow Submarine (Beatles), Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd), and Heart of Gold (Neil Young). Beatles songs in general are a great songs to practice strumming along with. A great source to find guitar tabs is ultimate-guitar.com.

When you feel comfortable with this lesson check out the 2nd part of the lesson.