Learning To Play Guitar Chords

For many budding guitarists the initial approach to playing will be by learning to play guitar chords

. Being able to play just a few chords will enable you to accompany songs, play along with your favourite tracks and impress your friends.

Rather than just learning random chords, simply because they are the easy ones, try to learn chords which will allow you to play in certain keys. You will often hear musicians talk of the "Three Chord Trick". These are the three Primary Chords (as they are called). Between them they cover all the notes of the scale so it is possible to accompany any song with just three chords. It may be fairly basic, - but it works!

The favourite keys for beginner guitarists would probably be G, D, C & E. The Primary Chords for these four keys, which would be a good starting point for learning to play guitar chords, are:

G - C - D (or D7)

D - G - A7

C - F - G (or G7)

E - A - B7

As you can see immediately there is some overlap of chords between these keys. In order to play in these four keys, therefore, it will involve the learning of just nine chords: C, D (D7), E, F, G (G7), A7 & B7. With the exception of F and B7, the other seven are some of the easiest chords to play on the instrument. F & B7 are not too difficult either. All these chords can be played without the use of bar (or barre) chords, which are a slightly more advanced technique. You will begin to use bar chords once your hand muscles have begun to develop a bit more strength.

If you have a guitar teacher then, obviously, he or she will guide you in the right direction and teach you the necessary fingerings. If you do not have a teacher then you could find the fingerings for these chords in a guitar tutor purchased from a music shop or find the information from an online guitar course, of which there are a number of very good ones.

Having learnt your three primary chords for the keys above, your next step in learning to play guitar chords would be to add to your repertoire a few of the minor chords which are likely to crop up in those keys. The chords of A minor (Am), E minor (Em) and D minor (Dm) are all straight forward.

By the time you have mastered the above chords you will be ready to tackle any other chords which arise in the songs you are playing. Your hands will be getting stronger and more articulate and you will be feeling much more confident about taking on new things.

Bar chords will start to come into the reckoning at this stage. Bar chords involve placing the left index finger right across the fret board, pressing down all 6 strings simultaneously. The other fingers then form a chord above that. Once you begin to use bar chords you will become aware that we use certain basic hand and finger shapes when forming chords.

So, the process of learning to play guitar chords is ongoing. Do not try to push ahead too quickly but learn to use the easier chords well before moving on to more complex ones. You will find your progress much more satisfactory and your playing technique ultimately much better by being patient.

Copyright (c) 2010 Robert Hinchliffe

by: Robert Hinchliffe

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