Chords

By now you should have some good picking technique underway, with quite a few riffs and scales to keep you busy.

Next up is chords!

A chord is simply a group of notes played at the same time. On the guitar, each string can make a note, so our chords become shapes that we hold with our fretting hand, while our other hand plays many strings in the one motion – this is called “strumming”.

Beginner guitarists sometimes call the strings “chords”, but this would be incorrect.

There are many ways to play the same chords on the guitar – for example, there are about fifteen ways to play the G major chord between open and fret 5.

We’re going to start by learning some really easy chord shapes and then a song to go with them.

One big tip for chord playing is to play the chord exactly the same every time. So if you’re using your index and middle fingers for a particular chord, then that’s how you should always play it.

Another great tip is to remember how the chord is formed, rather than just trying to remember the shape itself. This way, you’ll have a system for forming the chord, which tends to result in faster learning of the shapes and improved muscle memory.