A Zingingstrings.com Lesson

One major part of learning the guitar is learning chords. In this lesson we will learn all of the open chords plus the B chord. The B chord is different as it really can't be played in the open position. 

These chord shapes are done in standard tuning E, A, D, G, B, e.

To tune your instrument try our tuner. Click Here For The Tuner

The C major scale is made up of the following notes.

             C, D, E, F, G, A, B

Chords are made up of 3 or more notes

We will learn all the chords of the C major scale.

The fingers you will position on the frets will be as follows.

1 = the first finger or the index finger.

2 = the second finger or the middle finger.

3 = the third finger or the ring finger.

4 = the fourth finger or the pinky finger.

The string at the bottom of each picture is the lowest string (E) 6 and the string at the top of each picture is the highest string (e) 1. Not all strings are played on some of the chords.

Practice making each chord and strumming four times. Down, up, down, up.

We will start with a C chord. 

C chord. Don't play the 6th string

Or another way of doing a C chord is. Both are acceptable. On this chord you play all six strings.

D chord. Don't play the bass string 6th on this chord.

E chord. All strings get played.

F chord. Don't play the 6th string. This is a hard chord to get correct. Try twisting you fretting hand slightly.

G chord. All strings get played.

Or. All strings get played

A chord, all strings get played.

Or All strings get played!

B chord. Play all 6 strings

Or Play all six strings

OK, now the fingerings are not critical. I have shown you the easiest fingerings for you to reach.

Now we also must learn that NOT all strings are played on every chord.

Practice making all the chords. Don't worry about rhythm that will come. Practice making each chord and strumming four times. Down, up, down, up. Practice each chord until you can do it without looking.

Ok, once you have the chord shapes you can begin working on the manual dexterity it takes to play guitar.

The manual dexterity is the hard part of learning the guitar. I want you to play the B. Now that you have the B chord, switch to A. This should be an easy switch. Now looking at your chords you figure out what to switch next.

A to E, E to C, etc.

Remember, down, up, down, up, switch.

Now that wasn't so hard now was it?

Till next time,

Happy playing.