Guitargate 1.

8 - Introduction To Chords

Up until this point, we have been playing individual notes one at a time. When you
play more than one note at a time, this is called a chord. Chords are the building
blocks of songs. It is important to introduce you to commonly played chords early in
your studies.

The sooner you learn basic chords, the sooner you can play the songs you want. This
keeps you motivated and interested in the learning process. I am going to show you
the most common and most easily played chords in popular music. You will be
surprised how many of the songs you love contain these chords.

Chords are portrayed in vertical diagram form (shown below). The chord diagram
represents the top part of the guitar neck. The vertical lines are the strings, and the
horizontal lines are the frets. The dots show you where your fingers go, and the
number in the dot tells you which finger to use there.

To review, the pointer finger is 1, middle finger is 2, ring finger is 3, and pinkie is 4. If
there is an O above a string, this is an open string, so strum it along with the others. If
there is a X above a string, that string is not to be played at all. The red dots are the
roots, or the notes that share the name of the chord. For example: In a C chord, the
roots (red dots) would be the "C" notes in that chord.

When making these chords, first place your fingers in the correct place and then pick
one note at a time to ensure that each note can be heard clearly, then give it one
strum across the strings to hear the whole chord.

If a note is not coming out clearly, it is one of three things:

1. Either you are not pressing down hard enough.

2. You are not pressing your finger down directly behind the fret.
3. The string is hitting another finger which is preventing its vibration.

The proper way to play chords is to arch your fingers "up" and come straight down on
the strings. Some chords are harder than others, so don't be discouraged if some
seem impossible at first. They will not stay that way.

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Also, it is important to note that you shouldn't work on a specific chord for more than
a few minutes. Move on to the next one and come back to it tomorrow. Muscle
memory is built through repetition.

Below are chord diagrams for all the basic major and minor chords on your guitar.
Without getting into theory just yet, the best way to look at the difference between
major and minor chords is that major chords sound "happy" and minor chords sound
"sad."

These chords are your bread and butter. All competent guitar players have these
memorized and have them available at an instant. This is your goal. Learn them. Love
them. Make them a piece of you.

Copyright 2015 - Guitargate LLC - All Rights Reserved