What are guitar chords? They are three tones or more played together at the same time. The sound produced is a chord.
For a beginner, the easiest chord to play is a major triad. A triad consists of just three tones.
If you are just starting out, the chords that are the easiest to begin with are the G Chord, C Chord, F Chord and D Chord chords. Check out the pictures below for the structure and the sound files to hear what they sound like.
These basic chords are a strong foundation for learning more complicated chords. In fact, once you have a good understanding how to play just a few chords you can construct a pretty simple song.
A lot of famous folk songs are just based on a few simple chords. Check out a few Bob Dylan Songs such as “She Belongs To Me” or “Knocking on Heaven’s Door“. These songs are based around just a few simple chords.
Learn Power Chords
Power Chords are the staple of Rock Music and if you want to play hard driving music this is the type of chord you definitely want to learn. The most famous examples of using Power Chords on the guitar are “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath and “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple. Check out the sound samples below:
The great advantage of learning power chords is that they are relatively easy to play and learn. In addition, once you learn how to play one power chord you can pretty much play most of them anywhere on the guitar neck.
Here are a few of the fingerings of common power chords. One is the A Power Chord at the 5th fret and the other is the D Power Chord at the 5th fret:
Once you know how to play a couple of simple chords, you should now practice changing them to form a song. This is the hardest part for a beginner to grasp because your fingers and hands are not used to making changes like this.
To get good at playing and changing chords you need to build up finger and hand strength. More info: Guitar Finger Training
The real key to playing guitar chords well is to know exactly what you want to do and when to change the chord. A good learning technique is to visualize the chord and where you are going to play it. With time and practice you will be able to play chords and start to form simple songs on your own.
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Do you want to learn how to play guitar chords in greater detail and move on to more advanced concepts?
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