So What Exactly Is A Guitar Chord?

Any time you are playing more than one note on your guitar at the same time you are playing a guitar chord. Some chords sound good, and some chords sound not so good. There are 2 note chords, 3 note chords, 4 note chords, etc. What is considered the standard guitar chord is comprised of 3 notes. The notes that make up the chord come from the scale that the chord is based on, and the key that the song is in. We will learn more about keys in the basic theory lessons.

How to Play Guitar Chords C- the C major chord:

The notes that make up this chord are:

1st string (highest or thinnest)- E
2nd string - C
3rd string - G
4th string - E
5th string - C
6th string (lowest or thickest)-E

The chord is actually only three notes: C - E - G . Any time you are playing this combination of notes you are playing a C major chord. The 'C' is called the "root" note.It is also the first note in a C major scale. The other two notes are the 3rd and 5th notes in the C major scale.

C Major Scale

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
1       3       5            

All chords are built from root notes and scales. Here are some more examples of guitar chords, the diagrams show you where to place your fingers to properly form these chords:

How to Play Guitar Chords D - D major chord:

D major chord; the notes are D-F#-A. (Starting on the 5th string: A-D-A-D-F#.)

How to Play Guitar Chords E -  the E major chord:

E major chord; the notes are E-G#-B. (Starting on the 6th string: E-B-E-G#-B-E)

How to Play Guitar Chords A-  the A major chord:

A major chord; the notes are A-C#-E. (Starting on the 6th string: E-A-E-A-C#-E.)

How to Play Guitar Chords G- the G major chord:

G major chord; the notes are G-B-D. (Starting on the 6th string: G-B-D-G-B-G.)

How to Play Guitar Chords F - the F major chord:

F major chord; the notes are F-A-C. (Starting on the 5th string: A-F-A-C-F) Notice that one finger, the index finger, holds down both the 1st and 2nd strings in this chord.

Practice playing these chords before you move on, making sure that only the strings in the diagrams are being played and that you are not accidentally touching more then one string with each finger.

More how to play guitar chords...