5 Must-Know Guitar Chords For Your Arsenal
At the basic level, a guitar chord is formed with the right hand fingers and it is transformed into sound by the strumming or picking of the strings using the right hand. Chords consist of two or more single notes.
For the moment, you will not need to worry about what you should be doing with your right hand. While you are focusing on playing chords with your left hand, you will probably find it less complicated to simply play downward strokes using your right thumb.
The 5 Must-Know Guitar Chords
First, you should understand that there are two categories of chords: minor and major. On the guitar, the basic primary chords are: C,A,G,E,D or CAGED. If you are just beginning to learn how to play the guitar, mastery of the CAGED pattern is something that should a high priority. Many artists that mastered the basic chords have even said that it paved the way for them when it came to easier manipulation of other difficult chords.
Chord Diagrams Made Easier
Do not be alarmed! It is not nearly as hard to read a chord diagram as it is to actually read the music. The only thing you need to be able to digest from chord diagrams is the position of your fingers on the strings.
* To make it easier to read, simply imagine that you are holding the guitar vertically, making the fretboard of the guitar point toward the ceiling.
This is the way the chord diagram is set up. The guitar’s fretboard and strings are represented by the chord diagram. *The diagram’s vertical lines correspond to the guitar’s strings.
The vertical line located furthest left of the diagram is the lower E string and the vertical line furthest to the right is the higher E string.
*The frets of your guitar are indicated by the horizontal lines on the diagram. The top most horizontal line is usually shown in bold and represents the ‘nut’ of the guitar. This is the plastic bar that the string lie in to be held in the proper place.
With this in mind, the second horizontal line on the diagram would represent the first fret * The large black dots show you where on your guitar you should place your fingers. * The numbers inside the dots, or sometimes located at the bottom of the chord diagram represent the finger you should be using.
1 means use your index finger; 2 means use your middle finger; 3 means use your ring finger; and 4 means use your little finger. The thumb is generally not used. * If you see an X or an O at the top of a vertical line, it means you do not use that string. An X at the top of a string instructs you not to play that string at all. An O means that the string is played “open”, without a finger on it.
A number appearing on the left indicates that the chord should be played further up the fretboard. This number also tells you which fret to play at. But for right now we will only be playing chords located towards the top of the fretboard. We call these open chords.
Click here for the CAGED chord diagrams.
Troubleshooting
Most times, beginners will complain about the soreness of their fingers once they finish one guitar session. It is quite common for this to happen. On the other hand, you should be surprised if your fingers don’t hurt even a little bit, this could mean you’re not playing correctly. With just 5 minutes of practice each day, your fingers will toughen up in no time.
In order to carry out fingering in the proper manner, you have to press your fingertips onto the strings hard enough. If you are hearing a buzzing sound when you play, that is a sign that you probably need to apply more pressure on the strings. You will also want to place your fingers as close to the right hand side of the fret as possible to avoid buzzing.
Fingernails Are Not Allowed!
1) Long fingernails need to be trimmed. They will make it really hard for you to correctly play the strings.
2) Fingers that are not kept rigid may mute other strings while you are playing. This is one of the most common mistake made by beginners.
3)It is important to depress the strings with the tip of your finger, and not the soft, flat pad. The straight arch needs to be upheld. This tiring process is initially uncomfortable and challenging, but once calluses form, your hard work will pay dividends.
4) Be sure to press all of the notes in unison. Make sure you don’t leave any strings out except for the ones that are marked with an X.
5. Practice makes perfect! You need to practice at least 5 minutes a day. This will help you to quickly memorize the chord pattern.
6. Give yourself time to learn guitar. You will only experience frustration if you expect overnight success when you learn to play guitar.
There is of course a lot more to learning and playing chords which we can’t cover here.
However, I’ve written a review of an online guitar teaching product called Jamorama which teaches not only all the chords you’ll need to know but also everything else to make you into a great guitarist. Click here to read my Jamorama review
