Today I’m going to introduce you to the E and G major chords. There is a video at the end of this article so if you’d prefer to watch the lesson by all means it might be easier for you to understand.

A few notes before we begin

Below I use guitar tablature to explain the frets and fingerings for each chord. Tab is nothing more then the notes of the guitar with the high E at the top and low E at the bottom. The number represent which fret you play on that string and if there is a zero you just strum that string open.

Also in the chord descriptions I mention the numbers of fingers. Fingers are numbered when we’re talking about guitar, the numbers are given from 1 through to 4 starting with your index and going across to your pinky finger.

E Chord

E – 0 –
B – 0 –
G – 1 –
D – 2 –
A – 2 –
E – 0 –

The E chord uses your first three fingers. You place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the A string, your 3rd finger on the 2nd fret of the D string and your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the G string. The other strings have zero’s on them as you can see from the tab so they are played open. All six strings are strummed when playing the E major chord.

G Chord

E – 3 –
B – 0 –
G – 0 –
D – 0 –
A – 2 –
E – 3 –

Like the E chord, the G chord also uses three fingers. Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the low E string, your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the A string and your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the high E string. Again play all six strings together.

Notes on Practicing these Chords

Be patient when learning chords for the first time, especially the G chord. Your fingers aren’t used to making these shapes so by making the shape, pressing hard with your fingers on the strings then releasing and making the shape again you will help build muscle memory for your fingers.

Don’t be in a rush, take your time and get the chords right and then add speed and more advanced exercises like switching back and fourth between chords.

Take a few moments now to watch the video on E and G chords.

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These chords will get you started with strumming more then one string and switching between different chords and shapes without interrupting your strumming. Below there is a video that covers the same information as the rest of this post so feel free to watch it right now if you’d like.

A quick explanation of the guitar tab I’ve used below to explain the chords. An X means you do not play that particular string, a number means you play that string but pressing the fret which corresponds to the number being shown and a 0 means you don’t play any frets on that string just strum it open.

Beginner Three String C

E — 0 —
B — 1 —
G — 0 —
D — X —
A — X —
E — X —

To play the C chord simply press the first fret on the B string with your first finger and strum the bottom three strings.

Beginner Three String G

E — 3 —
B — 0 —
G — 0 —
D — X —
A — X —
E — X —

To play the G chord press the 3rd fret on the E string down with your third finger and strum the bottom three strings.

Beginner D7 Chord

E — 1 —
B — 2 —
G — 1 —
D — X —
A — X —
E — X —

To play the D7 chord you must use three fingers at once instead of just one. To play the chord you use your second finger on the 1st fret of the E string, your third finger on the 2nd fret of the B string and your first finger on the 1st fret of the G string.

That’s it, you’ve learned your first three string chords. Practice them first on their own and then incorporate switching between them. You’ll find that changing the position of your fretting hand at the same time you try and maintain a steady strum will be difficult at first.

For more information watch this video below that walks you through each of these 3 chords and also gives you a practice exercise to try using the chords.

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I want to show you an easy to understand system that makes finding different variations of the 7 major chords (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) a lot easier then either of those two alternatives. The system is called the CAGED guitar system. The name comes from the five major chord shapes we’re going to use in the system C-A-G-E-D.

So let’s get started.

Because of the natural make up of the guitar neck this easy to use system works at locating five different variations of all seven major chords as barre chords. When we play each of the major chords that make up the name C-A-G-E-D we’re playing a particular chord shape. If we take these same shapes and form barre chords at different frets on the neck then we can locate variations of all seven major chords.

EXAMPLE: Barre the 5th fret and play an A shape and you have a D major chord.

Of course there is still some practice and memorization to remembering in an instant where you can play and E chord in using a C shape. This system will make it a lot easier to discover where those chord shapes are.

There’s a brief video below that explains the CAGED guitar system and provides an example of using the D, C, A and G shape as barre chords on the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 9th frets to make an E chord. You can use this same process to find all of the other major chords on the guitar neck.

After you watch the video I suggest you grab your own guitar and play around not only with the example shown but also try finding some other chord variations using the CAGED system. You’ll be amazed just how easy it is to find all those chords on the guitar neck that might have seemed like a daunting task before.

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The key to changing guitar chords is to develop brain and muscle coordination, more commonly called, muscle memory needed to play the instrument. The different muscles of the arms, wrist and hands will learn the right movements and strength needed when changing guitar chords. Constant practice will condition the brain, eyes, and entire body to know what to do quickly and easily.

The muscles involved would be the arms, wrists and the fingers, with the eyes, ears and brain working in unison to relate the movements to the music being read and the notes produced by the guitar. This is the mechanism that works when a guitar player starts to change chords.

Luckily, there are simple techniques that can help the beginning guitar player to develop these muscle memories and ear training for proper chord changes. Read below and you will see that chord changes are not that difficult to do.

When changing chords, first memorize all the chords involved in the song, and then visualize exactly which fingers of the fretting hand are involved in playing the chords. When playing simple barre chords, the most important finger is the index finger, which will squeeze all 6 strings across the fretboard. So as you move towards playing the chord, you have to position the index finger across the proper fret, or place, along the fretboard before positioning the other fingers of the chord.

When playing a broken or simple chord, it is usually the index finger that is the most important finger. Primarily, the index finger and the thumb will form a stable anchor on the guitar neck in order for the other fingers to press the other strings of the chord. The index finger is usually played on the lowest fret and the highest string (by pitch, or string 1), where it could more easily find the proper note, and the other fingers can follow to complete the chord.

When playing a particular song, keep time with the music, but anticipate in which bar and on which beat the next chord will continue. For beginners, it would be preferable to practice the entire song slowly from beginning to end, taking care to change to each chord on time and on tempo. When the student can play the entire song like this without chord errors, he can start increasing the speed to the song’s proper tempo. It would also be helpful to identify particularly tricky chord changes.

For instance, 2 consecutive bar graphs would be a relatively simple change, because the guitar player needs only to slide his index finger (which is already in the barre position) to its proper position on the fretboard and quickly press in the other strings of the chord. Changes from simple chords to barre chords and vice versa and chords that are positioned at a far distance from each other along the length of the neck are more difficult to perform. Isolate these difficult changes and practice those chord changes.

If it is still to difficult with the slow tempo, don’t play the last beat of the last chord and use the time to move your fret hand into position for the next fret. Keep practicing these changes until the short passage can be played without error. Afterwards, go back to playing the entire song as discussed above.

When you can play an entire song properly, try different strumming styles to accentuate parts of the song, or a particular beat; or alternate strumming and light plucking to give volume and variety to the music of the song. First, it is best to complete the song by actually copying how the original artist played it on the guitar; then you can add your own twists and extra technique according to your ear and taste. This will help you develop your hands for more difficult chords and finger playing techniques.

Do this for every song, and before you know it, you’ll be changing guitar chords like a seasoned guitarist in a short period of time.

3 Time-Tested Tips For Learning Guitar Chords

Learning guitar chords may seem daunting for a new guitar player. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Remember, the guitar professionals were once novices who didn?t have a clue about chords as well! In this article, I will divulge some proven tips for learning chords quickly and easily.

First, let’s define what a guitar chord is. A guitar chord is a collection of tones sounded in harmony by pulling two or more strings on a guitar. It usually requires playing open strings.

Now that we have got the definition out of the way, it is time to get straight down to the methods! Obviously, one of the main difficulties in playing chords is using a few fingers a tight space in an attempt to play a tune. Well, practice makes perfect. You can speed up the process of learning chords by referring to a guitar chord diagram. These diagrams show the organization of the guitar chords you should be playing.

The second tip is to find a song, preferably an easy song, which you like and to try to play the chords to it. Starting with an easy song helps build you competence in chord playing.

My third tip is to simply choose a chord family and really practice it until you become really good at it! If you try to learn too many chord families in a short space of time, you may end up with information overload, and you will not be able to learn as quickly. This is a common mistake many beginners make.

Learning guitar chords can be trying at first, but after a while, you will begin to get more comfortable. Getting a large repertoire of guitar chords under your belt is important as it is the base for higher levels of guitar playing.

Fabian Tan is a devoted guitar player and idolizes legendary guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Springsteen. He is a big fan of the Jamorama learning course, and reviews it at his Jamorama Review Site

The ability to keep the music flowing by moving from one chord to the next is what makes the good guitar player great. It takes a lot of practice, but you would already know that if you have started learning to play the guitar. Read on to learn more about playing guitar chords.

Learn Guitar Chords the Effective Way

The Need to Learn Guitar Chords

You must be able to learn guitar chords to be able to play songs. You cannot play an entire song on a single string; you must know chords for that. Single string play is what kids who have no idea about playing guitar do, not someone who knows how to play the guitar.

In this article, we will discuss what guitar chords are. We will also discuss some of the problems you may face as a beginner when you learn guitar chords, and how to overcome these problems.

What You Must Know Before You Learn Guitar Chords

As a beginner, you must be wondering how difficult it would probably be to learn guitar chords. You also must be having numerous questions running in your mind. ‘Where do I start?’ is a very common question. The answer is obvious: start at the beginning; learn what a guitar chord is.

The dictionary states that a chord is the sound that emanates from a musical instrument when you hit a minimum of three pitches simultaneously. For someone who is learning the guitar, what this means is you need to hit the strings together with the fingers of the strumming hand, while holding down the strings at specific positions on the fretboard with the fingers of the other hand, to produce the required sound.

There are a number of guitar chords – simple and complex. When you start to learn guitar, you learn the easier chords first. These chords are called simple guitar chords, or beginners’ guitar chords. The easiest chords to learn are G Major, C Major, and D Major. Once you learn these chords, you can go on to work on the more complex ones.

Problems You Will Face When You Learn Guitar Chords

When you learn guitar chords, you have to be able to hold down the different strings of the guitar across strategic locations on the fretboard. Each chord has a specific positioning of specific fingers. This gives rise to three basic problems:

- Acute pain in the fingers arising from holding down strings with fingers stretched.
- Pain, numbness, and sometimes even blistering of the soft skin on the fingers.
- Inability to switch chords rapidly.

The problems mentioned above are universal to everyone when they practice chords for the first time. As with all problems, these too have solutions.

The acute pain in the fingers arises primarily because they are not used to being stretched thus. A good way of overcoming this problem is to do a set of finger exercises before you practice each day. Practice stretching your fingers over the frets, playing single strings as you do this. This exercise stretches your fingers, while also enabling you to increase the speed with which you move the fingers across the frets.

The numbness and blistering of the soft skin is because of the skin rubbing against the sharp-edged strings for long periods of time. You can counter this by rubbing methyl alcohol over the skin of the fingers prior to practice.

The stiffness of the fingers and inability to change chords rapidly is because you have never done something like this ever before. Learn the proper finger positions for the different chords. Once you are familiar with this, practice changing chords. Your speed will increase with practice, and the stiffness will disappear.

Kirk Downing is an expert author of many guitar related articles and owner of a popular portal dedicated to guitar enthusiasts. If you’re ready to learn to play guitar, JamDojo.com has everything you need to get started.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kirk_Downing

Learn Guitar Chords – 7 Secrets the Pros Use

If you’re like many guitarists out there who want to learn guitar chords but are having some trouble, then this article is for you. Ill cover some key aspects that are often overlooked by tutors and “learn the guitar” products; I guarantee you’ll be able to learn guitar chords much easier after reading this article.

1. Do exercises

Ok, so don’t jump in your car and go to your local gym for workout, its just not going to help that much. What I mean by exercises is to do some guitar chord exercises. For example if you are trying to learn the G chord a good exercise to practice would be picking each note and then strumming, this will give you a good idea of how well you have formed the chord. If you’re hitting a lot of dead notes they will become obvious when you pick through each note.

2. Practice in your head

Yes, it sounds silly, but the science and results of this method are stacking up like apartments in Manhattan. If you’re not already trying to learn guitar chords in your head then you’re putting yourself at a severe disadvantage. Try this: Picture yourself holding your guitar, zoom in one the neck where you are going to form the chord. Now put your fingers on the strings and really concentrate on how you are going to get each finger into position. Those of you who already use this method know how powerful it is. If you don’t think it works then I only ask that you try it for one week and see what kind of results you get, you will be pleasantly surprised.

3. Do easy changes

Changing from one chord to another is without a doubt the best way to learn guitar chords. Youre putting yourself under pressure and committing the guitar chord shape to your muscle memory. Once you have it in your muscle memory it becomes a lot easier to form the chord again. Here are some simple changes to try: G Add 9 to C Add 9, A to E, C to G. For more exercises visit our Instant Guitarist website.

4. Build finger strength

Well I told you off for going to the gym earlier, but now its not such a silly idea. Building finger strength is often a slow (and sometimes painful) experience, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Practicing scales, doing finger weights, and if you’re really keen finger press-ups are all great ways to improve your finger strength. One thing to remember is moderation, don’t over do it, just a few exercises a day should be plenty.

5. Look at other people

Dont just look at anyone… they might think you’re weird. Look at guitarists! Notice the way they jump from chord to chord and how they are forming each chord. Its such a good way to learn by example, however I need to give this disclaimer. Its great, but you need to be careful not to copy bad habits, and a lot of the guitarists out there are limited by the bad habits they pick up from inexperienced tutors and rubbish guitar tutorials.

6. Wear a blind fold

Yeah I guess it does sound a bit rude, but if you want to be the ultimate Zen master and learn guitar chords quickly its a good idea to try it out. I don’t really wear a blindfold when I do this method; I just make sure Im not looking at my hands when changing from one chord to another. To start with it will be too tricky to change chords, just try forming a G without looking at the fret-board, then give it a strum, pick each note and see how well you did. Ive seen people have great success with this method, so I’m sure this will work for your playing.

7. Three at a time

Learn three chords at a time, I dont know why this works, but it just does. Maybe its a magic number that our brains relate to, who knows? They key thing is that if you pick three guitar chords you want to learn and keep practicing them, then you’re going to learn guitar chords a lot faster than if you just pick one or two. Id recommend starting out with some of the easier ones (D, A, E, G), pick three of those and get to it!

Conclusion

I haven’t put these tips in any particular order; they’re all solid gold tips to being able to learn guitar chords faster than anyone else. Id suggest writing down each method onto a piece of paper and start using it in your daily practice, you’ll be surprised at how fast you can see results. We have plenty more tips, including free video lessons, photos and diagrams at our Instant Guitarist site: www.instantguitarist.com, we also run a blog to keep you up to date with the latest news in the world of guitar, check it out!

Anthony Brown is a student of the Guitar, you can find out more about how to learn guitar chords at InstantGuitarist.com:

Learn Guitar Chords