Open Chords Part 1 - Major & Minor Chords
Chords are the back bone of any song, and are a great way to get started playing the Guitar. In this lesson I'll show you the main open chords and in later lessons introduce you to the concept of moveable chords.
To start, I would recommend that you learn the Major and Minor open chords of A, B, C, D, E and F. I've also included images in the Supplemental Info section. Don’t worry too much if you have trouble with a few of the chords. Just spend a little time working on them each day until you learn them. People often have trouble with the F chord. If you feel comfortable moving forward even though you’re having some difficulty with a chord or two, do so. Just don’t forget to keep working on those problematic chords.
If you look at the chord images in the supplement section you may notice there are a mix of circles and squares. The squares are representing the root note of the chord. The root is the primary tone of the chord. As you may notice the root note of an F chord is the note F.
Some General Music Theory
All chords are composed of two or more tones that are played together. We are working with major and minor chords right now. The difference between the two is the scale that is used to create the chord.
A major C chord is composed of the notes C, G, and E. The C is the root note, E is the 3rd, and G is the 5th. The different positions represent the different places they are found in a scale. If we were working with a minor scale, then our 3rd would have been flattened and would be F#. This also gives the chord a completely different sound.
Don't worry too much about chord construction now; I just wanted to give you some general information. We will discuss this more in latter lessons.
The Major Open Chords
A Major |
B Major |
C Major |
D Major |
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E Major |
F Major |
G Major |
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The Minor Open Chords
A Minor |
B Minor |
C Minor |
D Minor |
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E Minor |
F Minor |
G Minor |
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Homework
To practice this lesson work on properly fingering each chord and strum it several times. Once you feel comfortable playing it move to the next chord. Work on effectively switching between the two chords. Don't worry about speed right now. Work on playing the chord correctly and changing chords smoothly. Speed will come on its own.
Most importantly have fun!!
Once you have a few chords under your belt, check out the Extras Section, I'll include some good old strumming songs you can practice with.
Songs that use these chords: House of the Rising Sun, Knocking on Heavens Door, Hey Joe, Wild Thing and Louie, Louie.
Have questions? Check out our forum on this lesson
