How to Learn Guitar Chords?

Through ages, the guitar has been loved by young and old. The simplicity of the guitar has attracted many and that is the reason behind its popularity. The guitar is a string instrument. It is fretted. The main parts of the guitar that are common in all types of guitars are body, neck, headstock, strings, frets, pegs, nuts, fingerboard, bridge, and pickguard.

The guitarist plays the guitar by strumming or plucking the strings while pressing the strings against the frets. Both hands are usedfor playing the guitar. Movement of those strings creates different mesmerizing music. There are mainly three types of guitars and those are acoustic guitars, classical guitars, and electric guitars.

Nowadays, acoustic guitars are created in such a way to amplify sound electrically using an amplifier. There are guitars for both left-handed and right-handed people. Mostly wood is used to make the bod of the guitar. Then plastics, nylon, synthetics are also used to make guitar parts.

Due to the fast-speed internet and rapidly-growing technology, learning guitar has been an easy hobby for young minds. So some learn to play guitar by themselves and some find a good teacher and train under the trainer. Learning the right techniques gives a good foundation and helps us to master the guitar faster.

We can see that great guitarists have the perfect technique. Learning to hold the guitar properly, practicing simple chords in the beginning then moving to do much difficult one, learning to strum are some of the general steps a beginner needs to follow.

Tips on Learning Guitar

The first tip is to hold the guitar properly. The thumb of a person’s hand should be behind the neck of the guitar. In the beginning, it will be a hard thing to do but practicing to hold it properly, will give the beginner the correct base for the long run. It is comfortable to sit and play guitar but there is a tendency to bend forwards to see the hand movements so it is highly recommended to carry the guitar on your shoulders with an adjustable strap and learn to play guitar in a standing posture.

A person should take the whole process of learning something new gradually. This will give you a good foundation and once the foundation is laid properly speed will come to you naturally. Learning the correct fingering technique makes playing scales and chords accurate and easy.

Hand-mind coordination is the secret of playing guitar successfully and this comes automatically through regular practice. Dedicate a minimum of 15 minutes of practice to achieve the best results. Relax and do not overstrain your body and mind because sometimes learning a new thing can be stressful and can drive you crazy in the beginning (most of them quit at the beginning itself). Strumming and playing chords are important features that add depth to guitar playing. We should not ignore any one of these so practicing both regularly is required.
In this article, let us see some tips to learn guitar chords.

Getting Familiar with some Terms

Guitar chords are a set of notes played on guitar. They are mostly three or more notes in one set. These notes are played either simultaneously or by playing in a sequence in an arpeggio. Guitar tuning is the key to play the chords accurately. Most of the guitars have six strings and they need to be in standard tuning. They are E-A-D-G-B-E. Interval is two notes sounded together.

So chord can also be a set of intervals. Playing the same note at different intervals does not give a chord but playing different notes at intervals is called chords. Again, a 3-note chord is called a triad. There are two types of chords:

Open chords: These are chords played in the first 3 frets. These are easier to play than barre chords. As a beginner,it is good to focus on open chords.
Barre chords: These are chords played by barring index finger across 5 or 6 strings in one fret.
Examples of some simple chords: An open G chord consists of three Gs, two Bs, and D. An open A chord consists of two As, three Es, and C#. An open C chord consists of two Cs, three Es, and G.

How to Learn Guitar Chords?

As discussed in the earlier part of this article, maintaining a good posture is an important step. Laying a strong foundation of good technique is the base of guitar playing. People directly jump into playing guitar while giving very little care on how we should sit and hold the guitar. In the beginning days, it is best to stand up hanging the guitar on the shoulder with the help of an adjustable strap. It will prevent the guitarist from hunching forward to see the hand movement. This will promote more hand-mind coordination than sitting and bending forward.

The next important thing to take care of is fretting. Fret the chords close to the fingernails. This will give clarity to the chords you are playing. Always hold the thumb on the back of the neck (of the guitar). When you are fretting make sure to bend your fingers.

Start with simple chords. As mentioned earlier some of the simple chords that we can learn as a beginner are E minor, G major, C major, A minor, etc. It might be hard to play these chords with clarity at first but through thorough practice and patience, we will be able to achieve our goals.

Though we are learning chords, we should never forget to practice rhythm. Without rhythm, the song is incomplete so as you are learning chords add a little bit of strumming to it so that you get the hang of it. A perfect melody comprises of rhythm, chords, and harmony.

The best way to learn chords and strumming together is by practicing chord progression. Practice some easy and inevitable chord progressions. Such as G-Em, Em-C, G-C, G-D, etc.

Some people tend to just stick on to the easy stuff for long. They do not progress. An aspiring musician should never stop practicing and once you are comfortable with a chord, move on to the next hard chords. This will improve your techniques and eventually you will be able to learn chords and progressions with eyes closed.