CHART 1: BEGINNING GUITAR CHORDS

A chord is a group of 3-5 notes that sound good when played together.
To learn each chord, place your fingers one at a time, and strum down. Then try lifting and replacing them, keeping strumming, until you can do the whole chord well. You have mastered the chord when you make its shape quickly.

Keep your hand and arm flexible and put your thumb behind the fingerboard in the middle of the curved neck, then find the best way to reach chords - keeping thumb centred underneath the keyboard. Keep your fingers close to the guitar, and curved outwards; not collapsed in. A good exercise when you don’t have your guitar, is to make a circle with each finger at a time - with your thumb, and squeeze hard.


*Don't play this string for this chord.
Note that E and A chords have two fingerings - you'll need them later.

THREE POINTS TO A GOOD SOUND

  1. Use the tips (ball) of finger pressed firmly on the string until it sounds clear without buzzing. It's painful at first - take a break and come back to it - regular practice hardens the skin. (Needs short fingernails too)
  2. Be careful not to touch the other strings - it will mute or quieten them
  3. Fingers need to be near as possible to the fret bar - try which way to see which sounds clear - the diagrams show you where too.
Check if you have it right by plucking each string separately as you shape and strum the chord.

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