How To Play Guitar Chords and Basic Guitar Theory

It is important to learn the notes on your fretboard in becoming a guitarist. You don't have to memorize them all right now by any means, but you should take a look at the fretboard diagram and learn the notes as you use them and learn how to make chords out of them.

The fretboard diagram is above.

As you may notice, there are only 12 different notes that you can play on the guitar. They are represented by a letter of the alphabet and also # or b symbols, representing 'sharp' and 'flat' notes respectively. Each # has a corresponding b note and vice-versa (which are interchangeable) and these notes are called 'accidentals'. The rest of the notes are called 'natural' notes.

The distance apart that two notes are is known as an 'interval'. There are many different intervals of course, but for now we'll just talk about 'half steps' and 'whole steps'.

Each note as you go up the fretboard is one 'half step' apart.

So if you take a look at the bottom string on the fretboard diagram, it starts with E when no fret is held down, then when you hold down the first fret, the F note, you are going up one 'half step'.

Then another half step up is the F# (F sharp), which is the same as the Gb (G flat). And another takes you to the G. One whole step up actually means moving two frets up on the fretboard of your guitar.

The full spectrum of notes on your guitar can be seen from frets 0 to 11 on your guitar, and then they repeat afterward. So if you take the open A string and play each fret consecutively up to the 12th fret here are the notes that you'll play, as you move up one fret every time:

A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A

When you reach the second A on the A string, it is still an A note but it is 1 'octave' higher. All of the notes on the string repeat, but are an octave higher.

You'll notice that there are 4 complete octaves on a 24 fret guitar. Starting with the low E, then the second octave starts on the D string 2nd fret (equivalent to the low E string 12th fret E - remember the tuning lesson and equivalent notes?), the 3rd on the high e string, then the last on the 12th fret high e string. There is another e on the 24th fret of the high e string, which means that there are 5 different e notes that can be played on the guitar.

Pretty simple, right? Now you know all the notes on the guitar. Look over the fretboard diagram and try to memorize where the notes are, and where equivalent notes are. Try to notice patterns and listen closely to how notes a certain distance apart sound when you play them together... use your imagination.

And later, we'll talk about how to traditionally make some beautiful music using all these notes!

Now we're going to learn some basic major chords, with which you can actually play some songs! Without getting too technical, chords are basically collections of notes that sound good together. Many chords can be played many different ways on a guitar, because there are so many equivalent notes on a guitar, as you have learned before.

The chords we are going to learn are called open chords, because in standard tuning (EADGBe) some of the notes are played open while others are fretted with your fingers (and some must also be 'muted' - this is best done by holding your thumb over them softly so they cannot play).

We are going to learn the open version on these chords right now and work with them:
C D E G

X means do not play (block with left hand thumb, when strumming with right)

0 means play string without fretting

1: index finger
2: middle finger
3: ring finger
4: little finger

C chord:
Fret: 1 2 3 4
e 0|---|---|---|---|
B -|-1-|---|---|---|
G 0|---|---|---|---|
D -|---|-2-|---|---|
A -|---|---|-3-|---|
E X|---|---|---|---|

D chord:
Fret: 1 2 3 4
e -|---|-2-|---|---|
B -|---|---|-3-|---|
G -|---|-1-|---|---|
D 0|---|---|---|---|
A X|---|---|---|---|
E X|---|---|---|---|

E chord:
Fret: 1 2 3 4
e 0|---|---|---|---|
B 0|---|---|---|---|
G -|-1-|---|---|---|
D -|---|-3-|---|---|
A -|---|-2-|---|---|
E 0|---|---|---|---|

G chord:
Fret: 1 2 3 4
e -|---|---|-3-|---|
B 0|---|---|---|---|
G 0|---|---|---|---|
D 0|---|---|---|---|
A -|---|-1-|---|---|
E -|---|---|-2-|---|

Now that you know what they look like and how to hold them, try to play strum them at the same time, and transition between them. Transitioning is the most important part if you are going to learn a song, so you're going to have to practice this.

Stringing chords together is called a 'progression'. Try this progression:
This time each vertical bar represents a 'beat' and not a fret, and the numbers represent what fret to play at. So the chart below is showing you to strum C 6 times, then D 2 Times, then E 6 times, then G 2 times, and consists of 16 bars.

C C C C C C D D
e|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-2-|-2-|
B|-1-|-1-|-1-|-1-|-1-|-1-|-3-|-3-|
G|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-2-|-2-|
D|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-0-|-0-|
A|-3-|-3-|-3-|-3-|-3-|-3-|-x-|-x-|
E|-x-|-x-|-x-|-x-|-x-|-x-|-x-|-x-|
E E E E E E G G
e|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-3-|-3-|
B|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|
G|-1-|-1-|-1-|-1-|-1-|-1-|-0-|-0-|
D|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-0-|-0-|
A|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|-2-|
E|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-0-|-3-|-3-|

Play as slow or fast as you like, but try to make the chord transitions as smooth as possible.

Practice strumming up and down alternating, and also only strumming up and only strumming down. Practice different combinations of the chords as well by inventing your own progressions, and practice how to transition between each of them to any other one - it may be different each time and you'll have to learn to do it fluidly in any situation. It takes time, but don't worry, you'll get it.

A good rule of thumb is: if something seems hard to you just practice it, whatever it is - chances are it will improve your dexterity and you'll be able to use it to play. That is how innovative guitar players like Van Halen or Jimmy Page come to be - they practice stuff even though nobody has ever told them to and they become extraordinary.

Chords may seem tough to play at first, I know. Especially after practising for a while, I'm sure your fingers start to hurt a lot. If they do, take a break. Wait until tomorrow to pick it up again. It is a mistake to try and play through the pain sometimes, believe me, because you'll just end up cutting yourself and then you'll have to wait a week to pick up the guitar again.

Eventually, though, you'll build calluses on the tips of your fingers and you won't even notice. So it is important to keep at it day after day!

The best way to motivate yourself to practice is to learn some more chord progressions that sound great and songs you'd like to play, of course, so we'll do that next lesson, and also learn some more chords.