How to Play Guitar Chords

What is strumming?
Strumming is when you sweep your thumb down the strings, making all the strings sound at once.

Start slowly. DO NOT go faster than needed when you begin.

For purposes of illustration I'm going to stick with right-handed guitar playing. Those of you who are left-handed simply replace left with right and right with left :)

Learn to position your left hand on the fretboard (refer to the guitar anatomy image to the right). Become comfortable with chord progression. Practice playing a single chord really well, then go on and play two together, then three and so on.

Start by practicing the simple chords to get you on the right track faster. This will motivate you to move forward!

Learn how to play guitar chords the right way.

What is picking?
Picking is when you pluck the strings one by one. The strings make a sound individually.

Now that you've really practiced our left hand skills and chord progressions, you can go on and practice playing chords with our right hand. This is when picking comes into the picture.

This is where you gain speed of the fingers of your right hand by plucking each string SEPARATELY instead of playing them all together (i.e. strumming). Go really slow at first and increase your speed as you progress.

I suggest choosing ONE chord and practicing picking with that one chord over and over again, then tackling the other chords.

Learn how to play guitar chords the right way.

This is for your right hand. Use your thumb to play the sixth (E), fifth (A) and fourth (D) strings (the thick strings at the top). Use your index to play the third string, (G) your middle finger to play the second string (B) and your ring finger to play the first string (E) (refer to the picture to the right).

As you place the fingers of your left hand in the proper position, for any chosen chord, let's say D, pluck the corresponding strings with the fingers on your right hand, one by one. Do not give up. Practice till you get it right!

The fingernails on your LEFT hand need to be trimmed. With longer fingernails it's much harder to press on the strings and makes it harder to play for a beginner (and for everyone as a matter of fact).

In the case of strumming you can cut the fingernails on your right hand too. When you're plucking the strings, on the other hand, it's better if you have longer nails to get a better grip of the strings. Make sure your nails are polished and rounded.

(You can pick the strings with your fingers but it's much easier to do so with nails. If your nails are already short, don't worry about it, you can still play guitar chords by picking the strings and just let your nails grow.)