HOW TO PLAY CHORD ON GUITAR

HOW TO PLAY CHORD ON YOUR OWN

part 2 of 3: playing chord

 

1. Learn first position chords. A chord is a harmonic group of at least three notes. For beginning guitar, there are two basic chord types: first position chords, and barre chords. First position chords can be played with a combination of open strings and pressed strings in the first three frets of the guitar.

• Commonly major chords are C Major, A Major, G Major, E Major, D Major.
• When you've got the shapes down, practice switching between them as quickly as you can. Write out more or less random arrangements of the chords you want to play and switch between them, strumming once.
• Make sure you play the appropriate notes. In A Major, for example, the low E string is not strummed. They'll be marked on the tablature with an "X". Develop good habits now for success in the long run.
  
  2.    Practice getting a clean sound. After you had placed all your fingers on the fretboard, play through each of the strings of the chords. Make sure that the strings that are supposed to ring are not muffled or muted.

  • If the notes are not ringing out properly, chances are that you are not pressing hard enough or parts of your fingers are touching that string which prevents it from sounding out clearly. Are any unused fingers touching strings?^[1]
  • Keep the fretting fingers curled at all times they're touching the strings, as if you had your fingers resting over an imaginary glass ball, or a marble in the knuckle of each finger.
    
    3. Strum correctly. Strumming consists of downstrokes and upstrokes in various combinations, striking all the notes of the chord evenly and rhythmically. Keep your elbow in tight to the guitar, and sweep the pick down all the strings as you form a first position chord, like a G chord. Your elbow should not move as you strum mostly from the wrist.
    
    
    
    4.   Learn barre chords. Barre chords, or movable chords, are extremely useful for starting to play songs. In a barre chord (sometimes shortened to "bar chord"), the index finger of your fretting hand "bars" all the notes at a single fret. To play an F, which is the barre chord in first position, you bar all the notes on the first fret with your index finger and play what is essentially the shape of the E chord moved one step up the neck, with your middle, index, and pinkie.

    • That same claw-like finger positioning on the second fret is a B chord. On the third fret, a G chord. It's a difficult and sometimes painful finger positioning, to learn, but you can start playing the chords to any punk song relatively quickly when you learn to strum and play barre chords. The Ramones used nothing but barre chords to great effect.