Easy Guitar Chords for Beginners

Say what you will, but the guitar still remains one of the most popular instruments out there. And how wouldn’t it be? It’s not only engaging and easy to learn some basic stuff on it, but it automatically makes you cooler the moment you take it in your hands. So, today’s article is all about easy guitar chords for beginners.

But all the jokes aside, the instrument has remained almost unchanged since the early 1950s. Be it an electric or an acoustic guitar, it’s present in almost any genre today. This just proves that the guitar’s modern design is perfect!

With that said, you’re probably looking for ways how to start playing the guitar. However, you might feel like the instrument is hard to figure out. After all, the fretboard does seem confusing, right? Additionally, you also have to press the strings and pluck them at the same time, and that’s super hard, right?

Well, things aren’t as hard as they seem at a first glance. Sure, the guitar is difficult to master, but that doesn’t mean that it’s difficult to learn some basic stuff on it.

If you’re just starting out, or if you’re planning to start, we’re here to help you out! In this brief guide, we’ll show you some of the easiest guitar chords that you can start with.

These chords will be enough to get you started. After figuring them out, you’ll have enough knowledge to proceed further and learn more advanced stuff.

Guitar Chords for Beginners – How Chords Are Built

First, let’s just cover some of the basics that you have to know. A chord is technically a collection of three or more notes played at the same time. For now, you’ll need to know about major and minor chords.

In order to build a chord, you need three basic notes — root, 3rd, and 5th intervals. When playing a guitar chord, you include these three notes in the span of two octaves (in most cases).

A major chord sounds “cheerful” while the minor chord sounds “sad” or “melancholic.” The only difference is that the major chord uses the major 3rd  interval, while the minor chord uses a minor 3rd interval.

You’ll learn more about what all of these mean later on. But for now, at least hold these basic principles in your head. Now, let’s get to those easy guitar chords for beginners!

C Major

Fingering:

• Third finger goes on the third fret of the fifth string
• Second finger: second fret, fourth string
• First finger: first fret, second string

Playing:

You’ll need to strum all of the strings except for the 6th one, the bottom E. the 3rd and the 1st strings are to be left open and ring out on their own. It’s an easy chord, but don’t worry if you can’t play it clearly at first. The most common problem beginners have is to let the third string ring out as the second finger might obstruct it.

A Minor

Fingering:

• Second finger, second fret, fourth string
• Third finger, second fret, third string
• First finger, first fret, second string

Playing:

When performing the A minor chord in the open position (which is described above), you should strum all of the strings except for the bottom E. You can play that one as well and it would technically still be an A minor chord. However, because of the E in bass, it will sound different and somewhat overwhelming.

D Minor

Fingering:

• Second finger, second fret, third string
• Third finger, third fret, second string
• First finger, first fret, first string

Playing:

When it comes to the D minor chord in the open position, you’re supposed to play just the first four strings. So you completely omit the 5th and the 6th string, A and E respectively. Technically, you can play the fifth string as well. However, if you play the 6th string, it will be a completely different chord.

This may be just slightly more challenging to some beginner players. However, by learning how to play this chord properly, especially in the context of a song, you’ll be able to practice your picking and strumming skills. The D minor chord is one of the examples showing that strumming can be tricky as well. With most of the chords in the open position, you should never play all strings at once.

G Major

Fingering:

• Second finger, third fret, sixth string
• First finger, second fret, fifth string
• Fourth finger, third fret, first string
• Optional: Third finger, third fret, second string

Playing:

The G major chord, however, requires you to play all six strings at once. The fingering might take some time to get used to, especially if you’re using the variant with all four fingers. But the chord sounds open due to open third and fourth strings. And the easier variant also includes the open second string, which makes it sound even more open.

At the same time, you’ll need to be careful and let the strings ring out. Your first finger on the fifth string might obstruct the fourth string. Either way, this is one of the basic and easiest chords that you must learn if you want to play guitar.

E Minor

Fingering:

• First finger, second fret, fifth string
• Second finger, second fret, fourth string

Playing:

Now, when it comes to the E minor chord, you can also play all six strings with this fingering. As you can see, it’s really easy to figure out and you’ll have no trouble playing it. Just let all of the open strings ring out, and you’re in for a treat.

Combining These Chords Together

For the purpose of this guide, we included chords that are in the key of C major and A minor. This means that you can play all of these chords and be in the same key, even create your own song.

When you learn how to play them, feel free to play around with them and try out different combinations in different orders. And if you feel ready, try to add a melody on top.

If you want to learn more about easy guitar chords for beginners, feel free to check out the Rock Out Loud guitar lessons right here.