The next chord that we are going to learn today is the guitar A chord.  In the previous lesson, we went over the G chord.  I believe that the G chord is one of the most important guitar chords to learn. I began this series with that chord specifically because it is a moderately difficult chord for beginners to play, and it is also one of the most used chords in country music.  Almost every single song uses the G chord.  Be sure to check out that lesson before moving on to this one.  However, you do not have to master the G chord before going over this lesson.

The A chord is much easier to play than the G chord.  As you can see in the image, your fingers are very close together on the same 2nd fret.  This is a chord that is used very often just like the G chord.  If you haven’t yet read my article on correct guitar practice, I recommend that you do so now.  It is very important that when you are learning these guitar chords that you are practicing correctly as well.  Failure to do so can result in bad habits and a longer time learning how to play them correctly.

Your first step is to place your index finger on the D string on the 2nd fret.  With your first finger firmly holding down the string, place your middle finger on the G string on the 2nd fret as well.  Play the two strings that you are holding down to make sure that notes ring out cleanly.  Once this is done, place your ring finger on the B string on the 2nd fret.

There is also an alternate way of playing the chord.  You switch the 1 and 2 fingers.  So, your index finger and the middle finger swap places.  Some find this the easier way to play.  Try out both and do what works best for you!

Practice strumming all 3 strings while your fingers are holding them down firmly.  As a beginner, your fingers may feel uncomfortable pretty quickly.  This is normal.  Just practice pressing down the strings and playing the notes.  You want the notes to be as clean as possible.  Press down as hard as you need to in order to get the note to be clear.  Take breaks when your fingers start to hurt.  Also, practice keeping your other fingers near the strings as well.  This is very important as noted in the correct practice article.

Practice these methods with the G chord and now the A chord.  For a more advanced lesson, practice transitioning between the two chords as quickly as possible.  See how fast you can transition between the two.  The more you practice this, the faster you will get and the better you will be at playing chords.

Stay tuned for our next lesson, the C chord!

Welcome to the first course in our guitar chords lessons series.  As you may know from my previous article about learning guitar chords, I stress the importance of warming up.  I know you’re probably tired of me saying it, but please check out my less on guitar warm-up.  In it, you will learn a simple but highly effective warm-up exercise that should be done every day before playing for at least 5 minutes.  Do this exercise before beginning this lesson.

I hope your hands are all nice and loose and ready to play.  That’s the idea of the warm-up!  In this lesson, I am going to introduce the first chord that I recommend people to learn:

The G Chord

The reason I recommend this chord first is because I love it.  I think that this is a nice and intermediate chord that should be mastered first before moving on to other chords that are easier and more difficult.  So, let’s first take a look at how to play the G chord on the guitar:

What you see here is what I call a chord chart.  This one in particular is for the G Chord.  I will teach you how to read this.

What you see on the chart is 6 lines.  The left line, E, represents the 6th string on your guitar.  The 6th string is the fattest string.  In normal tuning, it is in the key of E.

You will also notice the horizontal lines.  Each one of these lines represents one of the silver bars going across your guitar neck.  I call the area between the metal bars frets.  You can either place your fingers on the metal frets or in-between them.  The closer to the fret, the easier it is to play the note.  Keep in mind that these aren’t tabs.  Head on over to my article about guitar tabs after this exercise if you’re interested in them.

In the picture, you will notice that there is a “1″ on the 6th string inbetween the 2nd and 3rd fret.  This is where you will place your index finger.

On the 5th string, you will notice a “2″ between the 1st and 2nd fret.  This is for you to place your middle finger.

Do the same for your 3rd finger for the 5th string and your pinky finger for on the 6th string.

This guitar chord may be quite difficult for you to play when you are first starting out.  I recommend that you practice getting all 4 fingers on on the strings and holding the chord for as along as you can.  Don’t worry about strumming the chord.  Just get your fingers used to the position.

Doing the warm-up will make your hands stronger for chord playing.  Along with practice, you will get this chord down before you know it.  This is a vital chord to learn if for a country guitar player.  Practice this chord everyday after you warm-up!

Welcome to my introductory lesson that will cover my philosophy about the basic guitar chords. Before we begin, make sure that you’ve gone through my guitar warm up lesson.  It is absolutely vital that you warm-up for at least 5 minutes every day.  Do not blow this off.  It is absolutely crucial that you do exercises that will strengthen your fingers, hands, and forearms.  These exercises make you stronger, faster, and the ability to play longer.

With that said, let us begin…

The first thing I want you to know is that I’m not going to sit here and write about a bunch of chords that are great to play.  I’m going to give you tips on playing chords so that you can understand what you need to practice in order to play them well.  Keep in mind that all music is built around chords which are built from scales.  So, in order to be a great country guitar player, it is important to master both scales and chords.

So what exactly is a chord?

Well, I am glad you are asking that question (you are asking that, right?).  Remember how I mentioned chords being built from scales?  A chord is 3 different notes from 1 scale played together at the same time.  When you strum these 3 notes, it will create a nice sounding harmony that is pleasing to the ear.

In order to play a chord, you will need to learn how to press down 3 different strings at once.  Now do you see why I am making you practice that warm-up everyday?  You will have a very tough time pressing down 3 different strings with 3 fingers at the same time if you do not develop your fingers with the warm-up.

You see, most people sit down with the guitar for the first month and try to only learn chords.  It’s what I did.  It’s what 95% of beginning country guitarists do.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to play music, but I created this site to make you a good country guitar player.  In doing so, you’re going to have to follow my advice.  No short cuts.

So I recommend that you do the warm-up at a minimum of 5 minutes per day.  However, I would prefer if you would practice the warm-up until your hands are sore to the point where it hurts to play.  That is when you know you have reached your threshold.  At this point, you can now start studying chords, scales, theory, tabs, etc. anything that you want.

By doing the guitar warm-up every single day, your skill level is going to surpass every beginner that isn’t doing the warm-up tremendously.  What I am saying is that you are going to be better than 95% of the other guitarists out there that started playing when you did.

I hope I’ve ingrained into your head how important the warm-up is.  You’re probably sick of me talking about it already!  I’m glad that you took the time to read this.  From this point, we can move on to me actually teaching you guitar chords which I will be doing in the next lessons.