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!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have other, way more expensive guitars, like a Gibson ES-335, Dean 12 string, and a Fender Strat, but I gotta tell you, I like this one soooo much I play it more than the others! No kidding.
you can always try barring the chords its much happy and light sounded
Good lesson. The G chord can be a bit hard in the beginning without the right instructions.