Beginner Guitar Chords

If you’ve been searching on youtube or other guitar sites for beginner guitar chords then I’m sure you’ve seen something like “this is how to play a C chord…” and they’ve given you the shape of a C chord and shown you how to play it.

I’ve got a secret that a lot of guitarists learning beginner guitar chords overlook.

Here’s how I play any chord without having to learn each one individually.

There are some simple shapes you need to know, these are the E shape the A shape and the C shape.

Now the E shape is the E Major chord that most guitarists know. Play this on your guitar on the first fret using the bar chord method.

Move the whole shape up and you’re know playing an F sharp minor chord. Put the 2nd finger back in and it’s know and F sharp Major chord. Easy right?!

Those are all bar chords and can be played on any fret.

Do the same thing using a bar chord but play the C shape at the first fret - that’s a C sharp Major chord.

Repeat this with the A shape - bar the chord and then play the A shape with a 1 fret gap in between.

For some of the shapes you don’t need to use a full bar chord - sometimes this makes it easier to play. Just bar the bottom half of the guitar and don’t play the bass note. This will work with the F Major and A minor shapes.

To work out which chord you are playing, find out the bass note of your chord. For example, if you are using the E shape bar chord starting on fret 1, the bass note is on the bottom E string at fret 1 so you are playing an F Major. If you are using the A shape at fret 2, the bass note is on the 5th (A string) so you are playing a B Major.

Count up each fret to work this out. If the bass note is on the 6th (E string), then count up from E using the chromatic scale. This is E (open string), F (fret 1), F# (fret 2), G (fret 3), G# (fret 4...), A, B flat, B, C, C#, D, D#, E. The # symbol stands for sharp.

Notice there are 12 notes there - this takes you all the way up to the 12th fret. Once you get there repeat the notes (the 12th fret is an E so the 13th is an F).

If you’re on the A string then the chromatic scale starts on the A and goes up -

A, B flat, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A

So you can now work out which chord you are playing just from the chord shape and the bass note. This technique takes a bit of practice, but once you’ve memorised the fret notes names it’s a breeze.

This is just one way to play chords, there are others but this is the easiest and simplest way to get to know chords.

If you’re interested in knowing the theory behind beginner guitar chords then learn some scales. Once you know a few scales then move on and learn about how scales and chords are linked.

Other Chords
Power Chords

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