Part 5:  Chords That Will Impress Your Friends

​Ok now we are moving on to a slightly more difficult type of chord:  open chords.  They are simple, but will take some time to convert to muscle memory with your fingers.  For this, all I can say is it will take practice, but with time you can get them no problem.  Don't be discouraged if it feels completely awkward at first.  It's like this for everyone.

I would encourage you to learn them one at a time, and spend as much time as you need to on each chord.

To begin lets start assigning numbers to each finger:

Your index finger is 1, middle finger 2, ring finger 3, pinky finger 4.

In addition to this, lets start referring to each string by the letter instead of the number.  It starts to get too confusing mentioning the number for the finger, fret, and string.    

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E major

​Place your second finger on the 2nd fret of the A string, third finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, first finger on the 1st fret of the G string, and leave the remainder of the strings open.  


Tip:  You will want to slightly curl your fingers to make sure they do not bump into the remaining open strings.


E minor 

Place your second finger on the 2nd fret of the A string, third finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, and the remainder of the strings open.


This is the same as the E major, only now you will leave the G string open as well (so it's even easier :) 


A Major
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Place your first finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, second finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, third finger on the 2nd fret of the B string.  Play the high e and A string open. For this chord, you'll notice that we will not be hitting the low E string at all.


A Minor

Place your second finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.  Third finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.  First finger on the 1st fret of the B string.  The A and e strings will be played open.

D Major
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Place your first finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, third finger on the 3rd fret of the B string, and second finger on the 2nd fret of the high e string.  


D Minor
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Place your second finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, third finger on the 3rd fret of the B string, and first finger on the 1st fret of the high e string.


G Major

Place your second finger on the 3rd fret of the low E string, first finger on the 2nd fret of the A string, keep the D and G strings open, place your third finger on the 3rd fret of the B string, and your fourth finger on the 3rd fret of the high e string.


C Major
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Place your third finger on the 3rd fret of the A string, second finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, play the G string open, place your first finger on the 1st fret of the B string, and keep the high e open.  


Great job!  Now that you have open chords down, bring your guitar out by the campfire and go out and impress your friends.  You have learned all of the main types of chords you should need to get started.

If you are feeling bold, then move on to part 6 where we start covering scales.