Lesson 2. Basic Guitar Chords...
The Open Position Major Chords
All set for basic guitar chords lesson 2? Great! In lesson 1 you learned how to read a chord diagram. In lesson 2 on basic guitar chords we will learn the open position major chords. These chords can be found in songs of all styles from rock to country.
Below are the chord diagrams for 5 basic guitar chords. They are C, A, G, E, and D. You can see that they spell CAGED. This is a system of organization that many people use to help with the memorization and learning of the guitar.
- Your goal for this lesson is to memorize these 5 basic guitar chords and work on getting all of the notes to sound clearly. Here are a few pointers that may help with the playing of these basic guitar chords:
- Make sure you read the chord diagrams carefully and that all of your fingers are in the right place. These basic guitar chords will be used again and again, so make sure you get them right.
- Play through each of the basic guitar chords slowly, one string
at a time to ensure that all of the notes sound clearly. If a note will
not sound there are 2 possible causes.
- Make sure that you are
pressing hard enough to get the notes to sound. Your hands will get
stronger and this will cure itself over time.
- Make sure to arch your fingers. This prevents a finger from touching a string that it is not supposed to touch and stopping the sound.
- Make sure that you spend time practicing on a daily basis. This can't be stressed enough. Consistent practice provides the necessary repetition of these basic guitar chords to help you master these lessons and learn guitar. You should spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day practicing these basic guitar chords.
Here are the chord diagrams for the 5 basic guitar chords. If you have any trouble reading them refer back to lesson 1.
When you have these basic guitar chords memorized we will be ready to move on to lesson 3. In lesson 3, you will use these basic guitar chords in some chord progressions that you will use over and over again in your guitar playing career.
Click here for lesson 3 on more basic guitar chords.
