Learn Guitar Chords: A 6-Step Program For Rapid Chord Skill

Do you want to learn guitar chords? Our 7 step programme is tried and tested and is the perfect road map to learn chords quickly with the minimum amount of frustration.

In this free guitar lesson you will learn:

• The no1 secret to mastering guitar chords.
• Over 30 essential guitar chords that will make you sound amazing.
• 2 tricks which will help you learn guitar chords quickly.
• 10 quick and easy tips for guitar chord practice.

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Before we learn guitar chords, there are a couple of essential steps that we must take.

Step 1) You must have good posture

Good posture is essential if you want to master guitar chords.

Without good posture, you will find it incredibly difficult to learn guitar chords.

To learn more about guitar posture, go here: How To Hold A Guitar

Step 2) Fret chords correctly

When you learn guitar chords, make sure that you use the correct chord technique.

Here are a few simple techniques which will make your chords sound amazing.

• Use the tips of your fingers.

Aim to fret the chord as close to your finger nail as possible, this will help the clarity of your chords.

• Place your thumb on the back of the neck. (Make sure your thumb nail is pointed upwards towards the ceiling!)
  

When you fret chords, your thumb should look like this:

• Bend your fretting hand when you fret chords.

Your fingers must bend when you fret chords, but your first knuckle must be straight.

This allows the chord to breathe, and guarantees that each note will ring out quickly.

Like this:

I still can’t learn guitar chords, how can I improve them?

If you find playing guitar chords difficult, try adjusting your wrist. Moving the wrist forward allows for greater chord clarity.

Experiment with the placement of your wrist to enhance the clarity of your chords.

Learn Guitar Chords | 3 String Guitar Chords

The first chords that you should learn are 3 string guitar chords.

Although these chords don’t sound amazing, they’re the perfect warm up exercise for new guitarists.

For this section, the guitar chords we’re going to learn are 3 string versions of.

• E minor.
• Gmajor.
• C major.
  
• A minor.

E minor

To play this chord, it actually requires no fingers, it’s SO easy.

Here’s the chord box:

To learn this guitar chord follow these steps:

• Strum the G string (3^rd string), B string (2nd string) and high E string (1^st string) at the same time.

That’s it!

G Major

The next guitar chord we’re going to learn is the G chord.

Here’s the chord box:

• Place your 1^st finger on the 3^rd of the high E string. (1^st string.)
• Strum from the D string. (4th string.)

C Major

The C chord is one of the trickiest 3 string chords. It’s vital that your fretting technique is perfect here.

This is because when you fret the 1^st fret on the B string (2^nd string) the G (3^rd string) and E strings (1^st string) must ring out when you play this chord.

We don’t want ANY dead notes.

Here’s the chord box:

• Place your 1^st finger on the 1^st fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Strum from the G string. (3^rd string.

Am Chord

The Am chord is the hardest 3 string guitar chords.

This time we’re going to introduce a second finger.

Here’s the chord box.

• Place your 2^nd finger on the 2^nd fret of the G string. (3^rd string.)
• Place your 1^st finger on the 1^st fret of the B string. (2^nd string.)
• Strum from the G string. (3^rd string.)

Practicing Chord Progressions

Practicing chord progressions is the best way to practice your guitar chords.

Let’s learn a couple of essential chord progressions.

G – Em

This is one of the EASIEST chord progressions you can do on the guitar.

For this progression we’re going to strum each chord 8 times.

Like this:

G                        Em

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8|1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Here’s what it sounds like:

‘Shake It Off’ by Taylor Swift

The next progression we’re going to learn is ‘Shake It Off’ by Taylor Swift.

This chord progression as it only uses 3 chords for the WHOLE song.

The progression goes:

Am |C Major |G Major

Click play on this audio clip to learn this song.

Now you’ve mastered 3 string guitar chords, let’s move on to stepping stone chords.

Learn Guitar Chords | Stepping Stone Chords

Learning stepping stone chords is the best way to learn guitar chords.

Stepping-stone chords are easier versions of more advanced guitar chords.

These chords are perfect for beginners, as they’re easy to play and sound great!

Here’s an example of some stepping stone chords in action.

Learn 12 EASY beginner chords with our popular guide

✅  Stop struggling. Start making music.

✅  Learn beginner-friendly versions of every chord.

This is our most popular guide and it will improve your chord ability quickly! 😎

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I don’t want to learn easy guitar chords, give me the hard stuff!

Your enthusiasm is great, but trust us, learning easy guitar chords is the fastest way to learn guitar chords.

Think of it like this:

If you were running a marathon, when you start training you wouldn’t start by running 25 miles.

You’d build up the pace, start with 1 or 2 miles and gradually increase the distance.

This is exactly how you should learn guitar chords, start with the easy ones, move to the next set of chords then eventually ‘graduate’ to harder chords such as open chords and barre chords.

The 4 most popular stepping stone chords are:

• G6.
• C major 7.
• Asus2.
• Dsus2.

Let’s learn them!

G6

• Place your 2^nd finger on the 3^rd fret of the low E string. (6^th string.)
• Place your 1^st finger on the 2^nd fret of the A string. (5^th string.)
• Strum ALL the strings.

C Major 7

• Place your 2^nd finger on the 3^rd fret of the A string. (5^th string.)
• Place your 1^st finger on the 2^nd fret of the D string. (4^th string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)
  

Asus2

• Place your 1^st finger on the 2^nd fret of the D string. (4^th string.)
• Place your 2^nd finger on the 2^nd fret of the G string (3^rd string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)
  

Em

• Place your 1^st finger on the 2^nd fret of the A string. (5^th string.)
• Place your 2^nd finger on the 2^nd fret of the D string. (4^th string.)
• Strum ALL the strings.

There are SO many more stepping stone chords out there. To learn more, go here: 14 Easy Beginner Guitar Chords.

Learn Guitar Chords | Open Chords

Once you’ve mastered stepping stone chords, the next step in your guitar journey should be to learn open chords and barre chords.

Regardless of what style or genre of guitar you want learn, you should always begin by learning chords.