Beginner Guitar Chords: 14 Essential Chords

Beginner Guitar Chords #5 The ‘A Minor 7’ Chord

The A minor 7 chord sounds fantastic on acoustic guitar due it’s use of open strings. It’s also SUPER easy to play.

Too hard? Go here: Am Guitar Chord For Beginners

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

Beginner Guitar Chords #6 The ‘Bm11’ Chord

Although this chord has a scary name, it’s one of the best beginner guitar chords out there.

If you ever see a Bm guitar chord, you can use this one instead. This chord is a easier version of ‘Bm’.

To learn the Bm chord, go here: Bm Guitar Chord For Beginners

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

Make sure that you let the D (4th string), B (2nd string) and high E string (1st string) ring out.

Ever wondered why learning the guitar feels so good? There’s a reason for this, find out why in this article by Guitar World: 10 Scientifically Proven Reasons You Should Play Guitar

Beginner Guitar Chords #7 The ‘E7’ Chord

This chord is fantastic and has a great bluesy feel. If you find the E chord too difficult, you can use this one instead.

To learn the E chord, go here: 4 Easy Ways To Play The E Chord On Guitar

• Put your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Put your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Strum all the strings.

Beginner Guitar Chords #8 The ‘A7’ Chord

‘7’ chords are sophisticated versions of standard major chords. You can use them to add a bluesy feel to a chord progression.

In this case, you could replace an ‘A chord’ with an ‘A7 chord’.

• Put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Put your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)

To learn more about blues guitar, go here: Blues Guitar For Beginners: 4 Ways To Sound Awesome Quickly

Beginner Guitar Chords #9 The ‘B7’ Chord

This chord has a great bluesy feel. If you ever see a B major chord crop up in a song, you can use this one instead.

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

Beginner Guitar Chords #10 The ‘G7’ Chord

This beginner guitar chords is one of the EASIEST guitar chords you can learn. This is because it only uses 1 finger! This chord is perfect to learn if you’re a completely new guitarist.

• Place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the high E string.
• Strum from the D string.

It sounds like this:

Want to learn other types of G chord? Go here: 4 Easy Ways To Play The G Chord On Guitar

Beginner Guitar Chords #11 The ‘Asus2’ Chord

This beginner guitar chords sounds fantastic on a acoustic. If you find the regular A chord too hard, use this one instead.

To learn the A chord, go here: 3 Easy Ways To Play The A Chord On Guitar

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

Beginner Guitar Chords #12 The ‘C Minor’ Chord

This beginner guitar chords is perfect for enhancing your finger dexterity. It frequently pops up in ballads and slow love songs.

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

This chord is little other than the other chords in this article because:

• It uses 3 fingers which are quite close together.
• You can only strum the top 3 strings.

Unfortunately, that’s the trade off we make when we learn easier chords. If something is easier for your fretting hand, often this makes it tricker for your strumming hand.

Don’t use easy chords as a crutch, use them to boost your guitar progress. Once you feel ready to ‘graduate’ to more advanced chords. Move on to them!

You don’t want to be stuck on easy chords forever.

To learn how to play guitar chords, go here: How To Play Guitar Chords: A Beginner’s Guide

Beginner Guitar Chords #13 The ‘F major 7’ Chord

The F barre chord is one of the trickiest chords you can learn on the guitar. However, you can play an easier version which sounds just as good.

This is where the ‘F Major 7’ comes in.

Any time you see the ‘F chord’, play this voicing instead.

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

Want to learn the F chord? Go here: F Guitar Chord 3 Easy Alternatives

Easy Beginner Guitar Chords #14 The ‘D minor’ Chord

This chord is slightly harder than the previous chords in this lesson. However, don’t worry! We’re going to show you everything you need to know to play this chord.

This chord crops up in blues, rock and even country, so it’s worth knowing.

• Put your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
  
• Put your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
  
• Put your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the high E string. (1st string.)
  
• Strum from the D string. (4th string.)
  

Is this chord too hard? Go here to learn some easier versions: 3 Easy Ways To Play The Dm Guitar Chord