Gb Guitar Chord For Beginners

Want to learn how to play the Gb guitar chord? You’ve come to the right place!

In this free lesson you will learn:

• The 6 essential ways to play the Gb guitar chord.
• 3 tips for mastering guitar chords.
• The number 1 secret to learning guitar chords quickly.

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What is a Gb guitar chord?

A Gb guitar chord is:

• a major chord with a root note of Gb (G flat).

Gb is the same chord as F#. They’re what we call ‘enharmonic equivalents’. All this means is that there are two different names for the same chord.

The Gb guitar chord can be written any of the following ways:

• Gb.
• G flat.
• F#.

Unless we actually see the word ‘minor’ or a lower-case ‘m’, it’s safe to assume that the chord is major.

The lower-case ‘b’ symbol is actually supposed to look like this:

The lower-case b should be pronounced like this, ‘flat’. So, Gb should be pronounced ‘G flat’.

How do you play the Gb guitar chord?

There are a number of ways you could play the Gb guitar chord. The two most common voicings are:

• The E shaped barre chord.
• The A shaped barre chord.

Barre chords can be tricky for most guitarists as you have to press down on more than one string with the same finger.

This can be very tricky, especially if you’re not used to it, so you might want to check out this video for some tips:

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Gb guitar chord (E Shape)

We call this voicing the ‘E shape’ because that’s the chord shape we form with our other fingers (ie. the ones that aren’t barring).

Check out this article if you’re not sure about the E chord: 4 Easy Ways To Play The E Chord On Guitar

• Barre your index finger across every string at the 2nd fret.
• Put your 3rd finger on the 4th fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Put your 4th finger on the 4th fret of the D string.(4th string.)
• Put your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)

As we said earlier, barre chords aren’t easy, so don’t worry if you struggle at first.

Gb guitar chord (A Shape)

This voicing of the Gb guitar chord is called the ‘A shape’ because that’s the shape that goes after the barre.

Learn the A chord here: 3 Easy Ways To Play The A Chord

• Barre your index finger across the first five strings at the 9th fret.
• Put your 2nd finger on the 11th fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Put your 3rd finger on the 11th fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Put your 4th finger on the 11th fret of the B string. (2nd string.)

Let’s take at look at some easier versions of this chord.

1) Gb guitar chord (3 Finger Version)

This Gb guitar chord is ideal for beginners because:

• It only requires 3 fingers.
• It has a nice twinkly top-end sound.
• It can be moved to find other chords.

• Put your 3rd finger on the 11th fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Put your 4th finger on the 11th fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Put your 1st finger on the 9th fret of the high E string. (1st string.)
• Strum the first three strings (leave the other three out).

If you know this shape and you know your musical alphabet, you can move this shape all over the fretboard to find other chords.

To learn more about the musical alphabet, go here: Guitar Notes Explained: A Guide For Beginners

2) Gb7

If you like the idea of a slightly bluesier sounding Gb guitar chord, then this chord is for you.

• Put your 3rd finger on the 4th fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Put your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• The high E string needs to ring open.

If you’re not too keen on the bluesy sound of this chord and you’d prefer a plain old Gb guitar chord, simply leave out that open high string.

3) Gb guitar chord (2 Finger Version)

This chord is ideal if you want to play barre chords, but don’t feel quite up to barring a lot of strings just yet:

• Put your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Barre the B string (2nd string) and high E string (1st string) with your 1st finger.

Although this chord doesn’t sound huge, it has a crisp top end.

4) Gb11

This chord is basically what we get when we play an E shaped Gb guitar chord. However this time, we’re not going to barre down with our index finger.

• Put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the low E string. (6th string.)
• Put your 3rd finger on the 4th fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Put your 4th finger on the 4th fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Put your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Strum across every sting, including the open ones.

If you’re not too keen on that ’11’ sound or if you just don’t think it suits the song you’re playing then you can always just leave those two open strings out and you’ll have a plain Gb guitar chord again.

The only snag is, to leave those strings out, you have to be careful how you strum.

To learn how to skip strings while strumming, go here: How To Skip Strings While Strumming

Tips for playing barre chords

Barre chords are difficult, but we have some tips that will make them easier to learn.

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Tip #1 Keep your thumb on the back of the neck, not peaking over the top

Your thumb should be in the middle of the back of the neck (the ‘spine’ if you will) and the thumb nail should be pointing towards the ceiling, not towards the headstock of the guitar.

This is what it should look like:

NOT this:

Tip #2 Use the tips, not the prints of your fingers

When you fret the Gb guitar chord (or any chord) you must press with the tips of your fingers. (Except the one that you’re barring .)

You must not use the prints of the fingers. Check that your finger nail is as close to the string as possible.

This will stop your fingers leaning untidily onto the other strings and muting off other notes.

Tip #3 Press as close to the fret as you can

If you’re pressing down in the back of the space between frets, it’s going to take a lot of pressure to make a note.

On the other hand, if you press right up close to the fret, you should get a note with much less effort.

Make life easy for yourself and get up close to the frets.

For more guidance on how to play guitar chords, go here: How To Play Guitar Chords: A Beginner’s Guide

What’s the quickest way to learn guitar chords?

There’s no quicker way to learn guitar chords than to learn the easier chords first.

An easier way to play a chord can always be found.

If you eventually wish to graduate to more advanced chords, you developed the necessary dexterity and technique from learning easier chords.

Trying chords that are too advanced too soon will only frustrate you and stunt your progress.

To learn easy chords, go here: 14 Easy Guitar Chords For Beginners

How to make sure you don’t forget any chord

A helpful trick for remembering guitar chords is:

• Once you’ve learnt a new chord, squeeze your hand.

Why? Doing this will engage your hand’s muscle memory. This essentially tells your hand to memorise the shape you’ve just made.

For this to work of course, the chord has to be correct.

Squeeze your hand after playing an incorrect chord and you’ll be memorising an incorrect chord.

Here are some other cool-sounding Gb chords
.