14 Easy Guitar Chords For Beginners

guitar chords for beginners

Guitar chords for beginners: C major (C)

You must learn this chord. C major is one of the most common guitar chords.

Sadly, its standard chord shape is difficult to play. It spans 3 frets and uses 3 different fingers, which makes this one of the tougher guitar chords for beginners to master.

C major

guitar chords for beginners c major

Here is one of my favourite guitar chords for beginners: It’s called “C major 7” and it needs just 2-fingers:

C major 7

guitar chords for beginners c major seven

I tell all my students to play this chord using fingers 2 and 3 (because that’s how their fingers WOULD be shaped if they were playing a full C major chord). Can you see how learning this chord with fingers 2 and 3 smooths your transition to playing the standard C chord?

If you are a total guitar newbie feel free to play Cmaj7 with fingers 1 and 2 as shown in the picture above. But as you improve it would be best for you to start using fingers 2 and 3 because this will make it easier to ‘graduate’ to the full C major chord.

Take a moment to compare the 2 images above and be sure you’re clear on this important point!

You can learn more easy ways to play C major by reading this lesson.

Guitar chords for beginners: C minor (Cm)

C minor is a pretty rare chord. You won’t see it that much.

It’s certainly doesn’t need to be a priority if you’re just looking for simple guitar chords for beginners. But it’s a minor chord and you need to know it eventually. It looks like this:

C minor

guitar chords for beginners c minor

This is a barre chord so it’s too difficult for beginners to play.

The easiest voicing of C minor looks like this:

C minor

guitar chords for beginners Cm

You can learn more easy ways to play C minor by reading this lesson.

A useful tip: You can make ANY song easier to play using a capo.

Capos are handy tools that make life easier. They open the door for tons of cool guitar chords for beginners.

Check out this article to learn more: How To Use A Capo: A Guide For Beginners

Ok, let’s get back to our search for the best guitar chords for beginners.

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Guitar chords for beginners: D major (D)

D major is a common chord and it’s essential that you know how to play it (or at least, a voicing of it).

D major

guitar chords for beginners D major

This is a fiddly chord! This shape is tricky and it’s on the far side of the fretboard for transitions from other common chords like G and Em.

We need an easy chord. One of the most useful guitar chords for beginners is Dsus2. It looks like this:

Dsus2

guitar chords for beginners dsus 2

This is easier to play than a standard D chord and you can play it with fingers 1 and 2 or fingers 1 and 3.

If you are a total beginner and you just want to get started holding the instrument and making music, you can follow your natural urge which will be to play this chord using fingers 1 and 2.

However as you progress you should look to play this chord with fingers 1 and 3 as that will then keep finger 2 spare which will make it much easier for you to graduate to playing a full D chord.

You can learn more easy ways to play D major by reading this lesson.

guitar chords for beginners

Guitar chords for beginners: D minor (Dm)

D Minor is a really cool-sounding chord. It looks like this:

D minor

guitar chords for beginners Dm

It’s an awkward shape for beginners to play (but most people find it easier than D major). We need an easy version and our old friend Dsus2 comes to the rescue once again:

Dsus2

guitar chords for beginners d minor

Even though this isn’t a minor chord it sounds okay in place of D minor.

We’re looking for guitar chords for beginners (and it doesn’t get much easier than 2-finger chords ), but the only spanner in the works here is trying to avoid playing strings 5 & 6 while strumming.

This article will help: How To Skip Strings While Strumming

Learn more easy ways to play D minor by reading this lesson.

Guitar chords for beginners: E major (E)

E major has the same finger pattern as Am. (This often confuses people because one chord is major and the other is minor!)

E major

guitar chords for beginners E major

One of the things I love about this chord (& all open E chords) is that we can strum all 6 strings. There’s no need to worry about string accuracy or missing certain strings out – you can just strum!

The easiest way to play E major is to play E7:

E7

guitar chords for beginners E7

This has a blues feel and only needs 2 fingers. The bluesy feel means this chord isn’t well-suited to every track, but it will sound amazing with others.

Learn multiple easy ways to play E major by reading this lesson.

Guitar chords for beginners: E minor (Em)

This is one of the easiest guitar chords of all and fantastic guitar chords for beginners.

E minor

guitar chords for beginners E minor

Learn more ways to play E minor by reading this lesson.

Check out this article of ours which helps you figure out how the fretboard works: Guitar Notes Explained: A Guide For Beginners

guitar chords for beginners

Guitar chords for beginners: F major (F)

F major is one of the toughest guitar chords for beginners. Unfortunately it pops up in tons of great songs and is very common. You can’t shy away from this one, it’s a ‘must-learn’!

A standard F chord looks like this:

F major

guitar chords for beginners F major

The barre means this is too hard for beginner guitarists and my favourite easier version of F is F Major Seven. It looks like this:

Fmaj7

guitar chords for beginners Fmaj7

Note: There are lots of other ways to play F major. Check them out in this lesson.

Guitar chords for beginners: F minor (Fm)

F minor is played as a barre chord in its standard shape:

F major

guitar chords for beginners F minor

I recommend Fm7 to my students:

F minor 7

guitar chords for beginners Fm7

I love that people can just squish down 4 strings with one finger to play this.

This is a good chord to know because it’s a moveable shape. You can play it 2 frets higher and it becomes Gm7. (Move it another 2 frets higher and it becomes Am7, and so on.)

Learn more easy ways to play F minor by reading this lesson.

guitar chords for beginners

Guitar chords for beginners: G major (G)

G major might be the most common guitar chord. It looks like this:

G major

guitar chords for beginners G major

There are four fingers spread over multiple strings so this isn’t one of my favourite guitar chords for beginners. Thankfully there’s a super-easy version we can use. It’s called G6 and it looks like this:

G6

guitar chords for beginners G6

This chord needs just 2 fingers and we can strum all six strings. This is one of the very best guitar chords for beginners. You will use this a lot!

Learn more easy ways to play G major by reading this lesson.

Guitar chords for beginners: G minor (Gm)

G minor is pretty rare. You won’t see it too much as a beginner guitarist.

It uses the same moveable chord shape as F minor but it’s two frets higher up the fretboard:

G minor

guitar chords for beginners G minor

The easiest way to play G minor is like this:

G minor

guitar chords for beginners Gm

Learn more easy ways to play G minor by reading this lesson.

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