In this article I want to talk about the main chords on the guitar, how to play them, why they are needed at all, and much, much more.
What are chords? Any tutorials, guitar courses and other lessons contain a part where you need to learn chords. But at the same time, few people talk about why they need to be studied, whether it is possible to do without them and what it really is.
Chords - a certain arrangement of fingers on the neck of the guitar (the neck is the longest part of the guitar, the place where you need to pinch the strings with your fingers) to get a certain sound. Depending on how we put our fingers (pinch the strings) this or that sound will come out. This very setting of fingers is called a chord. Simply put, each chord has its own staging.
Why are chords necessary?
Any song or music that we hear every day has patterns in sound. Imagine any color picture - it consists of color pixels, but there are only seven primary colors (rainbow colors). Combining these colors and putting them in a certain pattern, we draw a picture. In the same way with music, songs. We have certain notes (sounds) that we combine and create this very music. So the chords for the songs are the same as the colors for the picture. Chords are a tool for making music.
How many chords are there?
The question "How many chords exist" will not be answered by any of the teachers and guitar professionals for several reasons:
- No one counts chords and does not try to learn all of them. About 20 chords are enough for a good guitar playing.
- Chords cannot be counted, because every time some special finger positions on the fingerboard are added.
- After studying the main chords, you should go deeper, learn another playing technique, stopping on chords does not make sense.
In my opinion, there are about a thousand chords on the guitar.
Chords for beginners
Let's look with you which chords for beginners are most important and useful.
Basic guitar chords . I would call the basic chords on the guitar those chords that you need to learn first of all for beginners - and after studying them, you could immediately play a large number of songs. To the basic chords, I attribute the three “thieves chords” - chords Am, Dm, E, and a few more: chords C, G, A (often used in chorus). I would call these chords the main ones - they need to be studied in 10 cases out of 10. As an example I gave a discussion of how to play and play the G chord for beginners.
Which strings on which frets need to be clamped to strike a chord?
With an Am chord, 2 strings in the first fret are clamped, 3 and 4 strings in the second fret.
With a Dm chord, three strings are clamped on different frets: 1 string per 1, 2 string 3, 3 string 2.
The E chord is similar to the Am chord - the frets are the same, but one string higher: 3 strings for 1, 4 strings for 2, 5 strings for 2.
Chord C is one of the most difficult for beginners, because it uses four fingers at once (unlike other basic chords): 2 strings for 1, 4 strings for 2, 5 and 6 strings for 3.
The G chord is quite simple - 1 and 6 strings per 3, 5 strings per 2.
Chord A is generally easy to remember - 2, 3 and 4 strings in 2 frets.
The main chords on the guitar. To the main chords, I would refer to chords, which also one way or another have to learn if you are going to reach any heights when playing the guitar. These include, of course, the basic chords (paragraph above), but chords H7, Em, D and several barre chords are added: F, Hm, Cm, Gm.
Barre chords. A special layer among the chords are barre chords. They differ from traditional ones in that when staging one finger must clamp several strings at once (most often all or 4-5). The most important (main) barre chord is the F chord, so if you want to play something more serious than the ditties, you will definitely have to learn it. More details .
Thus, chords for beginners include : Am, Dm, E, C, G, A, H7, Em, D, F chords - there are exactly ten. If it were my will, I would even call them the top ten chords for beginners. This is the base, this is the foundation of anyone playing the guitar. Without the knowledge of these chords, playing the guitar is practically impossible.
Well, I think that I introduced you to everything related to chords anyway - and if you are a beginner guitarist, now you know exactly where to start and what you need to study first. And I can only wish you success, good luck in this endeavor!