Preface (skip if this isn’t your first time here): 

THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW ANYTHING USEFUL ABOUT THE GUITAR!

It’s because no one either showed them anything useful or they never found out the basics of playing guitar.

DON’T BE LIKE THEM! 

Here we are going to talk about those guitar basics in bite-sized chunks. 

Hopefully, this will give you everything necessary to understand how to play the instrument, fix any flaws in your playing, and form ideas on how to change things up in your technique. 

We’re moving on up from simply being able to read chords to playing every single easy chord out there. 

“Wait! What’s the difference between “chords” and “easy chords”?” 

Easy Chords are the chords that you see everyone playing minus two to three strings. It’s a great jumping off point to build up the fundamentals you’ll need to eventually play those chords that will make your singer-songwriter career happen. 

Brush up on how to read Chord Charts, Left Hand Technique, and your Finger Names, then check out the complete chord chart below. 

For all of these chords you’re going to need to pay close attention to your left hand. Remember these things:

1. Play with your fingertips

2. Keep your hand in the claw-like position with your thumb in-line with your index or middle finger

3. Keep your hand perpendicular to the guitar neck with your finger nails facing the ceiling, not your face. 

4. Keep your wrist relaxed. Don’t let your hand get into a waiter-like position with the wrist bent backwards. 

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s start with the easiest of the easy chords: G, G7, Em, and C. 

Now these four chords only require one finger to play. The most challenging chord will be C. With that said, if you can get your index finger to only touch the 2nd string AND NOT TOUCH THE 1ST STRING then the chord will sound great. 

It’s important for all of these chords that you can hear the 1st string. So to make sure that you’re hearing every string of every chord. To do this:

1. Pluck the individual strings of the chords.

2. Make sure all the strings can be clearly heard and nothing is muted, then strum straight down. Do not strum at an angle. If you strum at an angle, you will more than likely miss the 1st string or make the 1st string sound different than all the other strings. It’s quite sensitive. 

Try out all this process on all these chords. Then strum straight down (remember to listen for the 1st string) four times for each chord. If you can do all this, then I think it’s time for a song. 

This song is called, “I Got A Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. 

For this song, strum each chord eight times (while trying to maintain your beautiful chord sound), If you can do that easily then try to switch between two chords without pausing. This will require that you keep your right hand strumming.

THIS IS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF PLAYING SONGS AND CHORDS. 

That’s why it’s important to practice just two chords at a time. Some chord combos will be easier than others. Some important things to remember are to:

1. Keep your fingers close to the frets at all times. 

2. Relax your thumb when you switch between chords. 

3. Remember your left hand technique that we discussed earlier. 

We will do the two and three finger chords next so be prepared!