A Bit About Acoustic Guitar Chords

All acoustic guitar chords are made up from several different notes that are played together at one time. As you will soon discover when learning how to play the acoustic guitar there is lots of different chords you will need to be able to play. But in many cases, just actually knowing the basic ones should help you in being able to play hundreds if not thousands of different songs. Also, each chord will have a different sound to them the major chords sound bright whilst the minor ones are much darker and sadder sounding.

When playing chords on an acoustic guitar you can use a chord diagram, which looks very similar to guitar tabs. However, there are some differences in these notations. With the notations for acoustic guitar chords, the lines, which represent the strings on the instrument, run vertically rather than horizontally as they do on the guitar tab ones. Also in front of you all chord diagrams look similar to a grid that would be used in mathematical equations.

The vertical lines represent the strings. The horizontal lines represent the frets. The dots represent where you are to hold the string down. You will also see numbers, either at the top or the bottom of the diagram which represent which finger you are to use to hold down each string, with 1 meaning index, 2 middle, 3 ring and 4 pinky.

However, if a Zero appears in the notations this means that no finger should be placed on the string and it should be left open. But, if there is a letter "T", this actually denotes that the guitarist should place their thumb on the string in question.

The first acoustic guitar chord we're going to talk about is the G-major chord. To play this chord, place your middle finger on the sixth string at the third fret, your index finger on the fifth string at the second fret and your ring finger on the first string on the third fret. Now play each note, including the open strings, one at a time.

When you play each note, you make sure that you hear the sound that they are producing very clearly. If you do not or they make some kind of rattling or buzzing noise when being played you may find you need to press down on the fingerboard of the guitar a little harder or move the finger closer to the fret. Also as you play each note make sure that none of your fingers come into contact with each other as this can further cause the sound to be wrong. The other important thing to remember when learning to play the G-Major chord is that you never strum the strings together you should at all times play each one separately. Following these steps and you will ensure that you learn how to play this chord correctly.

Another basic chord which any would be guitarist should learn in the beginning is the E-Minor one. This is much simpler to learn, as it only requires a couple of fingers in order to do so. You take your index finger and place this on the fifth string above the second fret and then your middle finger on to the fourth string above the second fret also. When placing your fingers on the strings makes sure once again that, there is sufficient space between them to ensure that they do not touch. But where as when playing the G-Major chord you need to play each note separately with this one you can play, (strum) the strings at the same time. The sound that this particular chord produces is much darker than that you would hear when you play the G-Major chord.

Other good basic acoustic guitar chords to learn are C-major, D-major, A-minor and A-major. Practice moving back and forth between acoustic guitar chords. Try to get your fingers in place quickly. At first you'll need to take some time and get your fingers in place one at a time. But by practicing this over and over again, you're building muscle memory. After a while, your fingers will just get in place by themselves.

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