There are literally thousands of chords you can play on a guitar. But if you are a beginner you will only need to know a handful of guitar chords. You will be able to play lots of songs with just a few basic chords (11 to be more precise).
Buckle up and get ready for a fun and exciting journey! Here is a detailed step by step guide to learning guitar chords. You will learn all the basic guitar chords in most popular keys and will learn some music theory along the way too!
Best way to learn guitar chords for beginners
Professional musicians learn all the chords in all the keys (and they practice them every day), but if you are a beginner I’d suggest you learn main guitar chords in the keys of G, D, A, and C (in that order). These keys are easier to play in open position on the guitar, and there tons of songs out there in those keys.
Best way to learn the chords is to focus on one key at a time, and learn the chords in this order:
- major chords (I, IV, and V chords)
- minor chords (ii and vi chords)
- minor chords (iii)
There are also 7th and suspended chords that are rather easy to play that you’ll want to learn at some point, but I won’t cover them in this particular article.
Set aside some short time to learn and practice every day. 10-15 minutes will be enough for the first 2-3 weeks. Have several practice sessions during the day if you can, just make sure to take adequate breaks. It will be good for both, your fingers and your brain!
1. Basic chords in the key of G major
I’d highly recommend you start learning chords in the key of G. Get to know this key really well. It is most popular key in music! It is easy to play on both piano and guitar. Besides it has the easiest chords.
To start playing in the key of G you only need to learn 5 very easy chords: G, Am, C, D, and Em.
I suggest you learn the major chords (G, C and D) first and then learn ii and vi minor chords (Am and Em). There is also a iii minor chord but you don’t need to worry about it just yet.
Major G, C, D chords
Start with learning G, C, D major chords first. These guitar chords are all very easy to play even for beginners. They don’t require any awkward fingerings nor barre (using index finger to hold several strings at once). Also the chord shapes for these chords are very simple and easy to remember:
Above are most common chord shapes for G, C and D chords. Head over to detailed chord guides for more guidance (see G, C and D).
Note how the shape formed by 2nd and 3rd fingers remains the same between the chords (only strings change). Maintain that shape as you move between the chords.
If you are completely new to guitar even these chords might seems to be hard. Take your time with each chord. Start with G and do your best. Don’t fret if it doesn’t sound great from the get go. Do the best you can, take a short break and move to the next chord. Then take another break and come back to G. In other words, don’t wait to perfect one chord to move to the other. Practice all 3 chords every day!
Once you have each of these chords memorized and you can form them without hesitation one by one, it is time to practice changing from one chord to another.
Try the following combinations:
- G to C to G
- G to D to G
Simply strum each chord once or twice, change the shape, strum, change the shape, strum… Take a break!
Once you are comfortable with these chord changes you can start practicing basic chord progressions like: G-C-D (I-IV-V) and even simple 3 chord songs. There are lots of those!
You can practice these 3 chords for couple weeks until you are comfortable, but chances are you will get bored with them quickly, so it will be a good idea to add couple more chords to your musical vocabulary. This time it will be 2 minor chords.
Em and Am chords
Em and Am are also very easy (in fact they might seem much easier than the major chords you already learned):
Again, notice how the pattern formed by 2nd and 3rd fingers is maintained between the chords!
Practice forming these chords individually, and then try switching between them: Em to Am to Em.
Since you should be familiar with both major and minor chords you can also practice more sophisticated chord progressions like: G–Em–Am–D (I-vi-ii-V) which is an extremely common progression that is used in many popular songs.
By now you should know all major and minor chords in the key of G. That means you should be able to pick up and play many songs and hymns in the key of G! You can stop here, and do just that for a while.
When you get bored of playing in the key of G move to the key of D.
2. Basic chords in the key of D major
If you look at the main chords in the key of D you will see that you already know most of them. You should know D, G, and Em. These are the same chords that were used in the key of G! All you have to do now is learn A and Bm.
A major chord is easy, but Bm is a bit tricky:
Bm is a dreaded barre chord. It is tricky to learn so be patient with it. There are ways to play it without a barre which you can use in the beginning. Head over to Bm chord for beginners to get some tips and tricks on mastering this chord.
You will really want to master Bm as you will see it very often in the key of D.
Bm is also a missing iii chord in the key of G.
Again, you can stay in the key of D and play in it for as long as you want. In fact, you can get away with knowing only the chords you learned so far and play lots and lots of songs.
You might also want to start learning 7th and suspended (sus2 and sus4) chords at this point. These chords will definitely add more color to your playing.
By now you know the drill. If you get bored, move on to the next key!
3. Basic chords in the key of A major
Key of A adds couple more new chords: again one easy, and one hard (yes, barre chord again).
E should be a piece of cake for you (take Em as a reference), but F#m might take some time to learn:
Check out the detailed guide to F#m chord for tips and easier versions of the chord.
You might feel on the roll eager to move to the next key, but I’d recommend staying within the key you just learned for at least several days. You can also mix and match your practice routine and move between the keys.
4. Basic chords in the key of C major
C major is probably the first key you learn when learning to play piano, but it is not super practical on the guitar. It is mainly because of the F major barre chord that would show up almost in every single song in the key of C.
Dm should be very easy to learn as it is very similar to D. F major is very similar to F#m, so if you mastered your chords for the key of A (remember, I asked you not to skip to the next key too early!) you should have no trouble with it:
F chord might give you trouble. Check out the detailed guide to F major chord for alternative chord shapes and other tips. Barre chords are not easy, so take your time and be patient with them.
5. Learning chords in other keys
Learning basic chords in the key of G, D, A and C will keep you busy for a while. But when you are ready, feel free to explore other keys and learn chords in other keys. But before you do that I’d suggest you learn to play as many songs in the keys you are familiar with as you can. Memorize them so you can play them from memory confidently!
There will be songs that borrow chords from other keys, so chances are you will be expanding your chord vocabulary even without actively learning all the main chords in a particular key.
I’d do both, learn songs and study other keys.
Learning chords with blank chord diagrams
Like I said, you should practice playing every day for 10-15 minutes. Perhaps several times a day if you have time. There are also things you can do to learn while not playing!
Download and print these blank guitar chord diagrams. You can practice recalling chord shapes and finger positions for each chord by filling in those diagrams and comparing them to the charts you saw in this article.
Well, that should keep you busy for some time! Hope this guide was helpful. Let me know in the comments below. Also don’t hesitate to ask questions! I’ll be happy to answer.
