7 Essential Guitar Chords For Beginners – Learn These Easy Ones First

Learning guitar chords is a process that every accomplished guitarist has gone through. Chords are a fundamental aspect of all music and knowing how to play them can help you not only learn songs faster but write your own songs as well.

This is a major step in your guitar journey, so do take the time to get these under your belt. With practice, you’ll be able to pull these beginner guitar chords out and make them your own.

What’s The Difference Between Major Chords And Minor Chords?

The term “major” and “minor” are labels to reflect the tonality of the chord itself. To fully understand this, you need to take a moment to learn about intervals and how chords are built.

Chords are built of three different notes (called a triad), all of which have an interval of a 3rd between them:

• Root (generally the lowest note in the chord which gives the chord its name, such as E, A, etc.)
• Third
• Fifth

To build a major chord, you will want to start from the root (or starting point of the chord) and count 2 whole steps to get your major 3rd (2 whole steps is called a Major 3rd interval). From this point, 2 more whole steps will give you the 5th of the chord. Major chords tend to have a “happier” sound.

Minor chords are built in the same way, with the biggest exception being that the interval between the Root and 3rd of the chord is 1 1/2 steps (a Minor 3rd interval) between the two (with the 5th staying the same). In other words, lowering the 3rd of a major chord a half step will give you a minor chord. This is what gives minor chords their “sad” sound. 

It might seem a little confusing, but with each chord that we cover, I will spell out the note names so you can see the difference. It is also worth noting that each key signature (or scale) has its own inherent pattern of major and minor chords that are natural to the key. 

D Major

D Major is one of the easiest open chords to learn, and it happens to be very common throughout popular music. To play the D Major chord, you will need to place your:

• Index finger on the 2nd fret of the G string
• The middle finger on the 2nd fret of the high E string
• Ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string

When properly fretted, your fingering should create a triangle shape. When strumming, you can either focus on just playing the triangular shape, or you can add all of the other strings (except for the low E string) to add a more full sound.

Be sure that each string properly rings out, while either properly muting or not playing the low E string with your strum. 

Spelling out the note names, the triad of D Major is built with: D, F#, and A.

C Major

The C Major chord is another very common open chord that is pretty easy to learn. Like the D Major, this chord will involve 3 different fingers. To play the C Major, you will need to place your:

• Ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string
• The middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string
• Index finger on the 1st fret of the B string

When strumming this chord, be sure not to strum the low E string and focus more on strumming from the A string (which the ring finger is fretting) as the starting point of the chord.

Spelling out the note names of C Major, the triad consists of the notes C, E, and G. 

G Major

G Major is another chord that only involves 3 fingers. This fingering spans the width of the fretboard, with the fingering as such:

• The middle finger on the 3rd fret of the low E string 
• Index finger on the 2nd fret of the A string
• Pinky on the 3rd fret of the high E string

This chord can be openly strummed without the worry of having to mute any strings. You can add your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string for a more full sound if desired.

Spelling out the individual note names of G Major will find that the chord is built from the notes G, B, and D.

A Major

A Major is another chord that only requires 3 fingers, although the fingering can be a little tricky to get down if you have big fingers. Ideally, you will want to fret an A Major chord by placing your:

• Index finger on the 2nd fret of the D string
• The middle finger on the 2nd fret of the G string
• Ring finger on the 2nd fret of the B string

When fretted, the A Major chord should have the geometry of a straight line. Take extra care to ensure that each note of the chord is ringing through with clarity.

When strumming the chord, it sounds best without the low E string ringing, with the other open strings able to ring out. With this approach, the open A string would be the lowest sounding note of the chord.

A Major is built with the following notes in the triad: A, C#, E.

A Minor

The A Minor chord is very similar to the A Major chord, except you will hear the distinct sound difference between the minor and major tonality of the chord. This chord also fretted similarly but requires a slight adjustment in fingering.

A Minor can be played by placing your:

• Index finger on the 1st fret of the B string
• Ring finger on the 2nd fret of the G string
• The middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string

In geometric terms, I like to think of this chord as having the shape of a right triangle (the one with a 90-degree angle). As you might have noticed, the straight line formation from A Major is partially intact, with the exception of the note on the B string, which moves a fret lower. 

Again, like the A Major chord, it is best to leave out the low E when playing this chord. Instead, aim and focus on having the open A string be the lowest sounding note in the chord.

A Minor is built similarly to A Major, with the exception of the 3rd being a half step lower: A, C, E. 

E Major

E Major is another chord that has a right triangle geometry. In fact, you can take the same fingering shell for A Minor and shift it over a string to play E Major. 

To play E Major, place your:

• Index finger on the 1st fret of the G string
• Ring finger on the 2nd fret of the D string
• The middle finger on the 2nd fret of the A string

When strumming this chord, it is okay to play every string. 

The E Major Triad is built with the notes: E, G#, B.

E Minor

The E Minor chord is relatively simple to play and does retain some of the E Major fingerings. To play E Minor, you simply need to remove the index finger from the equation (effectively lowering the 3rd). However, for a fingering that will be more applicable in a song scenario, the E Minor should be fingered by placing your:

• Index finger on the 2nd fret of the A string
• The middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string

It is perfectly acceptable to play all of the strings with this chord, as all of the open strings are notes within the chord itself.

E Minor is built with the triad of E, G, and B. Note that the 3rd has been lowered a half step to create the minor sound.

A Helpful Tip When Using Chords

Chords may be easy to learn at first, but switching from one chord to another in a song can be tricky. A useful tip to keep in mind is that you should pay attention to what the fingerings are of each chord and see if you can use a finger as a pivot point.

To give an example, if we were playing a progression of C and A Minor, it would make the most sense to leave your index finger on the 1st fret of the B string, only moving your middle and ring fingers with the chord changes. This works because both chords share the same index finger placement.

Easy Guitar Chords For Beginners, Final Thoughts

Learning chords can be very easy, fun and enlightening, especially when you discover what chords your favorite songs are built from. Learning these chord shapes will go a long way in helping you unlock the entire fretboard and to be able to see the fretboard as a map.

Take your time with a metronome and get these chords down and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a great guitarist.