What are some easy chords on guitar to get me started?

Answer 1

To get them started, I teach my beginner students Em, G, D, and A. They're easy and fun. You can play these chords in a progression as well (these are the chords for the song "Pumped Up Kicks").

Answer 2

All of the previous answers here are really good, and alongside G, D, C, A, and Em, I feel you should also learn Am, as well as a few easy jazz chords to spice up your sound. Because I can't post images of the chord charts, try searching each of the chord names on www.jguitar.com to see charts of how to finger each chord.

Playing in the key of G will make G, Em, C, D, and Am useful to you. Playing in C will make C, G, Em, and Am useful (and is a good opportunity to learn Dm). Playing in D will make D, G, A, and Em useful. Additionally, learning E major is good because it's the lowest open chord on standard tuning; a lot of rock music is played in the key of E because all of the open strings appear in this key.

Now, if you know where to use them, there are some extremely easy jazz chords you can learn, such as A major 7th, E minor 7th, G 6th, and C major 7th. You should start by learning songs that use these, and then see how they sound in relation to other chords. Try playing Em, then Em7, and listen to the difference. Try the same with G and G6, A and Amaj7, C and Cmaj7, etc. Their dissonance makes them unsuitable for use on their own but they can sound absolutely beautiful in between more "normal" chords. The G6 chord appears in the key of C, the Amaj7 appears in the key of A, the Cmaj7 appears in the keys of C and G, and the Em7 appears in the keys of C, D, and G.

Another chord that will be infinitely useful when practiced is F, but this one is harder than the others I've mentioned, as it's a bar chord. You can practice this further down the neck, closer to the body of the guitar, where less force will be required to fret the strings with your index finger (this is a hint as to why F, and later, the much harder B, is so important). Learning F and being able to play it reliably is the foundation to playing just about any chord and any song you want.

Answer 3

Good for you to be interested in learning how to play the guitar.

A good way to jump into this is learn a few chords that you can use to play some standard songs.

A good start is learning G , C, and D. (you can look at chord charts on-line to learn the fingering).

Work hard on these chords and listen how well they work together in a song such as johnny b good (classic early rock and roll).

Have a good time on your musical journey!

Andy

Answer 4

My suggestion would be to start with G major, C major, D major , and E minor. You will find that with these four chords, you can play a huge variety of songs from many genres of music. These chords are also on the less challenging side when it comes to the placement of your fingers on the fretboard. You can look up chord charts to see how exactly to finger each one.

Examples of songs that can be played using only these chords: Good Riddance- Green Day, I'm Yours- Jason Mraz, Count on Me- Bruno Mars, etc.

You can also search "Songs in the Key of G" on google and likely find many more that only use these 4 chords.

I hope this helped! Feel free to message me if you need additional help or a tutoring session :)

Answer 5

The way I taught myself how to play guitar was to start with the chords based on the actual tuning of the guitar strings.. E, A, D, G, B, E.. otherwise known as "cowboy chords" or "Beatle chords.. [for obvious reasons.]

Get any simple guitar book with those "boxes" showing the fingering of the chords.

You can cover a lot of ground with these. For instance,

The Blues in A is "A-D-E": the Blues in E is: E-A-B...

Now there are other tones in chords, but this will give you a good solid start and send you on your way..

Good luck and good playing.. ~ g

Answer 6

The best chords that will start your musical journey are: G, D, C, and A. The four of these are major chords that you have most likely heard in many songs.

Standard tuning is EADGBe (biggest to smallest string)

1. G major is played by having your pointer finger on the 2nd fret of the A string, your middle finger on the 3rd fret of the E string, and your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the e string
2. D major is played by having your pointer finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the e string, and your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string
3. C major is played by having your pointer finger on the 1st fret of the B string, your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, and your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string
4. A major is played by having your pointer finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, and your ring finger on the 2nd fret of the B string

Enjoy! You can play these chords in many diverse fashions that will all sound wonderful!