Virtual Star Guitar Lesson 7
In the previous six lessons, you learned the notes of the G Major scale across all six strings. Now we need to learn how to play some chords so that we will have something to play the scale over. Remember rhythm guitar versus lead guitar we talked about in the first chapter? The chords are usually played by the rhythm guitarist.
So what are these chord things anyway? A chord is basically just a set of three or more notes that are played simultaneously. There are many many many different chords. The number of chords that it is possible to play on the guitar is practically endless.
Since we have now learned the G Major scale, we will start off learning chords in the key of G. That way all of the notes we have learned will sound good when played over the chords. You have to pick the right notes to play over a particular set of chords or else it will sound terrible.
In the key of G there are some basic chords that we are going to start with. These chords are G Major (G), C Major (C), and D Major (D), also just referred to as G, C, and D respectively.
Let’s start with the G chord. Take a look at this diagram. Yes, there is yet another diagram that you will have to learn that are used to represent chords. It’s pretty easy though.
At first glance, the chord diagram looks like a grid with some dots on it which is basically all that it is. The lines going up and down top to bottom represent the strings. Count them. There are six total, one for each string. The sixth string (fattest) is to the far left.
The lines going side to side left to right represent the fret bars. The lowest numbered frets are at the top and increase the further down the diagram you go.
The dots represent where your fingers go. You will need to know which string and also which finger.
Finally, the little “1″ to the left of the diagram shows that the first fret shown is actually fret 1. Many chords do not start with fret one, but are played higher up on the neck. Let’s take a bit more detailed look at this specific diagram for the G chord.
Here is a picture of my guitar so that you can see how the diagram aligns with an actual guitar neck.
From the diagram we can see that our first finger is placed on the 2nd fret on the 5th string. Our second finger is placed on the third fret on the 6th string. Finally our third finger is placed on the third fret of the 1st string. It will look something like this.
Ready to give it a strum? We will continue to hold our fingers as depicted by the diagram and then we will strum all six strings. It should sound something like this.
Audio Example C7_1:
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Give it a try. How did it sound? It may seem difficult at first to twist your fingers into these chord shapes. As you play these chords more and more, your fingers will learn exactly where they need to be over time and they will be able to automatically jump effortlessly from chord to chord. It will take some practice though before this happens so do not get frustrated. Be patient, practice as much as you can, and before you know it you will be playing chords like a real life guitar player.
Ok. As always we need a way to write chords musically so we will know what to play for a particular song. We will use tablature again. Here is the tablature for the G Major chord we are learning to play.
(Click to enlarge)
If you walk through the tablature for the G chord, you will find that it matches the chord diagram picture as far as what strings you play and where you put your fingers. Don’t get worrried about it being too complicated and having too many notes to read. See that G over the top of the first chord on the tab diagram? That is all we really need to worry about for now. When you see the G at the top of the tab diagram, you know that you will play the G chord that you learned from the G chord diagram.
Let’s take a closer look at the tab example. We know from previous lessons that the chords are shown using whole notes. Whole notes get 4 beats so will are going to strum and hold the G chord for 4 beats before moving to the next G chord.
You may have noticed a new symbol that you have not seen before. See the little half box symbol below the chord? That is the symbol for a down stroke or down strum. There are two ways to strum the strings. You can start from the fattest 6th string and strum downwards from 6th to 1st. That is called a down stroke.
You can also strum the strings upwards starting from the thinnest 1st string and strumming up to the fattest 6th string. This is called an up stroke. We will learn that in a minute.
So before we start our example, here is what we will be playing. We will be playing the G Major chord that we just learned. We know to play the G Major chord because of the letter G that is written over the chord shown on the tablature diagram. We will strum and hold the chord for 4 beats because the chord is shown using whole notes. We know that we will strum downwards because of the little half box symbol below tab. Here is what it should sound like.
Audio Example C7_2:
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Are you ready to give it a try yourself? Here is the drumbeat without my guitar.
Audio Example C7_3:
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Practice this for a while until the chord sounds good. The more you practice, the quicker your fingers will start to memorize the chord patterns and be able to automatically go where they need to be.
I want you to learn a few more chords before we start to put it all together. Songs that only have one chord are not very exciting. Let’s learn a couple new chords in the next couple of lessons and then we are going to be ready to start playing some songs.
Let’s move on to the C Major chord.
Continue on to Lesson 8…
View the Virtual Star Guitar lesson index…
Do you have any questions or comments on this lesson? If so send me an email and I will respond shortly. rbrewer@myguitaruniversity.com