How To Play Guitar Chord

By Jason Taingahue
When learning how to play a guitar chord we must learn the basic fundamentals first. What is a guitar chord? How is one structured and what is the make up of that structure?

Well to start with a guitar chord is a group of notes combined together either be played together or simultaneously one after the other in no specific order.

First of all before beginning to play a guitar chord we must have a basic understanding of what musical notes are and there relationship to the guitar.

In musical notation there are 7 notes that we must learn and they are A-B-C-D-E-F-G. And in between these notes are what we call flats and sharps which are written like this A-A sharp/B flat-B-C-C sharp/D flat-D-D sharp/E flat-E-F-F sharp/G-G sharp/A flat and then it starts again from A. As you can see in all cases with sharps and flats they are represented by the same position. The difference in knowing weather you are playing a sharp or flat is dependant on weather you want to make the musical piece stronger (sharper) or weaker (flatter).

The next step when learning how to play a guitar chord is to know the distance between each note. These distances are called semitones and tones. A semitone being half a step and a tone being a full step. An example is that the distance between the notes "A and B" is a tone or a full step (which is also two semitones). Now if I was to travel from the note A to A sharp the distance would be a semitone or half step. And this is the case with all notes and distances except the distance between B and C which is only half a step (semitone) because there are no sharps or flats, and the same goes for the distance between E and F.

That is the basic understanding we need to learn of musical notation when wanting to know how to play a chord.

Now we will pick up the guitar and learn what the relationship between the guitar and musical notation, in regards to learning how to play a chord.

First we must learn that the open strings or the strings that you play without having any finger placements on the fret board of the guitar are called open notes and from the bottom string up the open notes are E-B-G-D-A-E. So from learning about basic notation we have an example we can look at which is as follows.

Put your finger on the first fret on the last string. Now when learning how to play a chord, we must practice these structures with all the strings and learn them. Now using the notation and step system we used above, what is the distance between the open E and the string we have just put our finger on and what is the name of that note. If you answered a semitone and F then you would be right. This same practice method can be used anywhere on the guitar.

Now with these basic fundamentals we can learn how to play a guitar chord.

I will put down a letter and beside it I will put a series of notes. The letter will represent the chord you will be playing and the notes will represent the make up of that chord and this is from the open position of the guitar or the position from which the strings are open.

To start off when learning how to play a guitar chord we need a starting point, which will be the bottom of the guitar or the open E string. I will write down 6 notes in order of which each note played will be represented by a string on the guitar from bottom to top.

An A chord would look like this, A chord-e-c sharp-a-e-a-x. Note that I have an "x" in there. The representation of an "x" when learning to play a guitar chord is one of which no note at all is played on that string. So anyway if you look and see that the first note to look for is the "e" and that is an open note on the guitar so no finger placement is needed. We then go to the next note which is played on the next string up and the note we are looking for is a "c sharp" remembering the musical notes and the steps we learnt in the first lesson we should be able to find that note on the fret board. After that, follow the same sequence for all the notes representing the "A chord". Once you have done that you have just learnt how to play a guitar chord and you can now either strum or pick the chord you have just learnt to play.

Below is the list of other notes that represents the other chords as well. Practice makes perfect when learning how to play a guitar chord and also patience.

B Chord f sharp-d sharp-b-f sharp-b-x
C Chord e-c-g-e-c-x
D Chord f sharp-d-a-d-x-x
E Chord e-b-g sharp-e-b-e
F Chord f-c-a-f-x-x
G chord g-b-g-d-b-g

Note that on the B chord in order to learn how to play a guitar chord that represents the B Chord we must form what we call a bar which can cover a series of notes to help make up the chord we are figuring out to play (B in this case) because of the limited fingers we have on our hand. In this case we will form the bar by putting the finger right across the second fret and then play the other notes accordingly with there finger placements.

Well hope that helps on your quest to learning how to play a guitar chord.

See Also:
If you are looking for more information regarding learning how to play a guitar chord then you better check out this site

Learning to play musical instruments like guitar

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