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Guitar chords are used in almost every genre of music and have been for centuries. They can be easy to play or difficult, depending on the demands of the music you’re playing. While some guitarists may appreciate how simplified it is to play a single note on a string like it’s spelled out in circle letters, others want to know more about how chords are made and how they can take their playing to the next level. Learning more about your guitar isn’t just informative; it will also help you unlock its full potential through your fretting hand. Chords should always be learned one at a time and in the order they appear in any chord chart. If you start with a particular progression first and then work backwards, that progression will always be there waiting for you because of your foresight. So let’s begin by understanding what makes up an individual guitar chord and where those notes come from so that all future chord possibilities become easier for you.

What is a Guitar Chord?

A chord is a combination of at least three different notes played on the guitar. Though you can play chords using any combination of strings, the most common setup is to use the four lowest strings on the guitar. This can be either the first or second position. Chords can be either major or minor. They can also be either major or minor, diminished or augmented. Some chords, like the major scale, are built into the fabric of music itself. Other chords, like the diminished and augmented chords, don’t appear very often in most music.

Major and Minor Chords

Major and minor chords are the most common and most popular chords in all genres of music. The easiest way to remember the differences between major and minor chords is to imagine that one is the “black sheep” of the family, and the other is the “golden child.”

Diminished and Augmented Chords

You can create sound from the five basic “white keys” on the piano using only the major and minor chords. If you also choose to play the diminished and augmented chords in your music, you can create a much wider variety of sounds. As you can see, the diminished and augmented chords take on a darker or “enhanced” sound than either of the other two chords. Though the diminished chord is the most appropriate name, it’s also the one most likely to make you scratch your head because the name is the least helpful and most ambiguous. A better way to think of the diminished chord is to imagine that it’s “diminished” in its sound a little more than the other two chords, which means you can use it to great effect in your music.

Suspended and Extensions

Many musicians will tell you that the best way to understand these chords is to put on a song that uses them, play along with it and then take out one note at a time as you compare it to the original chord. To begin with, let’s talk about the three chords we’re most likely to use: major, minor and diminished. The first step to creating any of these chords is to change the open “E” note on the guitar string to an “A” note. Changing one string from an open note to a closed note automatically lowers the pitch of all other strings (as if an invisible hand had lowered the strings on the guitar so that you could hear and play the new “A” note instead). To create the major chord, you simply play the new “A” on the first string; this is an “open chord” and sounds like a “C” note, the first letter of the word “chord.” To make the chord sound a little more “major,” move the “A” to the second string so you’re now playing a “G” note. To create a minor chord, play the “A” on the first string and the “D” on the third string; this sounds like a “G” note, the second letter of the word “chord.” To change the sound of the chord, either move the “D” to another string or play a “G” note on the second string, as well. The last type of chord we’ll look at is the diminished chord. This chord has a darker sound than either a major or minor chord; you can use it in place of one of the major or minor chords to dull the sound slightly. To create the diminished chord, you play the “A” on the first string and the “D” on the same string; this is a “diminished chord” with a dark “fifth” sound. To pick up the sound again, either move the “D” to another string or play a “D” note on the second string.

Extensions and alternative chords

Extensions are a set of notes you can play on a guitar to lengthen the duration of a particular chord. For example, if you want to play a chord that includes the notes “E,” “G,” “A” and “D” but you don’t have three fingers on the fretboard, you can use the extended notes “F-A-D” to create that same sound while using only two fingers on your fretting hand.

How to Practice Chord Progressions to Make Them Easier to Play

One of the best ways to practice and memorize your chords is to memorize chord charts. While practicing your own songs, you can use chord charts to learn the names of the chords and which fingers you need to use to play them. Once you’ve learned the names for the chords, try memorizing the notes on the fretboard and write them down on paper in the same order you see them on the fretboard. By doing this, you’ll be able to play the notes on the fretboard in the correct order and build your knowledge of fingerings from the ground up. Next, try memorizing the notes on the fretboard in the order they appear in a particular chord progression chart, such as those found online or in a book. This will help you to internalize the order of each chord, which will make it much easier to play your guitar through any chord progression without having to think about what notes you need to play next.

A Final Word

There’s a reason guitarists are often stereotyped as being a little weird and obsessive. Understanding how chords are made and how to play them can feel like an almost impossible task at first, but with practice, patience and dedication, you’ll soon be better than ever at playing the guitar.