Basic Guitar Chords Primer

The Need to Learn Guitar ChordsA Few Problem you May Face While Learning
You must be able to learn guitar chords to beGuitar Chords
able to play songs. You cannot play an entire songWhen you learn guitar chords, you have to be
on a single string; you must know chords for that.able to hold down the different strings of the
Single string play is what kids who have no ideaguitar across strategic locations on the fretboard.
about playing guitar do, not someone who knowsEach chord has a specific positioning of specific
how to play the guitar.fingers. This gives rise to three basic problems:
Therefore, read on for pointers about things you- Acute pain in the fingers arising from holding
need to know before you learn guitar chords.down strings with fingers stretched.
During the course of this article, you will come to- Pain, numbness, and sometimes even blistering
know about some problems beginners face whenof the soft skin on the fingers.
they learn guitar chords. However, we will not- Inability to switch chords rapidly.
leave you with problems alone; you will also learnThe problems mentioned above are universal to
how to overcome these problems.everyone when they practice chords for the first
Things to Know Before You Learn Guitar Chordstime. As with all problems, these too have
As a beginner, you must be wondering howsolutions.
difficult it would probably be to learn guitar chords.The pain in the fingers is because they are not
You also must be having numerous questionsused to being stretched thus. The best way of
running in your mind. 'Where do I start?' is a verycountering the pain is to exercise your fingers
common question. The answer is obvious: start atbefore your daily practice sessions. Practice
the beginning; learn what a guitar chord is.stretching your fingers over the frets, playing
The dictionary states that a chord is the soundsingle strings as you do this. This exercise
that emanates from a musical instrument whenstretches your fingers, while also enabling you to
you hit a minimum of three pitches simultaneously.increase the speed with which you move the
For someone who is learning the guitar, what thisfingers across the frets.
means is you need to hit the strings togetherThe numbness and blistering of the soft skin is
with the fingers of the strumming hand, whilebecause of the skin rubbing against the
holding down the strings at specific positions onsharp-edged strings for long periods of time. You
the fretboard with the fingers of the other hand,can counter this by rubbing methyl alcohol over
to produce the required sound.the skin of the fingers prior to practice.
There are a number of guitar chords - simple andThe stiffness of the fingers and inability to change
complex. When you start to learn guitar, you learnchords rapidly is because you have never done
the easier chords first. These chords are calledsomething like this ever before. A good counter
simple guitar chords, or beginners' guitar chords.for this is to learn the finger positions for each
The easiest chords to learn are G Major, C Major,chord and practice changing chords slowly.
and D Major. Once you learn these chords, youIncrease the tempo of changing chords over time.
can go on to work on the more complex ones.