How to Play Any Guitar Chord

Guitar music is built upon the playing of chords. Guitar chords are created by the placement of the player's fingers upon specific frets on the neck of the guitar. Chords vary in difficulty from the very simple "three-chord" style of early Rock and Roll to more complicated contortions of the fingers.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Start learning guitar chords with guitar playing terminology. A critical term is "tablature."Tablature shows the positions of notes on the frets and strings. Reading tablature is the key to learning guitar chords. The tablature is a diagram of the neck of the guitar.
2. Read the tablature from the top down with the top being the head of the guitar. The lines on the tablature represent the individual strings. The placement of the fingers on the correct frets is identified in the tablature. This placement of the fingers creates the chord. A chord is created when three or more notes are played in harmony. The chord, such as C# will be identified on the tablature, as are the notes each individual finger plays.
3. Recognize on the tablature that the index finger is number one and the little finger is number four. Press the fingers down firmly but allow them to remain supple as playing the guitar requires frequent changing of the finger placement.
4. Note carefully the placement of Xs and Os on the tablature. The Xs signify which strings are played and Os are used to signify open strings or strings which are not played. A series of Os (OOO) are used to let the player finger the notes as they chose.
5. Play any chord in this fashion. Thousands of guitar tablatures are available free. Practice making the chord changes as the fingers move. Some songs require the player to drag their fingers across the strings as the chords change. There are alternative fingerings for left-handed people and for simplifying chord changes.