guitar illustrated chords

guitar illustrated chords

A How To Guide To The Chord

Let’s start at the beginning, before you, or anyone can play a chord, they must first be able to identify one, therefore, you have to know what one is, what it is made up of, and when a chord is a chord.

Basic

A chord is any string of notes, played together of three or more notes. If you play two notes together, that is a dyad, or a two-note chord. The reason for the distinction is minor, but on a test, it might matter. So, producing any series of notes played at the same time, (while plucking or strumming the strings) is your basic chord.

When you break down a chord, it falls into one of two subsets, Major, and minor. No matter what scale you are playing the Major chords are always Major chords, these chords are C, A, G, E, D (CAGED). When learning the guitar, this a great starting place, and a typical progression to be learned. These are the basic building blocks of music with the guitar. Learning these 5 chords, while seemingly minor, can set you apart from those that have no understanding of the basics or fundamentals of music.

Understanding the Illustration of a chord

Part of learning the guitar, is memorizing, as much as you can, something called a Chord Book. Now, ‘Chord Book’, is somewhat of a generic term, and is simply used to refer to a collection of diagrams representing different chords, and their position on the fret board of the guitar neck. Learning to quickly identify and position your hand correctly is a skill that will develop the more that you drill it into your routine. It isn’t necessary to have every chord memorized, after a while, you will realize that they start to follow a pattern, then it’s just a matter of realizing where they are, which chord it is, (major or minor) and when to use it.

To put it another way, imagine a front view of the neck of the guitar vertically, which the head and the screws of the guitar at the top, and the body of the guitar at the bottom. The vertical lines represent your 6 strings on the guitar, the horizontal lines, the frets. The first 3 frets are the first ones that you will be dealing with, and as you get more and more refined with your ability, and you gain confidence, you can simply move up (or in this case, down) the fret-board, typically however, the higher on the neck you go, the less notes in a chord. Chord strumming is usually done within the first 7 – 9 frets.

Once you understand the basics of the layout of the notes on the guitar, the chords will start to fall into place, and you will have less problems with “Fat fingers” (when one finger covers two strings, or when you ‘miss’ a string and your finger falls between the strings onto the fret board), you will become more and more confident.

One thing to keep in mind, however is that, when you begin to learn the guitar. Your finger tips, will take a beating. This is normal. The tissue covering the tips of your fingers are usually fairly soft, and not meant for the trauma of the strings being pressed into them, and the vibration of the strings makes it even worse. Unfortunately, this is simply a rite of passage for guitar players. Over time, your fingers will develop a resistance to the pressures needed, and the pain will become less and less of an issue. You may notice that your fingertips go a little numb, or start to peal, this is normal and completely expected as the skin gets thicker and tougher.

Other tips:

• Unless you are planning on using your fingers in your picking (finger-picking), try to keep your fingernails at a reasonable length, the last thing you want to do is get your fingers caught on the strings accidently.
• Try to keep your fingers off the strings when they are not hitting a chord or a note. This can mute or muffle the sound of the note(s), and become frustrating.  As a rule of thumb, try to keep your fingers that are not being used, up and away, but not so far that you have difficulty in manipulating the strings. You will have to find the balance for yourself. (while sometimes the muffling or muting of selected strings is required, for the purpose of this article, let’s assume not.)
• Make sure that your finger-tips are the parts of your finger making contact with the strings, not the bottom or ‘pad’ of your finger. Using the thicker pad of your finger, may work for you at first, but it can lead to lazy technique, and will limit you with your fretwork higher up the neck. As a general rule, just try to use the tips of your fingers all the time. Good technique is about discipline, and using the finger tips, is good technique.
• When strumming a chord, be sure to strum all the strings that to be strummed together.  Moving your hand in a up and down motion is the best way to accomplish this. You may find yourself strumming only a few of the strings, this will happen when you start to strum from an angle.  Keeping the top of the guitar tight against your chest will help to prevent you from strumming at an angle, and again, is good technique.
• Drill, drill, drill. Repetition is the key when learning the guitar. Some of it is pure memorization, but a lot of it, is training your hands and fingers into specific patterns.  Keeping a solid routine of scales, progressions and chord exercises will allow you to progress at a consistent and even pace. If you do get stuck, then go back to your technique and foundation, and just master what you can do.  When you’re ready, you will move on to the next level.

About the Author

when not playing the guitar or writing about music in general, John Is an active outdoorsman and loves the winter sports. While living in Canada, and enjoying winter for 6 months out of the year, John is an active and vocal fan of several NHL teams both in Canada and the USA.

For more of John’s writtings, visit:
<a target=”_new” href=”<a href=”http://www.theguitarreviews.com/”>http://www.theguitarreviews.com/”> The Guitar Reviews</a> for some of his other articles.

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