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Home > Guitar Chords

Learn Guitar Chords
Guitar Chord Lessons


This section will encourage you to learn guitar chords not just by their fingering and formation on the fretboard, but also the theory behind chord construction and how chords work together.

These guitar chord lessons will take you right from the basics through to more advanced chord playing theory.

With clear, "over the shoulder" photos, animated diagrams, jam tracks and audio references, you'll have all the tools you need to discover the many different types of guitar chord. You'll then be ready to jam freely with a band, play your favourite songs and, best of all, write your own songs.

Jump to:  Quick Lesson - Chord Lessons - Chord Chart - Questions

Quick Guitar Chord Lesson


Brendan demonstrates how to connect chord voicings together...



Guitar Chord Lessons

Guitar Chord Basics
The absolute basics of fingering guitar chords on the fretboard. Some essential tips to ensure your chord playing is clean and clear. Take this lesson before you move on to learn guitar chords and their fingerings.


Basic Guitar Chords
The best place to begin your chord learning journey. 5 part course that takes you through the main open position chords and their interesting variations. Some of the most loved music out there exclusively uses the chords in this course and you'll probably use them for your entire guitar playing life, simply because they sound good!

Grab your free printable Beginner Guitar Chord Chart

Power Chords
Power chords are not strictly chords, rather two notes played together (diads). However, they are played in the same context as chords. Power chords are used religiously in rock and heavy metal and sound great under high gain/distortion. Very easy to play, and a good primer for the chord forms we'll come to later.


Barre/Movable Guitar Chords
This is where you move your chord playing away from the first few frets of the guitar to completely dominating the fretboard. Get introduced to how chord voicings appear across the entire guitar neck, and how to open up your chord playing options when improvising or writing your own music.


Open String Guitar Chords
This series of lessons expands on the open chord shapes from earlier, moving them up the fretboard and using open strings to create unique sounding chords. Some great ideas to be found here, so take a look and expand your chord playing options even further.


Slash Chords
This lesson introduces you to the world of chord inversions, where the bass note of a chord is not necessarily the root note. Also, we look at some simple walking bass lines to compliment our chord progressions.


Funk Guitar Chords
Teaches you those jazzy/bluesy chord voicings heard in funk, starting with the basic barre/movable chord shapes. We then move on to chord phrasing in funk, to really complement those lively grooves (to be covered in the rhythm section). Includes funk inspired jam tracks to help you experiment with different voicings.


Metal Guitar Chords
Modify and add to those basic root-5th powerchords commonly used in metal and you'll have tons more options for making your metal more melodic. Looks at cut down 9th, diminished, suspended and other forms commonly used in heavy metal.


Chord Root Notes
Introduces you to the theory behind how root notes work in forming guitar chords. The root note is the note that gives a chord its tonal center. In other words, once you know the root note is for a given chord, you can apply that chord in several positions and therefore create several voicings for the same chord.


Guitar Chord Theory
This course is for those guitarists who want to understand how chords are constructed and where they "come from". Really adds a new perspective to learning chords on the guitar, showing you how to effectively build your own chords from scratch, using the major scale as your foundation.


Guitar chord lessons based on popular searches


Bm guitar chord - E7 guitar chord - D7 guitar chord

Free guitar chord chart


Spend a little time every day studying a chord chart to expand your chord library.

Tips for using a chord chart effectively:

  • Test your knowledge by trying to find different voicings of the chords you already know.
  • Try building your own chord progressions using a selection of chords from the chart.
  • Pick out the same chord across all keys and hear how even though the chords use a different root note, they create the same interval sound (e.g. E major, A major, D major - different chords, but the same chord type and flavour).
  • Try modifying the chords you learn by adding/removing available fingers/strings. Try also leaving some strings to ring open in the chord shape (this won't work for all positions, but let your ear be the judge of that!)

Make sure you bookmark your free chord chart here. It's a valuable resource.


Guitar Chord Questions

Ask Your Guitar Chord Related Question Here...

This is where you can ask any question regarding guitar chords and chord theory.

Summarise your question or problem

Guitar Chord Questions From Other Visitors

Click below to see submissions from other guitarists. Feel free to comment on the answers provided and help expand the topic...

Diminished 7th chords in blues  Wondering if I have a tin ear:

In a simple blues progression in D (something like "Born Under A Bad Sign"), it sounds like I can replace both chords ...

How do you play barre chords if you are a beginner?  Question: I have a book the has barre chords but I don't know how they work. I have tried them but they don't sound very good. Need Help!

Answer ...

Chord Shapes and Scale Patterns  Question: I'm a beginner. How do you interpret the different Shapes (E,D,C,A,G) in terms of the different Scales? For example - what makes the first ...

Phrygian chord progression  Question: I don't know where to start. I need help with some examples of a chord progression for A flat phyrgian. Can I use an E major chord? An F minor ...

Chord practice and chord changes  Hello, This is Landon Koon. I had a quick question on practicing chords and changing them. When ever you practice your chords whether it is basic open ...

How do I find a chord name from its chord shape?  For example I have a chord which is similar to an F chord, and I need to find out what it is called so I can write it down on paper. Can you help? Ross....

Substitute chording  I am new to intermediate in acoustic guitar. Interested in playing a song such as Long As I can See the Light .

In the key of A there is an F#m or ...

How do you play a chord that skips a string?  I was looking at the tab and found some chords that are played on the A and G string but not the D string. How do I play those chords without strumming ...

How to change key  Hi Mike I have a problem with key changing.

I'm writing a song in E major key run into A major (I don't know how I did it lol whatever, it sounds good ...

Diminished 7th Guitar Chords  Question: Hello my question is about the use of the Dim7 (diminished 7th) chord/arpeggio. I understand that, in the terms of the major scale (in this ...

Do 9th chords always include the 7th?  Question: Is the 9th chord always based on a dominant 7 chord?

Answer

People use the term "9th chord" in different ways. Technically it just ...

Power chord progressions  Question: Because 5th chords (power chords) are diads, what do I do with them in relation to chord progressions? I used to just use them as an everyday ...

Fingers won't reach on some chords  Question: I find it impossible to play many of the jazz chords as my fingers just won't reach. Suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer

This ...

G7 second position fingering  Question: What is the shape of a G7 chord at the second position?

Answer

Chord positions tend to be identified based on the position of your ...

Metronome speed for chord changes  Question: I'd like to know what speeds I should be at using the metronome while changing chords. I'm a true beginner but I love these tutorials and I'...

Chord progression in E major key  Question: I'm a green hand. I've just started reading and studying songwriting theory on this website.

I've made a simple chord progression in E major ...

Fingering for C# chord  Question: Is there an alternative fingering for the C# chord? I really have trouble not strumming the high E and low E strings.

Answer

The chord ...

Tabbed chord progressions  Question: How can you identify the chord progression of a song just by looking at the tabs for it?

Answer:

As looked at in the lesson on how ...

Do you fret the entire 4th fret for the G sharp/A flat chord?  Question: Do you fret the entire 4th fret for the G sharp chord and do I do the same for the F sharp chord?

Answer:

Hi Dinorah, I assume you'...







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