strumming your first guitar chords

Chords
A chord is three or more notes strummed at the same time.

The first type of chords we will learn are called open chords. That means that the chord includes open strings in it.

Playing or "picking" a string without pressing on a fret is playing an open string.

The chords we will be working on are the "A - D - and E"
These chords are in the key of "A".

A key is a group of related chords or a family of chords. (More on this subject later, and in the chord section).

Left hand position.
Place your thumb on the back of the guitar neck as if you were trying to put a thumb print on it. Don't let it lay flat and try not to have too much of your palm touching the neck.

There are times when your thumb will be hanging over the top of the neck. This is required for certain chords and playing styles, but for now it's important to place your thumb as shown here.

Placing your fingers.
With your thumb in position as described above, curl your fingers around the neck. Use the tip of your finger to press the string. Again, it's almost as if you were trying to put a finger print on the string.

Use your thumb and fingers together sort of like a clamp. You shouldn't have to press very hard. Keep your fingers relaxed.

The video clip shows how to place your fingers on the fretboard to play the "A" chord.

Lets play the chords

Starting with The A chord:

According to the diagram, lets take our 2nd finger and put it on the 2nd fret of the 4th string.

Notice that we press just behind the fret and not on the metal fret itself.

Next we put our 3rd finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string.
Finally we put our 4th finger on the 2nd fret of the 2nd string and we leave the 1st string open.

Use this same method to place your fingers for all chords

Notice the "x" over the 6th string. That means we won't pick that string for this chord.

Now we play or strum the strings from the 5th string all the way down to and including the 1st string.

Note: You can pick one string at a time to make sure that you are getting a solid sound without any buzz noises.

If your getting buzz sounds or the sound is not very clear, try rocking your finger back and forth and pressing a little harder.

Your fingers will get sore from pressing the strings when your a beginner. After a while they will build up calluses (thicker skin) and then they won't hurt anymore.

Now use the same process for the other chords.

In the next lesson we will talk more about strumming.

Chord frames are used for instructional purposes. They are basically just a gridded representation or diagram of your guitar neck that show you where to put your fingers to play chords or notes.

The vertical up and down lines represent the strings and the horizontal left to right represent the frets.

You will see these in most guitar books. Some books have the frames in different positions.
For example, the frame is turned clockwise so that the frets are shown vertically up and down and the strings horizontally instead of the way I show them in these lessons.