Primary Guitar Chords

Learning guitar chords may seem a bit overwhelming at first, especially if you don't use a systematic approach! There are so many shapes and positions available that it could literally take years to try and memorize them all!

In my opinion, it's better to gain an understanding of how chords are made and to focus on learning the most essential ones you need to start playing right away.

There are three types of PRIMARY chords:

MAJOR

MINOR

DOMINANT 7TH

All other guitar chords are a modification of one of these 3 basic types! To begin with, I encourage my students to learn these three primary types because they are used in hundreds of popular songs!

When you are learning guitar chords it helps to understand how they would be used in a song or chord progression. Songs are written in KEYS, of which there are only twelve.

The KEY is determined by the scale that is used to write the melody of a song.

The MELODY of a song is the tune which is sung or played instrumentally.

So, if "Mary Had A Little Lamb" was written in the Key of C, the notes used to sing or play the song would come from the C Major Scale. The chords used to strum the rhythm and accompany the melody would also be related to the C Major Scale.

Learning all the Major, Minor and Dominant 7th primary guitar chords in relationship to each Key provides a good solid foundation from which you can continue building your chord vocabulary. This is the approach I use with all my students.

If you've been following ABC Free Beginner Guitar Lessons, you should already be familiar with:

two MINOR chords - Am and Em

and one Major chord - C

I introduced these guitar chords first because they are fairly easy to play and you can move from one to the next without lifting your second finger. This gives you an "anchor" and helps you to remember the guitar chords faster.

If you've been LISTENING AS YOU PLAY, you have probably noticed that

Minor chords sound sad or dramatic

Major chords sound positive or happy

This is an important point to recognize if you wish to develop your ear. You want to be able to distinguish the sound of one type of chord from another.

A DOMINANT 7TH CHORD has a distinct sound also. It seems to be asking a question: "Are we there yet?" or "When is this song going to end?"

This is an important question and it is the reason why you often see dominant 7th chords near the end of a song. They tend to draw the ear back to the Tonic or keynote chord (usually the first chord of a song) for resolution, bringing the song to an end. Dominant 7th chords are always written using a letter from the Musical Alphabet along with the number 7.

So, to sum up, there are three basic types of primary guitar chords: Major, Minor & Dominant 7th. Each letter of the Musical Alphabet can be made into one of these three types. For example, we could have an A major, an A minor or an A dominant 7th chord, etc.

MINOR

DOMINANT 7th

Notice how the second finger is on the same string in each of the primary chords above.

Exercise:
Strum the chords and listen to the difference in sound between them.

When a song is written, various chords from a Key will be played together in a specific sequence known as a CHORD PROGRESSION. I will be covering more of this in another lesson, but for now, try the following simple version of the Beatles tune "Yellow Submarine" using the primary chords A MAJOR, E MAJOR and E DOMINANT 7 from the Key of A.

• Each chord is strummed four times, which is equivalent to four beats per measure.

• Notice how the first finger is on the same string for all three guitar chords!

• Remember "economy of motion" as you move from chord to chord. Do not pick up your first finger when moving from A to E. Instead, Slide your finger to the first fret, play E and E7, then slide back to the 2nd fret to play A.

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YELLOW SUBMARINE

We all live in a

Yellow submar-ine -

Yellow submar-ine -

Yellow submar-ine -