The first topic we cover in our guitar classes in Jannali is open chords. Millions of songs in every style of music use them. As such, you must master them. This article explains the most common open chords. I have divided them into three types: major, minor, and 7th. Become comfortable with them and you are on your way to become a great guitarist.
Major Chords
The first of the open chords you will learn in this article is chord G. Place your second finger on the 6th string, 3rd fret. Next, place your 1st finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret. Finally, place your 3rd finger on the 1st string, 3rd fret. The little “o” above strings 2, 3, and 4 indicate open strings.
Chord C is possibly the trickiest of the open chords to shape correctly and to get a clear sound. Keeping your thumb behind the fretboard will help to resolve this issue. This forces the learner to round their fingers and not touch the adjacent string. You create chord C by placing your 1st finger on the 2nd string, 1st fret. Then, place your 2nd finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret. Finally, place your 3rd finger on the 5th string, 3rd fret. The “x” over the 6th string means that you do not play that string.
Use 3 fingers and 5 strings to play chord A. Place your 1st finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret. Then, place your 2nd finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret. Finally, place your 3rd finger on the 2nd string, 2nd fret.
Use 3 fingers and 4 strings to play chord D. To play this open chord shape, place your 1st finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret. Then, place your 2nd finger on the 1st string, 2nd fret. Finally, place your 3rd finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret. Notice that there is an “x” above the 5th and 6th strings.
Use 3 fingers and all 6 strings to play chord E. Place your 1st finger on the 3rd string, 1st fret. Then place your 2nd finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret. Finally, place your 3rd finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret.
Chord F can be tricky to play. Place your 1st finger over the 1st and 2nd strings, 1st fret. Then place your 2nd finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret. Finally, place your 3rd finger on the 4th string, 3rd fret.
Minor Chords
The “m” next to the letter indicates that it is a minor chord. For chord E minor, place your 2nd finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret. Then, place your 3rd finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret.
Use 3 fingers and only 5 strings to play chord A minor. Place your 1st finger on the 2nd string, 1st fret. Your 2nd finger is on the 4th string, 2nd fret and your 3rd finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret.
Use 3 fingers and 4 strings to play chord D minor. Place your 1st finger on the 1st string, 1st fret. Your 2nd finger is on the 3rd string, 2nd fret and your 3rd finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret.
7th Chords
Chord D7 also uses 3 fingers. Place your first finger on the 2nd string, 1st fret. Your second finger is on the 3rd string, 2nd fret and your 3rd finger on the 1st string, 2nd fret. You play only four strings as there is an “x” above the 6th and 5th strings.
For chord A7, place your 1st finger on the 4th string 2nd fret. Then, place your 2nd finger on the 2nd string 2nd fret. There is also another option for this chord. That is, first place your 2nd finger on the 4th string 2nd fret. Then place your 3rd finger on the 2nd string, 2nd fret.
Chord E7 uses 2 fingers. Place your first finger on the 3rd string, 1st fret. Your second finger is on the 5th string on the 2nd fret.
Chord B7 uses 4 fingers. Place your first finger on the 4th string, 1st fret. Your second finger is on the 5th string, 2nd fret and your 3rd finger is on the 3rd string, 2nd fret. Finally, your 4th finger is on the 1st string 2nd fret. You play five strings as there is an “x” above the 6th.
The last of the 7th chords in this article is Chord C7. Place your first finger on the 2nd string, 1st fret. Your second finger is on the 4th string, 2nd fret and your 3rd finger is on the 5th string, 3rd fret. Finally, your 4th finger is on the 3rd string 3rd fret. You play five strings as there is an “x” above the 6th.
Below are the chord progressions of two popular songs. Both songs use some of the open chords we discussed above. Practice the chord changes slowly until you can comfortably change between them.
Stand By Me
(Ben E.King)
G | G | Em | Em | C | D7 | G | G | (repeat throughout)
Mad World
(Tears For Fears)
[Verses]
Em | G | D | A | (repeat throughout verses)
[Pre-Chorus and chorus]
Em | A | (repeat throughout pre-chorus and chorus)
The open chords covered in this article are a great starting point for a beginner. Once you are comfortable playing them in songs, your next step will be to learn bar chords. If you wish to find out more about the instruments we teach at Do Re Mi Studios, click here.
Have fun!
Hi There,
I’ve a lot of problems making the chord of C due to half an inch missing from my left index finger as C chord is used in a lot of songs this is rather frustrating, any tips would be gratefully appreciated.
Hi Paul! I can see how frustrating this would be for you. Here is a suggestion for chord C: Use finger 2 on the 1st fret 2nd string; finger 3 on the 2nd fret 4th string; finger 4 on the 5th string 3rd fret. Although not the ideal fingers to use, I have seen people use these fingers on chord C successfully. I would be very interested to see how you go. It may take a bit of retraining to get used to doing chords C with these fingers. However, I think it is worth a try. Good luck!