Guitar lesson
Basic Guitar Chords for Beginners
The 8 basic guitar chords every beginner should learn first — with diagrams, fingerings and practice tips.
The first question every new guitarist asks is “which chords do I actually need?” The honest answer: eight. Five major chords and three minor chords, all in the open position, cover more songs than you can learn in a year.
That is not a simplification. The beginner songs charted on this site are built almost entirely from these eight shapes. Learn them properly and you have a working repertoire; skip one and you will meet it in your first week.
The order to learn them in
Do not learn them alphabetically. Learn them by how many fingers they need and how easily the shape sits under the hand:
| # | Chord | Fingers | Fretted strings | Why here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E minor | 2 | A, D | Both fingers on the same fret, all six strings ring |
| 2 | A minor | 3 | D, G, B | The C shape with one finger moved down a string |
| 3 | E major | 3 | A, D, G | Same cluster as Em with one finger added |
| 4 | D major | 3 | G, B, high E | A tight triangle on the top three strings |
| 5 | A major | 3 | D, G, B | Three fingers in a row on fret 2 |
| 6 | C major | 3 | A, D, B | The first real stretch, ring finger out to fret 3 |
| 7 | G major | 3 | low E, A, high E | The widest stretch of the eight |
| 8 | D minor | 3 | G, B, high E | D major with the first finger pulled back one fret |
Two weeks of ten minutes a day gets you through the first five. The last three take longer, because each one demands a stretch or a finger position that feels backwards at first.
The five major chords
Major chords sound bright and resolved. These five — C, A, G, E and D — are the backbone of almost every beginner songbook.
E major (0-2-2-1-0-0). Middle finger on the A string fret 2, ring finger on the D string fret 2, index on the G string fret 1. All six strings ring. This is the friendliest major shape because the fingers sit in a tight cluster with nothing to stretch.
A major (x-0-2-2-2-0). Three fingers in a row across the second fret of the D, G and B strings. The classic beginner problem here is squeezing the fingers together until they mute each other. Leave a hair of space between them and arch the knuckles.
D major (x-x-0-2-3-2). A triangle on the top three strings: index on the G string fret 2, ring on the B string fret 3, middle on the high E string fret 2. Strum only the top four strings — the low E and A are marked X for a reason.
C major (x-3-2-0-1-0). The first chord that asks for a genuine stretch: ring finger to the A string fret 3, middle on the D string fret 2, index on the B string fret 1, low E silent. If your C sounds thin, the ring finger is almost certainly lying flat and muting the open G string.
G major (3-2-0-0-0-3). Three fingers spread across the widest gap in the eight. There are three common fingerings and no single correct one; the two-finger version (3-x-0-0-0-3) is a legitimate voicing and the fastest route to a clean sound, though you should move to the full shape once your hand can span both E strings.
The three minor chords
Minor chords sound darker and more emotional, and in practice they are easier than their major counterparts.
E minor (0-2-2-0-0-0). The easiest chord on the guitar: two fingers, both on fret 2, on adjacent strings. If a beginner could only play one chord, it should be this one.
A minor (x-0-2-2-1-0). The C major shape with the ring finger lifted off the A string and moved to the D string. Once you can play C, Am is a one-finger edit rather than a new chord to memorise.
D minor (x-x-0-2-3-1). D major with the first finger pulled back from fret 2 to fret 1 on the high E string. That single semitone is the whole difference between bright and sad, which makes D and Dm the cleanest demonstration of what a third does to a chord.
The eight chords in real songs
This is the part that matters. Every song below uses only the eight shapes on this page:
| Song | Key | Chords | What it drills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three Little Birds | A | A, D, E | Three majors, no minors, slow changes |
| Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door | G | G, D, Am, C | Your first four-chord loop |
| Country Roads | G | G, Em, D, C | Major-to-minor changes at a walking pace |
| Stand By Me | G | G, Em, C, D | The I-vi-IV-V doo-wop loop |
| Zombie | Em | Em, C, G, D | A minor-key loop with one hard change |
| Ain’t No Sunshine | Am | Am, Em, G, Dm | Every minor chord you know, in one song |
| Take It Easy | G | G, D, C, Em, Am | Five of the eight, at tempo |
| Amazing Grace | G | G, G7, C, Em, D | Your first seventh chord |
Start with Three Little Birds and Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Both move slowly enough that you hear the change coming before you have to make it.
How to practise basic chords
- Fret cleanly. Place each finger just behind the fret wire, not on top of it, and press with the fingertip.
- Check every string. Pluck the strings one by one. Any buzz or dead note means a finger is touching the wrong string.
- Use the “hover” drill. Form the chord shape, strum, release, and hover just above the strings. Form it again from scratch. This builds muscle memory faster than holding the chord down.
- Change between two chords. Pick any pair — G and C, or Am and E — and switch back and forth with a metronome at 50 BPM, then speed up.
Diagnosing a chord that buzzes
| What you hear | What it usually is | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| A dull thud on one string | A finger is lying flat and touching the neighbouring string | Arch the knuckle and fret with the tip |
| A rattle that stops when you press harder | Finger too far behind the fret wire | Move up until you are almost touching the fret |
| One string missing from the chord | You are strumming a string marked X | Check the diagram before blaming your fingers |
| The whole chord sounds thin | The lowest string in the shape is muted | Play the strings one at a time to find it |
Buzzing is almost never a strength problem. Nine times out of ten it is position, and the fix takes ten seconds once you know where to look.
The basic chord chart
The diagram wall at the top of this page is the one to save, print, or memorise. Once you can play all eight chords and change between any pair of them, you are officially no longer a beginner.
Want it on paper? Download the printable chord chart PDF (36 chords across three A4 pages), or print a stack of blank chord boxes to write your own shapes into.
What to learn after the eight
The eight open chords are a complete vocabulary for hundreds of songs, but they run out in two places: keys that need F, Bb, Eb or Ab, and any song that moves up the neck. Both problems have the same solution — barre chords, which turn two shapes into every major and minor chord in existence.
Before that, though, spend a week on changing chords smoothly. Speed of change, not the number of chords you know, is what makes a beginner sound like a player. The easy chords guide covers the drills that get you there.