Teach Yourself the Guitar Chords You Need to Know
To teach yourself guitar, you need to learn how to play guitar chords. When I first picked up a guitar, I wanted to play along with my favourite songs. Straight away! I soon realized that I needed to learn guitar chords, before I’d be able to strum along to any guitar songs. So I bought myself a book of guitar chords for beginners, worked out how to decipher the diagrams, and twisted my fingers into a G Chord.
My fingers hurt, and the noise coming out of the guitar sounded like somebody was trying to strangle the cat, but it was definitely a G Chord! Before too long, I’d added a few more simple chords to my G and I was playing ‘Free Bird’. OK, so I wasn’t quite ready for the solos yet, but I could happily bash out the rhythm guitar part.
If you want to teach yourself the guitar, you need to learn guitar notes, and you need to learn guitar chords. The most important guitar chords for beginners to learn are the open chords in each of the major keys. Once you teach yourself the guitar chords in the open position, you will be able to play along with many of your favourite songs.
As your confidence grows, you’ll learn how to play guitar chords that are more complex variations on the basic chords. You’ll learn chords in different positions on the guitar fretboard, and you’ll pick up the chord progressions that guitarists use in different styles of music such as blues, rock, country and jazz.
So how can you learn guitar chords? Unlike when I started, there is a huge amount of free information available on the internet, so you won’t need to buy a guitar chord book. One of the best resources that I’ve found online is the free Jamorama Chord Book. This book not only teaches you all the common guitar chord types you need to be a great guitarist, but also shows you progressions, in different musical styles, so you can apply each new chord straight away.
The chords in this book are presented with clear diagrams and accompanying photos to help you visualize and grasp each new chord easily. Click here to go to the Jamorama website then just click on the Online Chord Book tab at the top of the screen, and download your free book of Guitar Chords. While you’re there, have a look at their comprehensive guitar lessons for beginners too. This is one of the most popular online guitar instruction courses available, and a great way to teach yourself guitar!
Hi! I'm Mike Elliott and I love playing guitar. Sounds like a six string rehab confession, but it's true. I'm addicted! I'll help you save on tuition & have fun as you teach yourself guitar!