In this article, I show you how to learn your first easy guitar chords to play songs within a couple of days. I focus on helping you start out as easy as possible.
Still, I want to set your expectations right. It will take several months of practice to master all the easy guitar chords I cover here.
I’ve been playing the guitar for 20+ years. I helped out many of my friends to start learning the guitar. I created this article based on my experience with them.
I will show you 5 easy chords to start. Then, the 8 essential basic chords for the first few months. It will allow you to play thousands of popular songs on your guitar. Many refer to them as “cowboy chords”. They are all relatively easy on their own. It makes perfect sense to start your guitar journey with them.
At the end, I also collected 64 easy basic chord variants for you. Use them to sound more colorful and unique in an easy way. Just like many famous artists.
As I see it, many beginners struggle to start out with easy chords. The reason is, that in reality, the transition between the chords makes it difficult. Not the chords themselves. Therefore, I focus on easy fingering chords AND the easy transition between them.
I show you the right order for learning. As a benefit, you will experience success sooner with your first songs. And, your learning progress will be easier and faster. Master these easy guitar chords before you start learning chords with difficult fingerings.
Here are the steps to learn your first easy guitar chords:
Let’s jump into it.
1 – Setup yourself for success
As a beginner, you want to focus on learning the basics. The playability of a guitar can be terrible without the right setup. Even an advanced player would struggle with easy chord fingerings on that.
First, go to a luthier and get a professional setup for your guitar. A luthier can adjust your guitar intonation and the tension of your strings. Trust me, it’s the best investment to start your guitar journey.
Before you start playing your first chords, make sure you can tune your guitar properly.
Motivation
First things first. You don’t want to learn chords. You want to learn songs to play, right? Playing a song is a real reward for a guitarist. At any level. Build up on that to keep your motivation. Put yourself in a positive feedback loop. You will practice more and develop faster if you have the rewards.
So, here is my take.
Always learn chords by learning songs. The first three chords I show you will allow you to play many songs. Later, as you progress, learn new chords that you need to play new songs. Choose songs that you like.
Fingerings
You can play a chord with different fingerings. You always choose fingerings for songs. Take a look at the order of the chords in a song first. Choose fingerings for the chords one by one. Your goal is to make the transition between chords as easy as possible.
In chord diagrams, numbers show you which fingers to use.
Open strings (green dot) and muted strings (red x dot) are also important parts of chords. Don’t forget to notice them when learning chord fingerings.
Transition between chords
The transition between chords determines the fluidity of your playing. And the easiness of learning new chords.
Guitar chord progressions are a series of chords played one after another in a pattern. Instead of chords, focus on learning chord progressions. To learn a new chord put it in a chord progression and practice playing that.
Make it easy for yourself to switch between chords by focusing on the following things:
- Choose from different fingering versions of chords in different progressions
- Keep some fretting fingers in the same position as you switch between chords
- Use non-fretting fingers in the next chord
- Everybody is different – use fingerings that feel natural FOR YOU
2 – Start with POWER CHORDS
Power chords are the easiest version of chords for a beginner. You pluck two strings at a time and use one or two fingers to fret a power chord. Your fingering position is the same with all these chords so you only need to slide on the neck. The transition between them is easy.
Power chords are simple versions of open chords. You always play the base note of a chord and it’s 5th. Use your index finger and ring finger to play power chords. This is how you do it:
Move up on your neck accordingly. Play any power chord on your thickest E and A strings with the same fingering. Your index finger determines the base note.
You can similarly play power chords on your A and D strings:
Pro tip: use your thumb to mute your E string by slightly touching it
Pro Tip: Use your index finger to mute your E string by slightly touching it
Learn the music notes on the strings and play any power chord with this simple fingering.
Power chords sound full on electric guitars. There are many popular songs out there using only simple power chords:
- Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Blur – Song 2
- The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
- The Kinks – You Really Got Me
- Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
- Nirvana – Molly’s lips
You can use them on acoustic guitars as well. The good thing about power chords is that you can use them instead of major, minor or any other open chord variants.
Use the G power chord for example if you see G major, G minor, or even G7 in the song you want to learn.
You can learn almost any song in a simplified version using power chords.
3 – Learn 5 easy OPEN CHORDS
You strum 5 or all 6 strings when you play open chords.
Learn alternate G, C, and D chords first – with easy transition
There is a way to play G, C, D chord progressions with an easy transition.
You access hundreds of popular songs by knowing only these three chords. This is the main reason I recommend to start with them. It will boost your motivation to practice them.
First, instead of the basic chords use alternate versions of these chords to start out easily:
G, C, D → G, Cadd9, Dsus4
The fingering method makes it easy to switch between them. You keep two fingers (3, 4) in the same position all the time. You only move the index and middle fingers to new positions.
Use these alternate chord versions interchangeably with the basic ones. Look for your favorite G, C, D songs. Here is a cool website that helps you search songs based on the chords you know.
Some songs that you can play with these three chords:
Learn alternate A and E chords – with easy transition
You can play two more chords by following this easy fingering method. You keep two fingers in the same position still. You can add Em7 and A7sus to your repertoire using your index and middle finger for fretting:
Now you have alternate C, A, G, E, D chords with easy fingering. The songs that use exactly these chords:
4 – Learn 8 essential OPEN CHORDS
As a beginner, you want to master the 8 essential open chords early on. These are all easy to fret but take you far. You can play and sing thousands of songs by knowing these chords. These chords are:
C, A, G, E, D, Em, Am, Dm
Learn minor chords Am, Em, Dm
These are the basic minor chords for you to learn first. You can use different fingerings for each based on the chord progression of the song. Here are the chord fingerings:
Em chord – fingering version 1:
Em chord – fingering version 2:
Am chord – fingering version 1:
Am chord – fingering version 2:
Dm chord – fingering version 1:
Dm chord – fingering version 2:
Songs to play with these easy minor chords:
Learn C, A, G, E, D major chords
By now you have some success with easy-fingering CAGED chord progressions. It’s time to learn the normal version of the 5 essential major chords.
I show you more fingering versions. To begin, learn the first fingering version of each. Later, use the secondary fingering versions to make a particular song’s chord progression smoother.
Add the C, A, G, E, D basic major chords to your repertoire.
Here is the C major:
Here are three fingering versions of the basic A major:
Here are two fingeing versions of G major that you can often use:
Two fingering version of E major. Use the first version most of the time. The second version will be useful when later you play barre chords next to it:
Two fingering versions of D major:
Some popular songs to learn with the 8 essential basic chords:
Combine basic open chords and use power chords instead of barre chords to learn:
5 – Learn 64 easy OPEN CHORD VARIANTS
There are many alternate versions of every basic chord. I show you the variants that are very easy to fret. They sound a little different from the basic chords. But, you can often substitute the original chord with them. You can use them to make your sound more colorful.
Many artists use these chords to create their versions of cover songs. Experiment with them after you mastered the basic chords. Start developing your own unique guitar sound early on.
Here is a list of alternate chords with easy fingerings:
E chord easy variants
Em chord easy variants
G chord easy variants
Am chord easy variants
C chord easy variants
D chord easy variants
Dm chord easy variants
Here are some songs with easy alternate chords:
What to do next?
These easy basic chords are enough for ten thousands of songs. Have fun! Make sure to check out how to read guitar tabs. Learn easy guitar chord songs. Develop your picking hand skills as well. Learn strumming patterns and finger-picking techniques. Keep practicing. Enjoy your guitar journey.
