Some Facts Regarding Acoustic Guitar Chords
January 14th, 2008An acoustic guitar chord is several notes all played at once. There are a lot of different acoustic guitar chords, but if you can learn a few basic ones, you can then play hundreds, if not thousands, of songs. There are some of the major chords, which have a brighter sound whilst the minor chords have a darker or sadder sound.
The chords that you play on a guitar are notated using chord diagrams and those for the acoustic guitar are similar in ways to guitar tabs. The main difference however being that the lines, which represent the strings on the acoustic guitar, run vertically instead of horizontally. Often when you first look at a chord diagram all you will see before you is a grid.
The vertical lines represent the strings. The horizontal lines represent the frets. The dots represent where you are to hold the string down. You will also see numbers, either at the top or the bottom of the diagram which represent which finger you are to use to hold down each string, with 1 meaning index, 2 middle, 3 ring and 4 pinky.
If however you see a zero this is means that the string should be left open as it is played. Although the thumb does not generally, get used when playing the guitar on the grid this is denoted by the letter “T”.
The first acoustic guitar chord we’re going to talk about is the G-major chord. To play this chord, place your middle finger on the sixth string at the third fret, your index finger on the fifth string at the second fret and your ring finger on the first string on the third fret. Now play each note, including the open strings, one at a time.
It is important as you play each note that you hear them clearly and you do not hear any kind of buzzing or rattling sounds as you play them. If you do hear something additional then trying pressing down on the fingerboard harder or move the finger in question closer to the fret. Also you should make sure that at no time does any of the fingers touch each other or any of the other strings as this can further cause the sound to be off. Plus play each note individually and do not strum them all at the same time. By following these simple steps, you should find that you are able to the G-Major acoustic guitar chord.
The next acoustic guitar chord we’re going to try is much easier on the fingering; E-minor. In this chord, you place your index finger on the second fret of the fifth string, and your middle finger on the second fret of the fourth string. Be sure to make enough room on the fret for both fingers without letting them touch each other. Try each of the notes out and adjust your fingering until you get the right sound. Strum the E-minor chord. Notice how the minor chord gives you a darker sound.
The other basic acoustic guitar chords that all would be guitarists should learn in the beginning are C-Major, D-Major, A-Major and A-Minor. As well as learning about positioning of the fingers in order to play these chords in order to become really proficient a person should spend a great deal of time practicing them. The more a person’s practices then the more likely they are to get their fingers into the right position more quickly and fluidly and so the sound quality they produce as they play will be greatly improved.
