Basic Guitar Chord Playing and Concepts

Begin your basic guitar journey by learning scales, melodies, and notes for potential songs. Master major, minor, and seventh chords, plus transitions and tuning to jam on songs you like.

Learn to tune your guitar by ear in standard tuning by using open E and fifth-fret references across strings, including tuning B on the G string's fourth fret, then recheck.

Warm up by playing do re mi in the key of C on guitar, using A, D, and G strings (3-5, 2-3-5, 2-4-5) with multiple fingers, then reverse the pattern.

Master the seven traditional major guitar chords: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, learn their shapes, fingerings, and how they sound across the strings.

Learn traditional minor guitar chords—A minor through G minor—including their shapes, sounds, and common fingerings, with multiple voicings.

Learn to play the seven most popular seventh chords, A7, B7, C7, D7, E7, F7, and G7, with practical fingerings, multiple voicings, and tips for clean transitions across shapes.

Explore major seven chords in alphabetical order, from A to G, and learn their look and sound. See fingerings and tips to avoid top strings for cleaner major seven tones.

Learn the seven minor seven chords: a minor seven, b minor seven, c minor seven, d minor seven, e minor seven, f minor seven, and g minor seven, with shapes.

Take your time exploring basic guitar chord shapes by pausing the video, practicing finger positions, and slow strumming until you feel ready to continue.

Explore chord shapes on guitar, move G, E minor, C, D, and F shapes up the fret to octave ranges around the 15th fret.

Learn the three-note power chord on guitar, using the pointer, ring, and pinky while skipping the middle finger, palm muting, and moving up frets for punk rock rhythm.

Learn barre chords on guitar by pressing a full fret with the index finger, forming an f bar chord at first fret, and moving the shape to g power chords.

Learn the C major pentatonic scale on guitar, a five-note pattern (C, D, E, G, A) played up and down across strings, starting at the eighth fret with rock examples.

Celebrate completing the basic guitar course and the many things you learned. Explore our other courses, share this journey with friends and family, and keep rocking.