How to Play Guitar :: Major and Minor Chords

There are a large variety of guitar techniques that you can learn. As a beginner it’s important to start by getting a firm grip on the basics. One of those is your major and minor guitar chords. Once you’ve get these sorted there are heaps of other chords that you can explore but here is a starting point.

Major and minor chords are really very similar to each other. They are effectively the same chord only they produce a slightly varied sound.

First we are going to look at the major chords. There are only 5 that I would recommend that you start learning as these are the commonly used ones.

These are: G major, D major, C major, A major, and the E major chord.

These major chords are what are called major triads so therefore are made up of 3 notes. There are many different ways you can form on of these chords. When you first learn them make sure you use the most basic guitar chord forms.

For your minor guitar chords there are only 2 that are mainly used. Of course for every major chord there is a minor version but most are rarely used.

The 2 minor chords are: E minor and A minor chord.

The similarities between the two types of chords (major and minor) are large. For example the E major and E minor chords are effectively almost the same chord and produce a very similar sound. The only difference between the two is on note (major/minor 3rd) of the triad these chords form.

When it come to learning how to play guitar chords there are a number of resources that are available to you. You need to make

sure that you get help on learning these so that you know what to do and the correct technique that you should use.

In order to play each chord you need to strum the strings. The strumming technique is very simple, all it is is just either an upwards or downwards motion over the strings where you hit multiple strings to create a sound. By holding down notes on the guitar and strumming the strings you can create the unique sounds these major and minor chords make.