Some Facts Regarding Acoustic Guitar Chords
Acoustic guitar chord is made up of several different notes, which a guitarist will play at one time together. Yet as you will soon discover there are lots of different acoustic guitar chords, but if you are able to learn just the basic ones, then you will be able to play hundreds even thousands of different songs on your guitar. As you will discover some of the major chords have quite a bright sound to them, whilst the minor ones will often make a much darker or sadder one.
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.
As you look at it, the vertical lines you see in front of you are those that represent the strings on your guitar, whilst the horizontal ones are there to represent the frets on it. Along with these lines there are dots and these represent the position in which you need to press down on the strings. Further to the dots and lines on the grid there are also numbers at the bottom and it is these that tell you where you need to place your fingers on each string. The Number 1 relates to your index finger, Number 2 to your middle finger, Number 3 to your ring finger and Number 4 to your small (pinkie) finger.
However, if a Zero appears in the notations this means that no finger should be placed on the string and it should be left open. But, if there is a letter “T”, this actually denotes that the guitarist should place their thumb on the string in question.
Now we have explained a little about what makes up an acoustic guitar chord now let us show you the positions you should place your fingers in order to play them. The first chord we are looking at is G-Major. To play this particular chord you need to place your middle finger on to the sixth string above the third fret. Then take your index finger and place this on to the fifth string above the second fret and finally take your ring finger and place this on the first string above the third fret. Once you have your fingers in place you need to play, each of the strings in the order shown one at the time (not altogether).
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.
Along with the two chords that we have mentioned the other basic acoustic guitar chords that one should learn include C-Major, D-Major, A-Minor and A-Major. Also, you need to practice as much as possible and as you practice move between each chord that you have learnt. It is important that you try to get your fingers in to the right positions as quickly as possible, although in it will take some time to achieve this. But by practising them over and over again, you will start to build up muscle memory and then your fingers will start to place themselves without you having to look.
