The Electronic Guitar Site

One of the first skills you’ll need to master as a guitar player is playing chords.  While there are literally thousands of different chord forms possible on the guitar, we’ll focus on a few basic beginner guitar chords that can then be moved and altered to obtain many more chords later on.  These can also be used right away to learn easy guitar songs.Different FlavorsYou’ll learn guitar chords of all kinds, but ultimately there are two basic kinds of chords in music:  major and minor.  Every possible chord can be lumped into one of these two types.  Major chords are built from major scales and have a ‘happy’ sound, while minor chords come from minor scales and tend have a ’sad’ sound.  While some songs use only one kind of chord, most songs and chord progressions mix major and minor chords.  Let’s start with major chords.Major ChordsMajor chords are based on major scales and use the first, third, and fifth notes of the scale.  We’ll start by focusing on five major chords: C, A, G, E, and D.  Learning guitar chords like these will open up a whole world of music for you.  Each chord diagram below shows you where each string should be fretted, and with what finger.  We’ll start with open chords, which means that one or more open (as in not fretted) strings are included.  Open strings are shown with a ‘0′ in front of the first fret.  Let’s take a look at G major, which contains the notes G, B, and D:G Major 0  1   2   3   4   5E|-|—|—|-4-|—|—|B|-|—|—|-3-|—|—|G|0|—|—|—|—|—|D|0|—|—|—|—|—|A|-|—|-1-|—|—|—|E|-|—|—|-2-|—|—|Notice that you need to get your middle finger all the way to the third fret of the bottom string, with the first finger on the second fret of the A string.  Be sure to roll your wrist forward and curl your fingers so all the strings can ring clearly.  Try picking just the A string: if you can’t hear that B note clearly, curl the middle finger a bit more so it avoids the A string.  This will be a constant focus as you learn how to play beginner guitar chords: all the notes need to ring clearly for it to sound good.  Strum downwards with your pick, then upwards: you want all the notes to sound as closely together as possible, so strum quickly.You can also play G major with an open B string:G Major 0  1   2   3   4   5E|-|—|—|-3-|—|—|B|0|—|—|—|—|—|G|0|—|—|—|—|—|D|0|—|—|—|—|—|A|-|—|-1-|—|—|—|E|-|—|—|-2-|—|—|This form is more commonly used in folk and country, while the first form is more common in rock music.  This has to do with the B, which is the major third: with a distorted tone the third can cause some ugly overtones when played on the higher strings.  As you learn guitar chords, be sure to try playing them with a variety of tones and pay attention to what sounds best to you.  Also practice getting your fingers to the right places as quickly as possible.  Be patient: learning guitar chords takes time and practice.  Focus on getting a clean sound from all the notes and you will improve quickly.Let’s take a look at another very common chord, E major (E, G#, B):E Major 0  1   2   3   4   5E |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|B |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|G |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|D |—|—|-3-|—|—|—|A |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|E |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|The guitar e chord is pretty easy to fret, and again you’ll notice that all the strings are strummed.  Pay attention to the fingerings:  learn the wrong fingerings now and you’ll have bad habits that will hold you back later on.  Now let’s look at A major:A Major 0  1   2   3   4   5E |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|B |—|—|-3-|—|—|—|G |—|—|-1-|—|—|—|D |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|A |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|E |-x-|—|—|—|—|—|Notice that ‘x’ on the low E string?  That means that string isn’t supposed to be strummed.  Even though E is part of the A major chord (A, C#, E), the low E makes the chord sound too muddy and hides the A root note.  So, after you’ve twisted your left hand fingers around the chord, pay careful attention to only picking the top five strings.  Also, make sure you can hear the high E string.  This is actually one of the more difficult beginner guitar chords you’ll learn, simply because your fingers are in such a small area.  Stick with it, though, and follow the suggested fingerings.Once you can play A major, try switching between E major and A major.  Take your time: a very slow, clean transition with all the notes sounding clearly will sound much better than a bunch of missed notes and muted strings.  Once you can move back and forth, try a simple beginner guitar rhythm:  Strum E twice, then A twice, and so on.  Start very, very slowly, then try to pick up the speed a bit.  You’ll quickly see why the suggested fingerings should be followed: notice that the first finger stays on the same string and just moves one fret up, while the other fingers sort of jump around the first finger.Now let’s add another chord, and then we’ll try a tricker transition.  Here’s C major (C, E, G):C major 0  1   2   3   4   5E |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|B |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|G |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|D |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|A |—|—|—|-3-|—|—|E |-x-|—|—|—|—|—|Notice that once again the low E string is not sounded.  On this chord you can let the third finger touch the E string a bit; this can help mute any unwanted noise from the string.  Be sure to keep a strong pressure on the A string, though.Now, here’s another beginner guitar rhythm:  try strumming G twice, then C twice, and so on.  This is a trickier transition because all your fingers have to jump around pretty quickly.  Take it slow: as you’re learning guitar chords the focus needs to be on a clean, ringing tone.  Keep practicing this rhythm until you can move back and forth between G and C quickly and cleanly.There’s one more open major chord to learn.  Here’s D major (D, F#, A):D Major 0  1   2   3   4   5E |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|B |—|—|—|-3-|—|—|G |—|—|-1-|—|—|—|D |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|A |-x-|—|—|—|—|—|E |-x-|—|—|—|—|—|There are a couple of variations of this chord worth learning.  You can add the open A string for a bit more depth, and you can also add an F# on the low E string:D Major with low F# 0  1   2   3   4   5E |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|B |—|—|—|-3-|—|—|G |—|—|-1-|—|—|—|D |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|A |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|E |—|—|-T-|—|—|—|The ‘T’ means that you need to curl your thumb around the neck and fret the F#.  It’s almost impossible on a lot of acoustics, but if you’re playing an electric, and especially if you want to play any sort of hard rock genre, it’s a valuable  form to know.  If you can’t get it now, don’t worry: it’s not usually taught when you’re learning how to play beginner guitar chords; think of it as an optional extra challenge.Get Those Fingers DancingNow that you know a few major chords, try moving back and forth between them.  You might notice that some of the chords sound better together than others: for example, G, C, and D sound great in a pattern together, as do E, A, and D, whereas G and E might sound a bit awkward played one after the other.  Experiment and listen carefully; you now know enough cords to start creating your own songs, so practice, practice, practice! Here’s an easy beginner guitar rhythm to make practicing more interesting:  start on any chord and strum it four times.  Switch to another chord and strum four more times.  Now switch to a third chord, strum it two times, move back to the second chord two times, and then go back to the original chord and strum it four times as well.  Using G, C, and D, it would look like this:  G, G, G, G, C, C, C, C, D, D, C, C, G, G, G, G.  See?  Even if you don’t know how to read guitar notes yet, you can still make music!Minor ChordsThe difference between major and minor chords lies in the second note of the chords (the third scale tone).  In minor chords the third is a half-step lower than in major chords.  So, for example, E major contains the notes E, G#, and B, while E minor contains E, G, and B.  Here’s the fingering for E minor:E minor 0  1   2   3   4   5E |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|B |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|G |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|D |—|—|-3-|—|—|—|A |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|E |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|Notice what a huge difference changing that one note makes to the sound of the chord!  As you learn guitar chords, be sure to always compare the major and minor forms, paying attention to the sound of the chords and the fingerings.  Here’s A minor:A minor 0  1   2   3   4   5E |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|B |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|G |—|—|-3-|—|—|—|D |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|A |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|E |-x-|—|—|—|—|—|Notice that your second and third fingers ‘jump’ up one string from E minor.  Try strumming back and forth between those two chords: it’s an easier transition that sounds great.  Now let’s look at D minor:D minor 0  1   2   3   4   5E |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|B |—|—|—|-3-|—|—|G |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|D |-0-|—|—|—|—|—|A |-x-|—|—|—|—|—|E |-x-|—|—|—|—|—|Notice that the fingering is quite a bit different from D major.  That’s fine, because it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll move between those two chords in a song.  As always when practicing how to play beginner guitar chords, focus on clean sound and avoiding strings that shouldn’t sound.The Barre ChordYou’ve learned all the basic open chords, and practiced until you can move between them smoothly and even begin to learn easy guitar songs.  Now it’s time to take on one of the more challenging beginner guitar chords: the barre chord.This is a chord form that can be played on any fret of the guitar because it doesn’t use any open strings.  Instead, your index finger forms a bar across the fretboard, playing three notes at once.  To make this work you need to rotate your wrist way forward, get that finger as flat as possible, and really dig into the fretboard.  Here’s what it looks like on the first fret, which gives you the F major chord:F major barre 0  1   2   3   4   5E |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|B |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|G |—|—|-2-|—|—|—|D |—|—|—|-4-|—|—|A |—|—|—|-3-|—|—|E |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|In terms of learning guitar chords, this is the rite of passage: master the barre chord and you’ve officially learned how to play beginner guitar chords.  It isn’t easy, but don’t give up!  Pick each string one at a time and make sure you can hear each note ring clearly.  If the notes on the first finger aren’t clear, make sure the finger is flat and pressed tigh against the strings.  This is not a natural position, so don’t be discourage if it’s not perfect at first.  This will strengthen your fingers, improve your coordination, and make it easier to learn guitar chords that are more advanced and require larger stretches.Once you’ve mastered the major barre chord, it’s easy to play the minor chord form: just lift up your middle finger, like so:F minor barre 0   1   2   3   4   5E |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|B |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|G |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|D |—|—|—|-4-|—|—|A |—|—|—|-3-|—|—|E |—|-1-|—|—|—|—|Now you can move either of these forms up the neck to play any chord you need; the name of the chord is simply the note your index finger is playing on the two E strings.That’s it for this lesson: you’re a master of beginner guitar chords, have learned a beginner guitar rhythm, and know the barre chord, which opens up lots of possibilities.  The next lesson will continue with more chords, more rhythms, and a song to liven things up.  See you there!

Day 1 – Learn the names of all your guitar strings. Starting with the lowest or thickest string and moving across your guitar strings are E –A –D –G –B –  E . Play each string and say its name while you play it. I find it helpful if you “sing” the name along with the guitar string.

 

Day 2 – Learn how to hold a guitar pick. Either Google “how to hold a guitar pick” or visit my website to learn. Today, practice holding your pick correctly and randomly playing each string on your guitar while “singing” its name.

 

Day 3 – Learn how to fret a guitar string. Your finger needs to be just behind the fret to maybe halfway between the fret you want to play and the next fret towards the tuning pegs. When you pick the guitar string there should be no buzzing of the string anywhere. Practice playing and fretting your strings at random places all over your guitar neck. Work on it until you get a nice clear tone.

 

Day 4 – Learn how to tune a guitar. Using either an electronic tuner or by tuning a guitar to itself, today learn how to tune your guitar properly. Find as many ways as possible to tune it by searching the Internet. Learn which frets on the lower strings are the same notes as the open string above it. For example: the 5th fret on the E string is the same note as the open A string.

 

Day 5 – Learn how to play an open G Chord. The open G chord uses all six strings and is one of the easiest chords to form. There are two acceptable ways of forming this chord: one that use your pinky and one that does not. Find and practice playing this chord both ways. The practicing point here is to fret the strings that need fretted while allowing the open strings to ring out. This requires a nice arch in your fingers.

 

Day 6 – Learn all the notes on your low and high  E strings. Starting with the low E string open, play each fret and say the name of the note. Working your way up the guitar neck the fretted notes are these: F – F#(sharp) or Gb( flat)- G – G# or Ab – A –A# or Bb -B – C – C# or Db  – D  – D# or Eb – E and repeat. Do the same for the high E, the thinnest string, the notes are the same.

 

Day 7 – Learn how to do alternate picking on your guitar. Alternate picking is when you pick a guitar string going down and then the next note or string you pick you pick going up. This is the best way to learn guitar picking as it requires the least amount of effort and is also the fastest way to pick a guitar. Practice alternate picking on open strings starting with just one string then randomly moving from one string to the next picking down one string and then up on the next.

 

Day 8 – Learn how to play the open C Chord. The open C chord usually uses all 6 strings although some guitar players don’t play the lowest string. There are 2 generally accepted methods of playing this chord, find them both and practice strumming this chord today again making sure that your open strings ring clearly.

 

Day 9 – Learn all the notes on your A string and D string. Like you did with your two E strings, start with the open strings and then say each note or sing it, as you work your way up the guitar neck on both your A and D strings. Note that the 6th fret on your E string is the same note as the 1st fret on your A string. Same is true for your A and D strings.

 

Day 10 – Learn how to play an open D chord. The open D chord requires a little more finger dexterity than the open G and C chords. You will only need to strum the top 5 or 4 strings to play this chord. Practice playing this chord without hitting your low E string.

 

Day 11 – Learn how to switch from your open G chord to your open C chord. Today you will practice switching between your open G chord and your open C chord. Since there is more than one way to play each chord, practice the various combinations until you find the one that works best for you. Practice going back and forth between the two chords, randomly selecting how many times you play each chord. Go as slow as you have to.

 

Day 12 – Learn all the notes on your G and B strings. Just like we did before, however notice that even though the 6th fret on your D string matches the first fret on your G string that it’s the 5th fret on the G string that matches the 1st fret on your B string.

 

Day 13 – Learn to switch from your open G chord and your D chord. Today you need to practice switching between your open G chord and your open D chord, like we did  with the G and C chords.

 

Day 14 – Play a song. Ok now we’re going to tie it all together by playing a little guitar song. Nothing fancy, but we need to finish the day knowing how to play guitar. Strum the chords we learned previously in the following pattern, starting with simple light strumming. Once you have the pattern down, try and fancy up the strumming a bit. Play the G chord 16 times (tap your foot along to count), then the C chord 8 times, the G chord 8 times, the D chord 8 times, and the G chord 8 times again. This is the entire pattern. When you finish start it over from the beginning. This should sound like a familiar song to you. And guess what? You’re playing the guitar.

Beginning guitarists often wonder whether there are differences between how to play acoustic guitar versus electric guitar. The short answer is: ‘Yes and No’.

Acoustic guitars and electric guitars are identical in terms of how the notes are laid out on the fretboard. All your chords and scales are in the exact same place. Both guitars can be picked, plucked and strummed.

Where they differ is in their construction and playability. Generally speaking, acoustic guitars have heavier, less flexible strings. What this means for you is that you’ll need to build up a bit more strength in your fretting hand in order to play an acoustic guitar.

Although the strength building will take a bit longer, it will pay off if you decide to play on an electric guitar with lighter strings. You’ll be able to fly across an electric on string gauges that your average electric player considers ‘heavy’.

Another thing to understand about acoustic guitar is that it’s characteristic sound changes the type of music that sounds best on it. If you’re into ‘death metal’, for example, it’s going to sound completely different when played acoustically because you don’t have distortion and you don’t (usually) have access to higher notes (14th fret and above) used in those screaming solos.

Speaking of distortion and other effects, it is possible to use effects on an acoustic, but you have to create an extra set up.

The first option is to play your acoustic in front of a microphone that’s run through an effect pedal and into a regular guitar amplifier. The second option is to have your guitar equipped with a small ‘pickup’ mic, and wired out with an input jack so that you can plug directly into an amp.

Last but not least, keep in mind that acoustic guitars don’t have ‘moveable’ bridge systems the way electric guitars do. There’s no ‘whammy bar’ on an acoustic.

Keeping in mind the points mentioned above, you can rest assured that learning how to play acoustic guitar is the same as learning to play electric: all you need to do is learn your scales and chords, then practice ’til your fingers bleed!

The electric guitar is one of the most versatile instruments in modern music. It can create rhythmic/percussive textures in one moment, and smooth, singing sounds in the next. Not only that, but an almost limitless combination of new sounds may be created simply by playing with which effects, amplifiers and types of guitar get paired together.

This sonic variety provides you with a unique opportunity to create a ’signature sound’. Sadly, most of the current music curriculum for guitarists ignores these issues. The truth is that learning to play electric guitar is process which continues well beyond achieving proficiency in music theory, much less the rote motor skills necessary to manipulate the strings.

For that reason alone, I decided to create this quick tutorial about the use of effects pedals in the hopes of helping you break free from the “three chords and some distortion” rut so many guitarists find themselves stuck in.

The long and short of this tutorial is: You must learn how to ‘chain’ your effects pedals

I am aware that some guitarists prefer ‘all-in-one’, multi-effect pedal units (e.g. Digitech RP series) for their ease, convenience and versatility, and they are wonderful devices in theory. There are plenty of situations where a multi-effect pedal is the appropriate tool for the job.

The problem comes when you tire of the limitations of whichever multi-effects unit you’re using.

You might think “an effect is an effect”, but this simply isn’t true. The electronic circuitry of any effect pedal can add to/subtract from your overall tone in the same way that the type of wood your guitar is made of, or the pickups it uses, will influence your tone.

This is why you’ll see many professional players use a variety of effect pedals, and they’ll often have a favorite model for a particular type of effect.

In order to ‘tweak’ your sound, you must understand the ‘proper’ chaining of effects pedals from guitar to amp. There exists a loose set of rules regarding the placement of different types of effects in a chain for the best ’signal to noise’ ratio.

While these rules are not absolute, you’ll find that they hold true from a general standpoint a majority of the time. Like the saying goes, though, you have to know the rules before you can break them.

A Good Effects Chain

Guitar -> Wah -> Distortion -> Chorus -> Amp + Delay (sent separately through the amp’s effect loop)

or

Guitar -> Wah -> Distortion -> Chorus -> Delay -Amp

As you may notice above, Delay is typically the last effect in any chain. You will have to plug from the Delay (at the end of the whole chain) into your amp’s input jack if you are using a one-channel amp.

For two-channel amps, it is generally recommended to plug your Guitar-Wah-Distortion-Chorus chain into the input jack, while plugging your Delay (separate from the chain) into the amp’s “effects send/return” loop.

Doing so gives you a more ‘natural’ feeling sound because the Delay will modulate the amplified signal, rather than adding noise (and potentially over-driving the amp) as it happens when you allow the delay signal to be amplified.

Now, in order to ‘break’ the rules, you need to learn more about what each of your effects actually does to the signal put into it. This gets easier once you realize that there are just a handful of ways to shape a signal.

In general, you will find that the effect of your is doing one (and sometimes more than one) of the following things to your signal:

1. Adding to it

2. Subtracting (or ‘clipping) from it

3. Modulating it

A distortion pedal, for example, creates noise (’distortion’) by clipping the signal. If you look at the waveform shape of a guitar signal, it is pretty close to a Sine wave. The smoother the wave, the smoother and clearer the signal.

Imagine if you clipped off the tops of the ‘curves’, creating something closer to square wave? It’s going to sound harsher and ‘buzzier’. In other words, it’s going to sound distorted!

Likewise, imagine if you could modulate a signal so that the peaks and valleys (amplitude) were more extreme, their spacing (phase) less regular or the peak frequency response (tone) filtered in or out?

In the first case, you would affect volume. In the second case, you would affect the timing or regularity of of the signal. In the third case, you would affect the clarity (as interpreted by the human ear) of the signal. All of these are modulations.

Now, think about this: Would it sound better to modulate a distorted signal, or to distort a modulated signal?

In general practice, the answer is that it depends on whether the modulation has a less than negligible impact on volume. Remember that distortion is created by clipping the peak amplitude of a signal, which also effects volume.

So, you have to look at which effects cause the most significant attenuation in volume, and then chain them in order of most to least. You take the ‘hit’, so to speak, up front rather than allowing the entire processed signal to take a drastic cut at the end of the chain.

Keep in mind, too, that you must also balance the location of volume cuts (as well as boosts) against the amount of noise introduced into the signal.

Again, this isn’t all cut-and-dry. Placement of effects is very much dependent not just on their type, but how many are involved. Figuring out what works so you can shape your sound is one of the most exciting stages of learning to play electric guitar.

My hope is that this tutorial has given you enough basic information to start experimenting with effects placement for yourself, so you can find the exact sound you’re looking for!

For that reason alone, I believe that guitar-centered music instruction should be revised to include lessons on how to shape your sound.

Sadly, most of the current music curriculum for guitarists ignores these issues.