Basic Guitar Chords for Electric and Acoustic Guitar

Before rushing in and learning all the different ways to play the beginner guitar chords, it pays to have some basic knowledge and understanding first. It will make your job of learning them much easier, faster and a lot more fun!

The chords apply to electric and acoustic guitar. 6 and 12 string too.

Only 3 Basic Chord Types

There are only 3 basic chords you need to learn about.

1. the Major Chord
2. the Minor chord
3. the Dominant 7th chord

All other chords are "variations" of those 3 basic chords.

These three "types" of chords have different sounds... and it is the sounds these chords make that you should learn to distinguish.

In other words, you need to be able to tell the difference between these 3 basic chord "types" just by listening to them. You have to be able to "hear" a chord and instantly recognize whether it is a minor, major, or a dominant chord.

These three chords are: D major - D minor - D7th

I guess I have to say that there are other chords too. Like diminished and augmented chords. But you needn't bother with those at this stage of the game. Let's just keep things simple until you can play the basic chords and understand the sounds they make and how they are used.

Where Do These 3 Basic Chords Come From?

Chords come from scales.

Here, we will look at the C Major Scale...

The C major scale is made up of 7 different notes (as all major scales are) with a repetition of the "root" (C) note.

Those notes are: C D E F G A B [C]  (Click to play.)

We build a chord for each of those 7 different music notes. And those chords are either major, minor or dominant. So in each scale there are 7 chords but only 3 different "types" of chords.

The chords in C major are:

C major D minor E minor F major G major (dominant) A minor and B diminished

B diminished???? What the? It's a diminished chord, another type of chord. Suffice to say that the Bdim is not important at this stage. Just realize that the Bdim chord is just another form of the G dominant 7th chord.

NOTE: Major and minor chords have 3 notes in them. However, dominant 7th chords have 4 notes but are still basically a major chord. (For more clarification on this, download my Free Guitar Chord Secrets ebooks).

 (Click to play the C Major scale played as a chord-scale in triads on the top 3 strings.)

So the point I am trying to make is that there are just 3 basic chord types. All other chords are variations.

How To Reduce 168 Chords Down To 3

Now there are 12 major scales and each has 7 chords. 7 x 12 = 84 chords.

There are also 12 minor scales each with 7 chords. 7 x 12 = 84 chords.

That's a total of 168 chords, right?

Wrong.

All those scales still have just the 3 basic chord types... major, minor and dominant. You only need to learn 3 chords.

It's "where" you play those chords on the fingerboard that changes their name. C major you play in one place, and if you play the same chord in another place on the neck, it becomes a G major or a D major, or whatever.

BUT...

Chord "Types" vs. Chord "Shapes"

...there are many different ways, or, "shapes" you can use, to play the 3 basic chord "types". And this is where all the confusion comes in.

There are not thousands of different chords to learn... there's just 3... but there are several  different ways to play each of those chords. Several different "shapes" you can use to play the same chord.

Those different ways are arrived at by simply rearranging the notes in the chords.

For example: The C major chord has the notes C E and G. Now you can play those notes as C E G, or E G C, or G C E. That's three different ways to play the C major chord. There are other ways too.

The main thing to remember, is that there are just 3 chord types and many different ways of playing those chord types. If you can understand that, it will make your job of learning to play guitar chords a lot easier and faster. And you'll become a better guitarist for it.

NEXT: Where chords come from