Easy Guitar Chords

How to play easy guitar chords on just 3 strings.

An 'easy' guitar chord has just 3 notes. The root, the 3rd and the 5th. This is also called a triad.

Most of the easy guitar chords we all learn first usually double up on some of the notes. For example: a C (major) chord has the notes C, E and G. Those 3 notes make up a C chord. But when playing the chord we may have 2 E's, 2 C's, and even 2 G's.

But it's not necessary (or often even desirable) to play all six strings when playing a guitar chord. Often, a smaller version of an easy guitar chord sounds much better.

3 Easy 'C' Major Guitar Chords

Now we know the C major chord has the notes C, E & G. But we can arrange those notes in different orders:

• C E G = root inversion
• E G C = 1st inversion
• G C E = 2nd inversion

Doing this gives us 3 different ways to play an easy 'C major' guitar chord or triad. And you only have to strum 3 strings.

NEXT:  The Major Scale - this is where chords come from.