Learn Easy Beginner Guitar Chords

A chord is whenever you are playing more than one note at a time, creating harmony. A chord can be two notes or twenty notes. Common chords are given simple names like E, A, and G.

The following page shows a set of easy chords that are perfect for absolute beginners. Most chords on this page only require one or two fingers, and which fingers to use is indicated by the numbers shown in each circle.

Left hand guitar fingering is as follows:

1 = pointer/index finger

2 = middle finger

3 = ring finger

4 = little/pinky finger

The symbols above each string, either an X or O, represent whether the string should be played open or muted. If played open, the string is played with no finger on a fret. If muted, the string is skipped and not played at all, or deadened by one of the hands while playing.

The strings are numbered from high-to-low, where string one is the string closest to the floor and string six is the string closest to the ceiling. Keep this in mind to ensure you are not accidentally learning the chords upside down.