Guitar Chords Lesson 1
Intro Main Vid / Chord Groups - C
Hi GMCers. Here's the first of a new series of vid lessons which looks at the world of chords. Starting from the basics, the series will then move on to more advanced chord work as it progress.
Intro to Chord Groups
WHATEVER way you play, whatever style, whatever songs you are interested in learning and playing, these Chord Groups will serve you very well for life! They will enable you to jam with other musicians, compose chord progressions of your own, boost your song writing skills and more. As we move along we will be looking at how to apply this info in all styles from Shred to Tea-time Jazz :).
Take it beyond the basics and you're into a new and exciting land. Your guitar playing, composition skills, and even your soloing, can dramatically improve ... many great players use chord shapes as springboards for amazing solos. This technique will be explored further on in the series.
But let us walk before we can run. Here we are interested in learning the very foundations of songs themselves, from which thousands of popular songs have been crafted. These chord families and progressions come up time and time again, and you will meet them over the course of your whole music playing career whatever level. A useful analogy would be to compare them to the letters of the alphabet - basic but vital to know, their potential unlimited.
Practise Makes Perfect
The strongly recommended advice given here, is to spend about 20/30 minutes practicing them on your guitar 5/7 days per week, and soon you will have a great palette of sound colors from which to work. Also speed things up by writing them down on a daily basis, until you know them inside out. This combined and regular approach is the key to absorbing this vital info fast.
This actual use of chords on a regular basis is THE huge aid to memorization that's a well proven scientific fact. Make sure to utilize the mnemonics trick demonstrated in vid 3 and this will make the tasks easy and memorable. Put regular practise and mnemonics together and you'll be unstoppable :)!
This first lesson covers the basic chord group from the family "C'. Also worth a mention is that this series will be covering chords for ALL types of music from Pop to Metal to ... well we'll see :).
Don't 4get to post me a line on the GMC forums or below if you have any questions on it - see you there :)!
David
p.s. Notes for the series:
The 7th chord in any group is normally a 'Flat-five' chord. But in this series I have used a 'Minor 7 flat-five chord' which is easier to play (no awkward string skipping which is need to play the flat fives), and sounds fuller. This is known as a chord 'embellishment', and embellishment is explained in more detail as we move further into it.
So although it's just one extra little note but it can make a big difference to the sound, and the Minor 7 fits into all keys here.
* A beginners note: If you have trouble playing any of the barre chords don't worry this is the norm for most players. After a few days or a few weeks or so, you will be able to handle them no problem.
Musical Note Orders
Here are the musical notes listed in order going up:
A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#
... and going down:
A Ab G Gb F E Eb D Db C B Bb
# = sharpen the note (move up one fret)
b = flatten the note (move down one fret)
Note: There are different ways of describing up and down on the guitar used by players. In our case 'up' means towards the body of the guitar, and 'down' means towards the tuners.
Beginners Note: Notice that there are no sharps or flats between the notes B to C or E to F. This is the standard musical notation and this info is needed as you progress on the chords (and it also applies to lead btw).
Check out Andrew's excellent lessons on theory to suss out more info on this in general. This info can save you tons of time when learning the instrument and applies to all instruments not just our loveable geetar. Look under 'Theory' lessons by Andrew Cockburn. Cheers 2 Andrew :).
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Video 1 Talky
Yup it's that talky-time again :). That dude above mentions 'building on the basics' and on a 'strong foundation'. Yo dude :).
Well joking apart I believe this is a small but vital point for guitar learners. Many players I know (including myself at early stages), learn all sorts of bits and pieces and end up with a mixed array of info. This is all well and good but if you don't know how all of these bits and pieces fit together, you can spend a lifetime assembling bits and pieces, and it slows your learning down considerably.
What I figured out (alongside many players I'm sure), is that it's much quicker to learn the instrument if you 'start from scratch' with the basics, learn the info from the beginning and then build on that. Each new piece of info that you learn is supported by previous material.
So in this way you can build on your 'musical vocabulary'. This allows you to play in various different styles with confidence.
In a lot of cases many players zone in on one particular style and that's pretty normal (your fave music right). But knowing the foundations and building on them will enable you to cover ANY chosen style and expand on it including of course your current faves.
Then as you progress you may or may not get into different styles (most people's music preferences changes over the years), and the good thing is that the info we are covering here will apply to all styles of music. If you get into any one particular genre of music you can explore it in more detail, confident that you have a firm knowledge foundation to begin with.
This will save you a lot of time invested over the years! Result? You become a better player MUCH faster than if you stick with the 'bits and pieces' routine.
So I suppose it could be compared to building a house. Build it on weak cement and cheap but maybe quick materials, and it will fall down at the first strong wind. So while you're at the foundation level, why not build it with the strongest material available to you. It's as quick to build it with strength as it is without, but unfortunately we tend to take the 'easier' route in many cases :).
Then with our strong foundations we don't have to worry about strong winds or even storms!
Also you will find, that the more foundation info you pickup, the more sense ALL of the lessons at GMC will make to you. You'll know why certain chords and progressions are being used, why did he play that?, how to build on an idea fueled from a lesson, and so on. This info will apply to not only chord work but lead work too as the series progresses.
So with that in mind here is our first foundation, the:
C Chord Group
C _ Dm _ Em _ F _ G _ Am _ Bm7b5 C
Check out more details and related info on this group in vid 2. |
Video 2 Guitar Only
Key of C
C _ Dm _ Em _ F _ G _ Am _ Bm7b5 C
1...2....3....4...5...6....7.....8
It's very useful when working with chord groups to number them. In Country music they even have a special numbering system for it, for example to pass on the keys and chords to fellow jammers on stage live among other uses! This complete system is called 'The Nashville Numbering System'.
So for example, a popular Blues progression in C is referred to as a '1 4 5'. This gives us the chords C F G. The well known and used 'three chord trick' as it's also known as. This 3 chord trick comes up in many different styles of song.
In this vid example, all of the chords in the group are played in ascending order.
Here's the complete group tabbed going from chord 1 to 8:
C Group
E||--0--| --1--| --0--| --1--| --3--| --0--| --x--|
B||--1--| --3--| --0--| --1--| --0--| --1--| --3--|
G||--0--| --2--| --0--| --2--| --0--| --2--| --2--|
D||--2--| --0R-| --2--| --3--| --0--| --2--| --3--|
A||--3R-| --x--| --2--| --3--| --2--| --0R-| --2R-|
E||--x--| --x--| --0R-| --1R-| --3R-| --x--| --x--|
...1C....2Dm....3Em.....4F.....5G.....6Am....7Bm7b5
Try mix and matching the orders around and see what you come up with. Selecting a few from the group, a common progression heard in the key of C would be:
C /// : Am /// : F /// : G /// :
Here's a few golden oldie tunes in C:
Let It Be/The Beatles − V: C G Am F C G F C, Ch: Am G F C C G F C
So Lonely/The Police − C G Am F
Red Red Wine/Neil Diamond/UB 40 − C F G
Mustang Sally/Midnite Hour/Wilson Pickett/Commitments − C F G
V = Verse
Ch = Chorus
Use Mnemonics To Speed Up Learning Dramatically
Use a mnemonic (memory jog) memory trick to remember the families quicker. e.g. To remember the little family C F G Am, you could use a simple phrase such as... "Aminor Change For Good".
A helpful little tip here would be to use a memory jog that relates to yourself or friends. Silly ones are allowed and the best! Ahem...I still remember mine from over 25 years ago! For example, here's one based on a good mechanic friend of mine who looked after my car at the time ...
"Gerry me Car is Done" ... G C D.
I named each key after a close friend's name, and the rest of the sentence was closely related to the person in question etc. I don't need to use them these days but they are always there if I need them! A simple but HUGELY powerful little trick to speed up learning dramatically. These mnemonics can be used to remember simple to advanced formulas.
So below are the diagrams for the C chord group. If you have any problems playing any of the chords, pause the vid above on the chord in question to get a look at how it's played.
These foundation chords are pretty easy to pickup and you might porobably know a few of them already. That's fine if you do, so the important info to pickup here in that case, is to know how the chords in the group fit in together and we'll be building on that.
Points to Note
In ascending order, the 6th interval chord is always the 'relative minor' of the main chord. In this case that gives us the info: A minor is the relative minor to the chord C.
The relative minor chord (6) always shares the same notes as the 1 chord with the exception of one note.
Chord C = notes C E B
Chord Am = notes A E B
So anytime you play a C chord, an A minor will fit in well with it and this is commonly used. The song listed above So Lonely/The Police uses this: C G Am F.
Tip: To find the relative minor for any chord, count down 4 frets inclusive from the root note of the chord you are playing.
e.g. C is the root note of the C chord. Counting down four notes from the note C gives us the note 'A'.
Notes: C > B > Bb > A. So we get Am is the relative minor of the chord C.
This applies to all keys and groups.
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Lesson Questions, Feedback & Comments |
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Muris Varajic |
26th July 2007 |

Instructor

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Very good root for beginners!!
Appreciate your way of working a lot!
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Andrew Cockburn |
26th July 2007 |

Theory Instructor & Moderator

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Glad to see chords getting a look in
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Marcus Lavendell |
26th July 2007 |

Instructor

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Great lesson, David!
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Eat-Sleep-andJam |
26th July 2007 |

Member

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Couldnt thank you enough
- John
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AliMo |
26th July 2007 |

Member

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Having a series to help with all those chord shapes is a great idea. Thanks for the help!
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lliber |
26th July 2007 |

Member

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i agree with all the above coments its nice to get some basics
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lliber |
26th July 2007 |

Member

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its like someone has turned a light on, thanks
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David OToole |
26th July 2007 |

Instructor

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re: lliber "its like someone has turned a light on, thanks" ...
Now that is a nice comment to read  . Thanx!
D
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David OToole |
26th July 2007 |

Instructor

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Thanks 4 all the positive comments lads! Cheerz! David
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Kristofer Dahl |
26th July 2007 |

GMC Founder & Rocker

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David - you also did a great job in making the main video interesting inspite of it's simplicity. That is really tricky to do!
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lefty01 |
27th July 2007 |

Member

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How do you GMC instructor's do it? I think of a much needed lesson I want, and there it is. I thank you. Please keep the chords coming. Fantastic.
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rrhoadstributeplayer |
27th July 2007 |

Member

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we need more stuff like this plz keep them coming these are really helping out alot!
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signularis |
29th July 2007 |

Member

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pfff that f is hard
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quake4master |
29th July 2007 |

Member

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nice lesson. really good for noobs like me
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mygeetar |
30th July 2007 |

Member

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this site keeps growing and growing. i wonder what it will look like in a year
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Ausguitar |
2nd August 2007 |

Member

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Great Can't get enough, More Input.
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Ausguitar |
2nd August 2007 |

Member

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sorry about the double post have it sussed now,wont happen again. Thanks for this great site
I fixed it - Andrew
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Mav |
10th August 2007 |

Member

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Great stuff lads... i had been delving into all the lead work and pentatonics and major/minor scales all over the fretboard. Its nice to see the chord work now being built up and done so in such a logical way - ie building it up Key by Key.
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aburto |
31st August 2007 |

Member

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Oh, God. I have laerned a LOT today. Everything makes sense now.
About the relation between C and Am, relative minor.. It was like a slap on my neck.
Tnx for this lesson!
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NightFlight |
2nd September 2007 |

Member

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Excellent basic info with good foundational theory. I cannot commend you enough on your approach to teaching. You truly have a gift. Keep up the great work.
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Asphyxia Feeling |
6th September 2007 |

Member

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i'm a bit confused on chords... for persay Am, why is the root not not an A and not a Am? same with Em, etc. i've known this chords for a long time but i never really though about their root know. i know this has something to do with the notes that are NOT root (the other notes of the chord) but i can't see the meaning.
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Asphyxia Feeling |
6th September 2007 |

Member

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wow that came out pretty poorly. let me rephrase.
i'm a bit confused on some of the chords... on Am for example, why is the root note an A? shouldn't it be an Am? same thing with Em, etc. i've known about all these chords for a while, and i understand how root notes work (or so i think). if we're playing a scale in the key of Am, we'll start the scale at a Am note. i'm guessing this doesn't apply to chords? i'm guessing this all has something to do with the other notes in the chord, but i don't really understand...
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Andrew Cockburn |
6th September 2007 |

Theory Instructor & Moderator

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wow that came out pretty poorly. let me rephrase. i'm a bit confused on some of the chords... on Am for example, why is the root note an A? shouldn't it be an Am? same thing with Em, etc. i've known about all these chords for a while, and i understand how root notes work (or so i think). if we're playing a scale in the key of Am, we'll start the scale at a Am note. i'm guessing this doesn't apply to chords? i'm guessing this all has something to do with the other notes in the chord, but i don't really understand... Hi there - it made a little more sense the second time  Ok, Notes on their own are not major or minor, only a chord can be major or minor. So when you talk about a note of Am, that is not really referring to anything. There are 12 notes in total that we use to make chords and scales out of, they are: A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A chord of A minor consists of A C E A chord of A major (or just A, its the same thing) consists of A C# E So its the notes in the chord that make it major or minor, and in both cases the root note is A.
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Asphyxia Feeling |
7th September 2007 |

Member

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ah! that makes more sense. i had always thought that a G# was a Am and a G# at the same time! same with Dm and C# etc. this clears things up alot! thanks.
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Andrew Cockburn |
7th September 2007 |

Theory Instructor & Moderator

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ah! that makes more sense. i had always thought that a G# was a Am and a G# at the same time! same with Dm and C# etc. this clears things up alot! thanks. Ahhh, you are getting confused with "m" which means minor and "b" which means flat. So, G# is the same as Ab, C# is the same as Db - these are just notes and have nothing to do with chords (except that chords are made of notes of course). So, Am is short for A minor which is a chord of A minor , the notes A,C, E Ab is A flat, which is an A note dropped a semitone, and is also the same as G# which is G raised a semitone.
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FTT |
10th September 2007 |

Member

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I have played guitar for about about 3 years without really finding the joy in playing. But i really really like your lessons! They are at a level where i can feel comfortable and still make it sound like "something". I have come to the conclusion that i will never get great at this but when i practice your chord groups, usually by doing some of your song recommendations, and sing along a bit i enjoy myself. And that is all that matters right?
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SnakeEyes21 |
14th September 2007 |

Member

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Hey just wanted to say thank you for all the chord lessons they are exactly what I needed to become a more confident player thank you
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bsamn |
16th October 2007 |

Member

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Hey David,
Can u let me know whats the significance of these chords in general, whether they are the most used chords, and since your showing chords in the key of c "generally", your showing us these.
Thanks, and great lesson.
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Rock |
8th November 2007 |

Member

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I'm a bit late noticing this lesson, but this should really help. Very well written with great explanation. Thanks David!
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Tiltil |
18th November 2007 |

Member

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there's something I don't get about this lesson. At the chords F, G and Bm7b5 the theory scale shows a 4th fret being played, yet you seem play the third.. huh?
Any help would be appreciated, cheers!
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Luft |
8th December 2007 |

Member

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Nice chord progression lesson David. Finally I found a lesson here that I did it plenty and well done.  Ty !
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StevieC |
28th December 2007 |

Member

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Liking this :-)
Can you clarify some of the tab notation- what does the 'R' mean in the tabbed text above and the '2' to the right of the bm7b5 diagram?
Thanks.
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shideru_guitar |
7th March 2008 |

Member

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r means root note dude:D
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shideru_guitar |
7th March 2008 |

Member

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and the 2 means the second fret
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Praetorian |
11th March 2008 |

Member

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Man...I am just starting out. Owned my guitar for 24 hours now! I don't understand the diagrams under the narrative. What are the x's and o's on the top of the squares? Also, I am assuming that the numbered circles represent where to put your fingers...but they appear to be on the fret dividers, not the frets themselves. What am I missing?
I told you I was new at this!
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slipform |
31st March 2008 |

Member

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I'm a beginner and I have an instruction manual for the basics and some chords for example a G. The fingering is different from that book to your tablature. Are there different G chords? I also noticed this in the F chord. Why are there different finger patterns?
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