This is the most satisfying part of learning the guitar because as a beginner you can quickly accelerate your playing to sounding reasonably good within minutes. Playing a chord simply means striking simultaneously at least two or three strings on the guitar at the same time.

A common question asked when people are learning guitar chords is "how many chords do I need?". Well these days I'd say you'll need around 2000 to get started. Kidding! Don't panic. Although there are hundreds of guitar chords and variations, you don't need to know them all.

It's a bit like learning a language vocabulary. The more you know, the more flexibility you have in creating a piece but you can get by with only a handful.

As a beginner you should first start with the 3 most common chords. They are the G major chord, C major chord and the D major chord. These are the easiest chords to learn and are known as 'open' chords. That means you don't have to barre the strings with your left first finger.

Learning G Major Chord

Ok. Let's start with G major. Place your second finger on the sixth string of the third fret. Then put your first finger on the fifth string of the second fret. Finally put your third finger on the third fret of the first string.

Remember to curl your fingers so that they are not touching any other strings that they are not supposed to touch. Drag your thumb (or pick) over all the 6 strings in one continuous strum. You should try to make all the strings sound at the same time rather than individually.

Let's Move On To C Major

For C major, place your third finger on the third fret of the 5th string. Then, the second finger should be placed on the second fret of the 4th string. Finally place the first finger on the 1st fret of the second string. It is important to be careful and not strike the bottom E string for this chord. Only the top five strings should be strummed when playing this C major shape.

Finally In This Lesson, It's D Major

This can be a tricky one for the beginner learning guitar chords because all three fingers that are used in the chord are crowded into a very small area of the guitar neck. Start by placing your first finger on the second fret of the 3rd string. Then put your third finger on the 3rd fret of the second string. Finally, place your second finger on the second fret of the 1st string.

Now you can strum the top 4 strings to play the D major chord. be careful to avoid hitting the bottom 2 string.

It is important to be familiar with these 3 basic chords before starting to learn the more complicated chords. These 3 chords that are commonly used in many a song. learn these 3 and you'll be off to a great start in your mission in learning guitar chords.