Chords are possibly the most important factor in the success of the guitar. They're also the most important thing to focus on when you're learning guitar.

But how on earth do you start? The important thing is that you must be willing to focus on learning the basics. Here are 5 answers to common questions beginners have when learning guitar chords:

Why Do I Need To Learn Guitar Chords Anyway?

Besides being relatively easy to carry on a bus, the guitar owes most of it's popularity to the ease of playing chords. If you can learn 3 chords, strum a little and sing a bit you can play hundreds of popular songs . . . and even write your own.

Guitar chord boxes are easy to learn and read which means if you can get hold of a chord book you can potentially know hundreds of chords within hours.

Chords are the backbone of your guitar playing and it's most useful feature. Ignore chords at your peril!

How Many Chords Do I Need To Learn?

Well Bob Dylan only knew a handful of chords and he led a musical social revolution in the 60s. You don't need to know hundreds of chords to play songs. Start with 3 or 4 and then gradually learn the extra ones you need to play your favourite songs. That's what worked for me. Learn your first 3 chords and you can play almost any Chuck Berry song.

How Do You Read A Chord Diagram?

The strings of the guitar in a chord diagram are represented by 6 vertical lines. The thickest string (bottom E) is on the far left of the diagram and the thinnest string (top E ) is on the far right of the diagram. The horizontal lines on the diagram represent the frets.

Black dots represent where you put your fingers. Usually they have numbers on them to show which left hand finger should be used. Sometimes you might see a 'T'. This means use the thumb of your left hand.

At the top of the diagram are X and 0 marks. An X means don't play that string and a 0 means play the string but don't put a finger down on it. This is called playing it 'open'.

Sometimes there is a number on the top left hand side of the diagram it means the chord shape should be played up the neck - for example a 5 means the chord should be played at the 5th fret.

What's The Difference Between a Major and a Minor Chord?

Technically, the difference is that a major chord contains a 'major 3rd' note and a minor chord contains a 'minor 3rd' note. So if you count up 3 from your root note (usually the letter name of the chord such as C or G) then this note is the 3rd of the chord.

For example, for a C chord, the 3rd is E. If the chord is a minor chord, the E will be an Eb. If it is a major chord it will just be a plain old E.

When you hear a minor chord it often sounds sad or lonely, whereas a major chord sounds happy and bright in comparison.

Which Chords Should I Learn First?

You should learn G C and D first (when there is no 'minor' or number after the name of the chord it means it is a major chord). Then move on to learn the CAGED chords. For more on learning these guitar chords click here.

So that's your quick start guide to learning guitar chords. Remember, you don't need to know a ton of chords to get started. In reality, most guitarists don't know that many chords - trust me, you'd be pleasantly surprised.

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.

At a basic level, guitar chords are formed with the fingers of the right hand and transformed into sound by strumming or picking strings with the right hand. Chords are played with two or more notes.

For the moment, don't worry about what you're right hand should be doing. It's probably easiest to just play down strokes with your thumb while you concentrate on the chords with your left hand.

The Basic Primary Chords

Categorically, there two kinds of chords - minor and major. And the basic primary chords are C,A,G,E,D or CAGED. If you are new to playing the guitar, mastering the CAGED pattern should be up there at the top of your things to do list. A lot of artists who mastered these basic chords confessed that it paved the way for easy manipulation of the other difficult chords.

Click HERE to get started learning guitar online today

The 6 Secrets Of The Chord Diagram

Don't panic! Reading a a chord diagram is not nearly as difficult as reading music. All you need to understand from a chord diagram is which fingers to put on which strings.

• Imagine holding the guitar vertically with the head pointing to the ceiling. This is the orientation of the chord diagram. The diagram represents the guitar's fretboard and strings.
• The vertical lines of the diagram represent the strings of the guitar. The vertical line furthest left on the diagram is the bottom E string and the furthest right vertical line on the diagram is the upper E string.
• The horizontal lines of the diagram represent the frets of the guitar. The very top horizontal line is usually represented in bold and is the 'nut' of the guitar (that's the plastic bar that the strings lie in). So the first fret is actually the second horizontal line on the diagram.
• The large black dots on the diagram are where you put your fingers.
• The numbers on the dots, or at the bottom of the diagram represent which finger should be used. 1 = Index finger, 2 = middle finger, 3 = ring finger, 4 = little finger. usually the thumb is not used.
• An X or a O at the top of each string means you don't put a finger on that string. If it's an X then you don't play the string at all and if it's a O then you play the string 'open' which means you don't put a finger on it.

if the chord is to be played further up the fretboard then a number appears to the left representing which fret to play at. But for now we'll be playing chords at the very top of the fretboard. These are called open chords.

Here are the chord diagrams for CAGED.

Troubleshooting

Often a lot of beginners complain how sore their fingers are after finishing one session with their guitar. This is a normal reaction. You should be surprised if you're not hurting even a bit, this means that you're not playing it correctly. Don't worry, the skin on your fingers will soon harden up if you do just 5 minutes a day.

The proper way to carry out fingering is by pressing your fingertips hard enough on the strings. When you notice that there is a buzzing sound, try to press harder on the strings. Try to place your fingers as close to the fret (on the right-hand side) a possible to avoid buzzing.

Fingernails Are Banned!

1) Cut those long fingernails. They will make it difficult for you to press the strings correctly.

2) Don't let your fingers lie down while playing for they tend to mute some strings. This is the most common mistake by beginners.

3) Be sure that the very top of your fingertips are in contact with the strings and not the flat, soft pad of your fingers. Maintain the straight arch. Aside from the fact that this is exhausting, this is also painful and difficult but will pay off as soon as calluses are produced.

4) Remember that you should press the notes altogether. Make sure that no strings are left out except the ones marked with an X.

5) Practice. 5 minutes a day. Memorize each chord pattern.

6) Don't rush yourself. If you do, it'll just frustrate you.

If you’re interested in getting really good at guitar chords I can highly recommend Jamorama.

It uncovers the truth about how to get a guitar at below dealer cost and how to decide whether you should learn how to play guitar on an acoustic or electric guitar, and just what to look out for if you choose to buy a used guitar!

It’s also a complete step by step guitar learning system and all you’ll need to become a great guitarist.

Click here to visit Jamorama (if you buy it though this link Jamorama give me few dollars to go towards buying my next guitar