Dansm's Beginner's Guide to Chords

Dansm's Guide to Open Chords

Welcome to Dansm's Guide to Open Chords! My name is Dan Smith, I'm a senior at Cornell, and I've been playing guitar for 4 years. The main purpose of this page is to teach beginners how to form the basic open chords. These chords are the backbone of guitar, and a mastery of these will certainly help you in the future. If you are a beginner, you may want to check out my beginner's page, because it will give you some more playing instruction. Good luck, have fun, and keep playin!

Learning Open Chords
some advice on how to learn to play these things

Chord Notation
an explanation of the notation used on these pages


Major Chords

The C Major Chord
formed x32010

The E Major Chord
formed 022100

The A Major Chord
formed x02220

The G Major Chord
formed 320003 or 320033

The D Major Chord
formed xx0232


Minor Chords

The E Minor Chord
formed 022000

The A Minor Chord
formed x02210

The D Minor Chord
formed xx0231



Strumming Patterns
once you know how to play open chords, go here to learn how to strum!

Easy Songs
once you know how to play open chords, go here to learn how to play some songs!


Back to Dansm's Beginner's Guide to Chords
Dansm's Acoustic Guitar Page
Dansm's Guitar Chord Theory Page
Dansm's Advice for Beginning Guitarists



You are visitor number since 12-20-97
© 1998 Daniel E. Smith. Last updated 3-1-98.