Chords for How to Play Acoustic Guitar - Lessons for Beginners - Strumming Chords Pt. 1
Tempo:
123.5 bpm
Chords used:
C
E
Em
F#
B
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Okay, now we're going to get started with chords.
As you may already know, chords are the work of the left hand.
It's everything that we play or fret down here on the left hand.
Like a piano player, we need good coordination between our right hand, which is taking care
of our strumming, and [C] our left hand, which is taking care of our chords.
You'll find that that comes together with surprising ease because it's just [F#] very natural
for your two hands to work together on a guitar.
So, the first thing I'd like to do is let's take a closer look at our right and left hands
and establish some terms for what we're talking about here.
Okay, for the sake of being able to explain what notes fall where, let's just establish
a couple of terms here.
If you look at the right hand over here, we've got our six strings on the guitar, and we
refer to this lowest string as the sixth string, right?
Six, five, four, three, two, one.
[E] Over here on the left hand, we have fret spaces, right?
Here's fret one, fret two, fret three.
Okay, so one, two, three.
The line share of what we're going to address here in these lessons are all going to fall
right within here.
Now, these are fret wires, okay?
Don't play on the wires.
It doesn't sound very good.
[A#] It's hard to make a note in there.
What you're going to do is you're going to press on the notes immediately before the
fret wire in the fret space, okay?
Now, the way that a guitar makes its sound is by blocking the string immediately behind
that fret wire.
You don't need to press down so hard that your finger touches the wood of the neck.
That's not what makes the sound.
In fact, some guys will even have the wood cut out even deeper here.
You don't need to do that.
All you need to do is press hard enough so that the fret wire is what's making the sound.
We're blocking the notes behind the fret wires, what's really going on.
If [F#] we are on
Now, I want to get on our fifth [A] string on the third [C] fret, that note right there.
Just see if you can play one note and have it sound.
Don't press the limbo jesus out of it.
Don't thumb it too hard or pick it too hard if you're using your pick.
We just want to make a sound, okay?
Now, instead of making that sound with your first finger, use your ring finger, okay?
Get a nice sound out of there.
[Em] Now, on the fourth string, [B] second fret, we're going to press down [E] right here.
Now, here's the trick in making a chord is to play both of them without either one messing
up the other, [C] right?
We've got this note [E] and then the higher note.
Now, [C] watch out because a very natural tendency, especially when getting started, is to lean
your fingers down like this.
What's going to happen is that the fat of your finger, the pad of your finger is going
to block the lower string.
You want to come at it a little bit straight on.
Still a natural position, right?
You just want your hand to kind of come right up to the neck.
You want to make sure that you're sounding that note [E] without blocking that note.
Those are the only ones.
Other than that, all the other strings are open.
These are [Cm] fretted or stopped.
[C] You can make those two sound good.
Now, [C] get your pick back in hand and strum, okay?
Nice and clean.
My open [B] strings, right, [G] one, two, and three have no notes fretted and they sound nice and clean.
[E] There's four.
That one's [Em] fretted.
Open, fretted, [C]
[Em] sixth string is open.
[C]
That is the first step to building a chord.
Again, [D] you don't have to press too hard.
You essentially want to keep your hand as relaxed as you can.
Again, as I started to explain, if you just kind of held your hand out naturally like
this and then put it to the neck of the guitar, that's the basic [C] position that you want to be in.
That's going to keep you in good health and avoid any kind of carpal tunnel problems or anything else.
So don't press too hard.
See if you can finger two strings and make them sound nice and clean together.
[Em] When you can, strum across.
Now you've made your first chord.
As you may already know, chords are the work of the left hand.
It's everything that we play or fret down here on the left hand.
Like a piano player, we need good coordination between our right hand, which is taking care
of our strumming, and [C] our left hand, which is taking care of our chords.
You'll find that that comes together with surprising ease because it's just [F#] very natural
for your two hands to work together on a guitar.
So, the first thing I'd like to do is let's take a closer look at our right and left hands
and establish some terms for what we're talking about here.
Okay, for the sake of being able to explain what notes fall where, let's just establish
a couple of terms here.
If you look at the right hand over here, we've got our six strings on the guitar, and we
refer to this lowest string as the sixth string, right?
Six, five, four, three, two, one.
[E] Over here on the left hand, we have fret spaces, right?
Here's fret one, fret two, fret three.
Okay, so one, two, three.
The line share of what we're going to address here in these lessons are all going to fall
right within here.
Now, these are fret wires, okay?
Don't play on the wires.
It doesn't sound very good.
[A#] It's hard to make a note in there.
What you're going to do is you're going to press on the notes immediately before the
fret wire in the fret space, okay?
Now, the way that a guitar makes its sound is by blocking the string immediately behind
that fret wire.
You don't need to press down so hard that your finger touches the wood of the neck.
That's not what makes the sound.
In fact, some guys will even have the wood cut out even deeper here.
You don't need to do that.
All you need to do is press hard enough so that the fret wire is what's making the sound.
We're blocking the notes behind the fret wires, what's really going on.
If [F#] we are on
Now, I want to get on our fifth [A] string on the third [C] fret, that note right there.
Just see if you can play one note and have it sound.
Don't press the limbo jesus out of it.
Don't thumb it too hard or pick it too hard if you're using your pick.
We just want to make a sound, okay?
Now, instead of making that sound with your first finger, use your ring finger, okay?
Get a nice sound out of there.
[Em] Now, on the fourth string, [B] second fret, we're going to press down [E] right here.
Now, here's the trick in making a chord is to play both of them without either one messing
up the other, [C] right?
We've got this note [E] and then the higher note.
Now, [C] watch out because a very natural tendency, especially when getting started, is to lean
your fingers down like this.
What's going to happen is that the fat of your finger, the pad of your finger is going
to block the lower string.
You want to come at it a little bit straight on.
Still a natural position, right?
You just want your hand to kind of come right up to the neck.
You want to make sure that you're sounding that note [E] without blocking that note.
Those are the only ones.
Other than that, all the other strings are open.
These are [Cm] fretted or stopped.
[C] You can make those two sound good.
Now, [C] get your pick back in hand and strum, okay?
Nice and clean.
My open [B] strings, right, [G] one, two, and three have no notes fretted and they sound nice and clean.
[E] There's four.
That one's [Em] fretted.
Open, fretted, [C]
[Em] sixth string is open.
[C]
That is the first step to building a chord.
Again, [D] you don't have to press too hard.
You essentially want to keep your hand as relaxed as you can.
Again, as I started to explain, if you just kind of held your hand out naturally like
this and then put it to the neck of the guitar, that's the basic [C] position that you want to be in.
That's going to keep you in good health and avoid any kind of carpal tunnel problems or anything else.
So don't press too hard.
See if you can finger two strings and make them sound nice and clean together.
[Em] When you can, strum across.
Now you've made your first chord.
Key:
C
E
Em
F#
B
C
E
Em
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, now we're going to get started with chords.
As you may already know, chords are the work of the left hand.
It's everything that we play or fret down here on the left hand.
Like a piano player, we need good coordination between our right hand, which is taking care
of our strumming, and [C] our left hand, which is taking care of our chords.
You'll find that that comes together with surprising ease because it's just [F#] very natural
for your two hands to work together on a guitar.
So, the first thing I'd like to do is let's take a closer look at our right and left hands
and establish some terms for what we're talking about here. _
_ Okay, for the sake of being able to explain what notes fall where, let's just establish
a couple of terms here.
If you look at the right hand over here, _ we've got our six strings on the guitar, and we
refer to this lowest string as the sixth string, right?
Six, five, four, three, two, one.
_ [E] Over here on the left hand, we have fret spaces, right?
Here's fret one, fret two, fret three.
Okay, so one, two, three.
The line share of what we're going to address here in these lessons are all going to fall
right within here.
Now, these are fret wires, okay?
Don't play on the wires.
It doesn't sound very good.
[A#] It's hard to make a note in there.
What you're going to do is you're going to press on the notes _ _ immediately before the
fret wire in the fret space, okay?
Now, the way that a guitar makes its sound is by blocking the string immediately behind
that fret wire. _ _
You don't need to press down so hard that your finger touches the wood of the neck.
That's not what makes the sound.
In fact, some guys will even have the wood cut out even deeper here.
You don't need to do that.
All you need to do is press hard enough so that the fret wire is what's making the sound.
We're blocking the notes behind the fret wires, what's really going on.
If [F#] we are on _
Now, I want to get on our fifth [A] _ string _ on the third [C] fret, _ _ _ _ that note right there.
Just see if you can play one note and have it sound.
Don't press the limbo jesus out of it.
_ Don't thumb it too hard or pick it too hard if you're using your pick.
_ We just want to make a sound, okay?
Now, instead of making that sound with your first finger, use your ring finger, okay?
Get a nice sound out of there.
_ _ [Em] Now, on the fourth string, [B] second fret, we're going to press down [E] right here.
_ _ _ _ _ Now, here's the trick in making a chord is to play both of them without either one messing
up the other, [C] right?
We've got _ _ this note [E] and then the higher note.
Now, [C] watch out because a very natural tendency, especially when getting started, is to lean
your fingers down like this.
What's going to happen is that the fat of your finger, the pad of your finger is going
to block the lower string.
You want to come at it a little bit straight on.
Still a natural position, right?
You just want your hand to kind of come right up to the neck. _
_ You want to make sure that you're sounding that note [E] without blocking that note.
Those are the only ones.
Other than that, all the other strings are open.
These are [Cm] fretted or stopped. _
_ [C] _ _ You can make those two sound good.
Now, [C] get your pick back in hand and strum, _ _ _ _ _ okay? _
_ _ Nice and clean.
My open [B] strings, right, [G] one, two, and three have no notes fretted and they sound nice and clean.
[E] _ _ There's four.
That one's [Em] fretted.
_ _ _ Open, fretted, [C] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ sixth string is open.
_ [C] _
_ _ That is the first step to building a chord.
Again, [D] you don't have to press too hard.
You essentially want to keep your hand as relaxed as you can.
Again, as I started to explain, if you just kind of held your hand out naturally like
this and then put it to the neck of the guitar, that's the basic [C] position that you want to be in.
That's going to keep you in good health and avoid any kind of carpal tunnel problems or anything else.
So don't press too hard.
See if you can finger two strings and make them sound nice and clean together.
[Em] When you can, _ strum across.
_ Now you've made your first chord.
Okay, now we're going to get started with chords.
As you may already know, chords are the work of the left hand.
It's everything that we play or fret down here on the left hand.
Like a piano player, we need good coordination between our right hand, which is taking care
of our strumming, and [C] our left hand, which is taking care of our chords.
You'll find that that comes together with surprising ease because it's just [F#] very natural
for your two hands to work together on a guitar.
So, the first thing I'd like to do is let's take a closer look at our right and left hands
and establish some terms for what we're talking about here. _
_ Okay, for the sake of being able to explain what notes fall where, let's just establish
a couple of terms here.
If you look at the right hand over here, _ we've got our six strings on the guitar, and we
refer to this lowest string as the sixth string, right?
Six, five, four, three, two, one.
_ [E] Over here on the left hand, we have fret spaces, right?
Here's fret one, fret two, fret three.
Okay, so one, two, three.
The line share of what we're going to address here in these lessons are all going to fall
right within here.
Now, these are fret wires, okay?
Don't play on the wires.
It doesn't sound very good.
[A#] It's hard to make a note in there.
What you're going to do is you're going to press on the notes _ _ immediately before the
fret wire in the fret space, okay?
Now, the way that a guitar makes its sound is by blocking the string immediately behind
that fret wire. _ _
You don't need to press down so hard that your finger touches the wood of the neck.
That's not what makes the sound.
In fact, some guys will even have the wood cut out even deeper here.
You don't need to do that.
All you need to do is press hard enough so that the fret wire is what's making the sound.
We're blocking the notes behind the fret wires, what's really going on.
If [F#] we are on _
Now, I want to get on our fifth [A] _ string _ on the third [C] fret, _ _ _ _ that note right there.
Just see if you can play one note and have it sound.
Don't press the limbo jesus out of it.
_ Don't thumb it too hard or pick it too hard if you're using your pick.
_ We just want to make a sound, okay?
Now, instead of making that sound with your first finger, use your ring finger, okay?
Get a nice sound out of there.
_ _ [Em] Now, on the fourth string, [B] second fret, we're going to press down [E] right here.
_ _ _ _ _ Now, here's the trick in making a chord is to play both of them without either one messing
up the other, [C] right?
We've got _ _ this note [E] and then the higher note.
Now, [C] watch out because a very natural tendency, especially when getting started, is to lean
your fingers down like this.
What's going to happen is that the fat of your finger, the pad of your finger is going
to block the lower string.
You want to come at it a little bit straight on.
Still a natural position, right?
You just want your hand to kind of come right up to the neck. _
_ You want to make sure that you're sounding that note [E] without blocking that note.
Those are the only ones.
Other than that, all the other strings are open.
These are [Cm] fretted or stopped. _
_ [C] _ _ You can make those two sound good.
Now, [C] get your pick back in hand and strum, _ _ _ _ _ okay? _
_ _ Nice and clean.
My open [B] strings, right, [G] one, two, and three have no notes fretted and they sound nice and clean.
[E] _ _ There's four.
That one's [Em] fretted.
_ _ _ Open, fretted, [C] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ sixth string is open.
_ [C] _
_ _ That is the first step to building a chord.
Again, [D] you don't have to press too hard.
You essentially want to keep your hand as relaxed as you can.
Again, as I started to explain, if you just kind of held your hand out naturally like
this and then put it to the neck of the guitar, that's the basic [C] position that you want to be in.
That's going to keep you in good health and avoid any kind of carpal tunnel problems or anything else.
So don't press too hard.
See if you can finger two strings and make them sound nice and clean together.
[Em] When you can, _ strum across.
_ Now you've made your first chord.