What are the easiest guitar chords and how fast can you or your students learn them?
For years I’ve been teaching kids from the age of 6 and older student to play guitar,
and one of the things that matter to me is that they’ll get results as quickly as possible with chords that they can play them within one or two lessons.
Many guitar students begin to learn with standard chords. The point is that it turns out to be more difficult than learning a melody of single notes.
Why?
Because if you have never played the guitar, you find yourself having to press more than one finger at the same time, form the correct grip of the chord, control the motoric skill of the fingerpicking or strumming of the other hand, feel the meter, etc.
A bit overwhelming, right?
Well, the solution I found that works well with my students, can benefit you as well so you’ll play the chord with much fun and relative ease.
What is a chord?
A chord is when two or more notes are heard simultaneously and form what is called harmony.
In contrast to harmony, there is the melody concept in which only one note is heard at any given moment leading to another note and so on.
We use chords when we want to accompaniment other instruments or a singer who plays the melody.
What are the easiest guitar chords?
When you press as few fingers as possible to produce harmony,
Without using any finger and up to three fingers pressing,
With only the first three strings (the first string is closest to the floor),
And maximum open strings (which don’t need to be pressed).
Are there other easy chords?
Yes, there are.
There are a few more chords that can go into this category that you can play using strings four to six.
Why did I leave them outside in this article?
Because to get with your fingers to these strings is a bit more complex than the first three
and they are already “midway” for standard chords and second,
they are less coherent among themselves and thus create less smooth harmonic motion between them.
Note: This is the minimum required to achieve a minimal musical result and thus
the result is good enough and not ideal.
In every choice, you usually earn one thing and give up something else.
However, these chords can be very useful for your purpose and I have been combining them in my classes with great success for over ten years.
Who can benefit from the easiest guitar chords?
- If you don’t have any guitar experience and you want to get tangible results within even one day.
- Guitar students at the age of 5-8.
- For those with physical disabilities who find the chord playing more than two fingers too difficult.
- If you need to play with of other instruments of low range like a trombone or a bass guitar
How to play these chords?
- Press the string with your fingertip
- Press as hard as you can. You probably won’t feel comfortable, but after a couple of times,
you’ll get used to it. - Keep space under the finger that presses with the string underneath it.
- Make a “LIKE” sign with picking hand. Place your thumb on string 3 or 2,
depending on the chord and “brush” up to string 1. - The fingers of the pressing hand are designated as follow:
index finger- 1, middle finger-2, ring finger- 3, little finger- 4 - We’ll call “house” for every fret of the guitar, and each string will be “floor.”
The easiest guitar chords listed by alphabet:
A Chord
Finger 2, house 2, 3rd floor + finger 3, house 2, 2nd floor
Or the same thing with different fingers:
Finger 1, house 2 floor 3 + finger 2, house 2, 2nd floor
Am Chord
Finger 1, house 1 floor 2 + finger 2, house 2 2nd floor
B Chord
Finger 1, house 2, floor 1 + finger 4, house 4, floor 2 + finger 3, house 4, floor 3
Bm Chord
Finger 1, house 2, floor 1 + finger 2, house 3, floor 2 + finger 3, house 4, floor 3
C Chord
Finger 1, house 1, floor 2
Cm Chord
Finger 1, house 3, floor 1 + finger 2, house 4, 2nd floor + finger 3, house 5, 3rd floor
D Chord
Finger 2, house 2, 1st floor + finger 3, house 3, 2nd floor
or
Finger 1, house 2, floor 1 + finger 2, house 3, floor 2
More advanced option:
Finger 2, house 2, floor 1 + finger 3, house 3, 2nd floor + finger 1, house 2, 3rd floor
Dm Chord
Finger 1, house 1, floor 1 + finger 3, house 3, 2nd floor
More advanced option:
Finger 1, house 1 floor 1 + finger 3, house 3, 2nd floor + finger 2, house 2, 3rd floor
E Chord
Finger 1, house 1, 3rd floor
Em Chord
The three strings are open
F Chord
Finger 1, house 1, flat on floor 1 + 2, finger 2, house 2 3rd floor
or
Finger 2, house 1, floor 1 + finger 1, house 1, 2nd floor + finger 3, house 2, 3rd floor
or
Finger 1, house 1, floor 1 + finger 2, house 1, 2nd floor + finger 3, house 2, 3rd floor
Fm Chord
Finger 1 flat one house on floor 1 + 2 + 3
or
Finger 4, house 1, floor 1 + finger 3, house 1, 2nd floor + finger 2, house 1, 3rd floor
or
Finger 3, house 1, floor 1 + finger 2, house 1, 2nd floor + finger 1, house 1, 3rd floor
G Chord
Finger 1, house 3, 1st floor
Gm chord
Finger 1, house 3, flat finger on floor 1 + 2 + 3
or
Finger 4, house 3, 1st floor + finger 3, house 3, 2nd floor + finger 2, house 3, 3rd floor
or
Finger 3, house 3, 1st floor + finger 2, house 3, 2nd floor + finger 1, house 3, 3rd floor
Conclusion
Playing guitar using the easiest chord patterns will allow you to start playing songs
in the shortest time and get your fingers used to press the strings if you have no previous guitar playing experience.
Your next step, if you want to go deeper, is to learn the standard chords
in addition to those, you’ve already learned here.
Enjoy 🙂
