50 Basic Beginner Guitar Chords

Hello fellow guitarist!  On this page, you will find 50 easy beginner guitar chords that you can learn how to play right now.  These are all fairly basic chords that you should not have any trouble learning.  There are some that are a bit more challenging than others, but all are well within reach with just a bit of practice and patience.

Once you familiarize yourself with these beginner guitar chords, head on over to our easy acoustic guitar songs section and put these chords into practice right away.  There you will find lots of carefully selected guitar song lessons complete with links to chords, tabs, lyrics and video tutorials. Enjoy!

Easy Guitar Chord 1

C Major

The C Major Chord is one of the easier beginner acoustic guitar chords to learn and play. The C Major Chord is found in the C Major Scale: C D E F G A B C. It is made up of the 1, 3 and 5 of this scale. Meaning the notes C, E and G…

Follow this link for the full lesson on C Major

Easy Guitar Chord 2

Cmaj7

The C Major 7 Chord is found by locating the 1, 3 , 5  and 7 positions (C, E, G and B) of the C Major Scale: C D E F G A B C.  You are basically playing a C Major Chord and simply lifting your first finger off the C Note of the 2nd string first fret…

Follow this link for the full lesson on C Major 7

Easy Guitar Chord 3

C7

The C7 Chord can be found by  first locating the 1, 3 and 5 positions (C, E and G) of the  C Major Scale: C D E F G A B C, and then adding a flat 7 note. To locate the flat 7 note, we first find the 7th note of the C Major scale (B) and then go back a 1/2 step to the BFlat…

Follow this link for the full lesson on C7

Easy Guitar Chord 4

Csus2

The C Suspended 2 Chord is found in the C Major Scale: C D E F G A B C. It is made up of the 1, 2, and 5 of the C Major scale. Meaning the notes C, D and G.

Follow this link for the full lesson on Csus2

Easy Guitar Chord 5

Csus4

The Csus4 Chord is a fairly easy guitar chord to play. Just like the C Major Chord, this chord is also found in the C Major Scale: C D E F G A B C. It is made up of the 1, 4 and 5 of the C Major scale. Meaning the notes C, F and G….

Follow this link for the full lesson on playing the Csus4 Guitar Chord

Easy Guitar Chord 6

Cadd9

The C Add 9 Chord is found by locating the 1 ,3, 5, and 9 (C, E, G and D) of the C Major Scale: C D E F G A B C..

Follow this link for the full lesson on playing the Cadd9 Guitar Chord

Easy Guitar Chord 7

D Major

The D Major Guitar Chord is found in the D Major Scale: D E F# G A B C# D. It is made up of the 1(root note), 3 and 5 positions of this scale. Meaning the notes D, F# and A. Now to add more depth to the sound of the chord you add another D….

Follow this link for the full lesson on D Major

Easy Guitar Chord 8

Dmaj7

The D Major 7th Chord is found by locating the 1, 3 , 5 and 7 positions (D, F#, A and C#) of the D Major Scale: D E  F# G  A  B  C# D….

Follow this link for the full lesson on Dmaj7

Easy Guitar Chord 9

D Minor

The D Minor Chord (also known as Dm) is found by locating the 1, b3 and 5 steps of the  D Major Scale: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, or the notes D, F and A.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the D Major Scale (F#) a 1/2 step to an “F”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on D Minor

Easy Guitar Chord 10

Dm6

The D Minor 6 Chord (also known as Dm6, D Minor 6th) is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 and 6 steps of the  D Major Scale: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, or the notes D, F, A and B.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the D Major Scale (F#) a 1/2 step to an “F”….

Follow this link for the full lesson on Dm6

Easy Guitar Chord 11

Dm7

The D Minor 7 Chord (also known as Dm7,D Minor 7th) is found by locating the 1, b3, 5, b7 steps of the  D Major Scale: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, or the notes D, F, A and C.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the D Major Scale (F#) a 1/2 step to an “F”. The “b7″ symbol translates to “Flattened 7th” , which means we simply lower the 7th step of the D Major Scale (C#) a 1/2 step to a “C”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Dm7

Easy Guitar Chord 12

Dm11

The D Minor 11 Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 , b7, 9 ,11 steps of the  D Major Scale: D E F# G A B C# , or the notes D, F, A, C, E and G.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the D Major Scale (F#) a 1/2 step to a “F”. The “b7″ symbol translates to “Flattened 7th” , which means we simply lower the 7th step of the D Major Scale (C#) a 1/2 step to a “C”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Dm11

Easy Guitar Chord 13

D6

The D6 Guitar Chord is found in the D Major Scale: D E F# G A B C# D. It is made up of the 1, 3, 5 and 6 positions of this scale, or  the notes D, F# and A and B…

Follow this link for the full lesson on D6

Easy Guitar Chord 14

D7

The D7 Chord is found by first locating the 1, 3 and 5  positions (D, F# and A) of the D Major Scale: D E F# G A B C# D, and then adding a flat 7 note. To locate the flat 7 note, we first find the 7th note of the D Major scale (C#) and then go back a 1/2 step to the C…

Follow this link for the full lesson on D7

Easy Guitar Chord 15

D7sus4

The D7sus4 guitar Chord is an easy one to play and is found by  locating the 1, 4, 5  and b7 positions (D, G, A and C) of the D Major Scale: D E F# G A B C# D.  The “b7″ symbol translates to a “flattened 7th”.  This means that we find the 7th position of the D Major scale, “C#”, and we flatten it by a 1/2 step to a “C”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on D7sus4

Easy Guitar Chord 16

Dsus2

The Dsus2 Guitar Chord is found by locating the 1, 2 and 5 positions (D, E and A) of the D Major Scale: D, E, F#, G, A, B, and C#…..

Follow this link for the full lesson on Dsus2

Easy Guitar Chord 17

Dsus4

The Dsus4 Guitar Chord is found by locating the 1, 4 and 5 positions (D, G and A) of the D Major Scale: D E F# G A B C#…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Dsus4

Easy Guitar Chord 18

E Major

The E Major Guitar Chord is found in the E Major Scale: E F# G# A B C# D# E. It is made up of the 1 , 3 and 5 of this scale. Meaning the notes E, G# and B…

Follow this link for the full lesson on E Major

Easy Guitar Chord 19

E Minor

The E Minor Chord (also known as Em) is found by locating the 1, b3 and 5 steps of the  E Major Scale: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, and D#, or the notes E, G and B.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the E Major Scale (G#) a 1/2 step to an “G”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on E Minor

Easy Guitar Chord 20

Emaj7

The E Major 7th Chord is found by locating the 1, 3 , 5 and 7 positions (E, G#, B and D#) of the E Major Scale: E F# G# A B C# D# E. The chord diagram chart below demonstrates how to play the EMaj7 Chord…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Emaj7

Easy Guitar Chord 21

E6

Learn how to play the E6 (also known as E Major Sixth, EMaj6, E Major 6th) chord, with this free guitar lesson. The E6 Chord is found in the E Major Scale: E F# G# A B C# D# E. It is made up of the 1 , 3, 5 and 6 of this scale. Meaning the notes E, G#, B and C#…

Follow this link for the full lesson on E6

Easy Guitar Chord 22

E7

The E7 Chord is found by first locating the 1, 3 and 5 (E, G# and B) of the E Major Scale: E  F# G# A B C# D# E, and then adding a flat 7 note. To locate the flat 7 note, we first find the 7th note of the E Major scale (D#) and then go back a 1/2 step to the D…

Follow this link for the full lesson on E7

Easy Guitar Chord 23

E9

The E9 Chord (also known as E Dominant 9th, E dominant Nine, E dominant 9) is found by locating the 1, 3, 5, b7 and 9 steps (E, G#, B, D and F# ) of the E Major Scale: E  F# G# A B C# D# E. The “b7″ symbol translates to a “Flattened 7th” which means we take the 7th position of the E Major scale and flatten it by a 1/2 step which gives us a “D” …

Follow this link for the full lesson on E9

Easy Guitar Chord 24

E13

The E13 Chord is found by locating the 1, 3 , 5, b7, 9 and 13 positions (E, G#, B, D, F# and C#) of the E Major Scale: E  F# G# A B C# D# E. The chord chart below demonstrates how to play the E13 Chord….

Follow this link for the full lesson on E13

Easy Guitar Chord 25

Em6

The E Minor 6 Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 , 6 steps of the  E Major Scale: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, or the notes E, G, B and C#..  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the E Major Scale (G#) a 1/2 step to a “G”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Em6

Easy Guitar Chord 26

Em7

The E Minor 7 Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 , b7 steps of the  E Major Scale: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, or the notes E, G, B and D..  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the E Major Scale (G#) a 1/2 step to a “G”. The “b7? symbol translates to “Flattened 7th” , which means we simply lower the 7th step of the E Major Scale (D#) a 1/2 step to a “D”….

Follow this link for the full lesson on Em7

Easy Guitar Chord 27

Em9

The E Minor 9 Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 , b7, 9  steps of the  E Major Scale: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, or the notes E, G, B , D and  F#..  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the E Major Scale (G#) a 1/2 step to a “G”. The “b7? symbol translates to “Flattened 7th” , which means we simply lower the 7th step of the E Major Scale (D#) a 1/2 step to a “D”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Em9

Easy Guitar Chord 28

Esus4

The Esus4 guitar chord (also known as E Suspended 4) is found in the E Major Scale: E  F# G# A  B  C# D# E. It is made up of the 1 , 4 and 5  of this scale. Meaning the notes E, A and B…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Esus4

Easy Guitar Chord 29

F Major

The F Chord is found in the F Major Scale.  The notes of the F Major Scale are: F G A Bb C D E F.  Now to find the F Major Chord, we would locate the 1, 3 and 5 (F, A and C) of the F Major Scale…

Follow this link for the full lesson on F major

Easy Guitar Chord 30

Fmaj7

The F Major 7th Chord is found by locating the 1, 3 , 5 and 7 positions (F, A, C and E) of the F Major Scale: F G A Bb C D E F.  The chord diagram chart below demonstrates how to play the FMaj7 Chord…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Fmaj7

Easy Guitar Chord 31

F7

If you are having difficulty playing the F7 guitar chord (a.k.a, F Dominant 7,f dominant 7th ,f 7th) then you are in luck.  Today you will learn how to play several different, easy  F7 guitar chord shapes…

Follow this link for the full lesson on F7

Easy Guitar Chord 32

Fm6

This chord is found by locating the 1,(b3), 5 and 6 positions of the F Major Scale: F, G, A, Bflat, C, D, E .  That little “b3″ simply means a flattened third.  You are taking the 3 step in the F Major scale (A) and lowering it by a half step to an Ab/G#…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Fm6

Easy Guitar Chord 33

G Major

The G Major Guitar Chord is found in the G Major Scale: G A B C D E F# G. It is made up of the 1, 3 and 5 of this scale. Meaning the notes G, B and D….

Follow this link for the full lesson on G Major

Easy Guitar Chord 34

G6

The G6 Guitar Chord  is found in the G Major Scale: G A B C D E F# G. It is made up of the 1, 3, 5 and 6 of this scale. Meaning the notes G, B, D and E…

Follow this link for the full lesson on G6

Easy Guitar Chord 35

G7

The G7 Guitar Chord (also known as a Dominant G 7th Chord)  is found in the G Major Scale: G A B C D E F# G. It is made up of the 1, 3, 5 and 7 of this scale. Meaning the notes G, B, D and F. This chord is just like the G Major  only you are adding the 7th note from the G Major scale to the chord…

Follow this link for the full lesson on G7

Easy Guitar Chord 36

GAdd4

The Gadd4 Guitar Chord is found in the G Major Scale: G A B C D E F# G. It is made up of the 1, 3, 4 and 5 of this scale. Meaning the notes G, B,C, and D. This is  a very easy chord to finger.  If you know how to play the open G Major chord, then you are almost there…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Gadd4

Easy Guitar Chord 37

A Major

The A Major Chord is found in the A Major Scale: A B C# D E F# G# A. It is made up of the 1 , 3 and 5 positions of this scale. In other words, the notes A,C# and E…

Follow this link for the full lesson on A Major

Easy Guitar Chord 38

A Minor

The A Minor Chord (also known as Am) is found by locating the 1, b3 and 5 steps of the  A Major Scale: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, or the notes A, C and E.  The “b3? symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the A Major Scale (C#) a 1/2 step to a “C”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on A Minor

Easy Guitar Chord 39

A6/9

The A6/9 Guitar Chord is found by locating the 1, 3 , 5, 6 and 9 positions (A, C#, E , F# and B) of the A Major Scale: A B C# D E F# G# A.  You can see exactly how to finger this chord by referring to the chord chart on the page that follows…

Follow this link for the full lesson on A6/9

Easy Guitar Chord 40

A7

The A7 Chord is found by first locating the 1, 3 and 5 (A, C# and E) of the A Major Scale: A B C# D E F# G# A, and then adding a flat 7 note. To locate the flat 7 note, we first find the 7th note of the A Major scale (G#) and then go back a 1/2 step to the G…

Follow this link for the full lesson on A7

Easy Guitar Chord 41

Amaj7

The A Major 7th Chord is found by locating the 1, 3 , 5 and 7 positions (A, C#, E and G#) of the A Major Scale: A B C# D E F# G# A. The chord diagram chart below demonstrates how to play the AMaj7 Chord…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Amaj7

Easy Guitar Chord 42

Am7

The A Minor 7 Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 , b7 steps of the  A Major Scale: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, or the notes A, C, E and G.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the A Major Scale (C#) a 1/2 step to a “C”. The “b7″ symbol translates to “Flattened 7th” , which means we simply lower the 7th step of the A Major Scale (G#) a 1/2 step to a “G”….

Follow this link for the full lesson on Am7

Easy Guitar Chord 43

Am9

The A Minor 9  Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 , b7, 9  steps of the  A Major Scale: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G# , or the notes A, C, E, G,  and B.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the A Major Scale (C#) a 1/2 step to a “C”. The “b7″ symbol translates to “Flattened 7th” , which means we simply lower the 7th step of the A Major Scale (G#) a 1/2 step to a “G”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Am9

Easy Guitar Chord 44

Am11

The A Minor 11 Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 , b7, 9 ,11 steps of the  A Major Scale: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G# , or the notes A, C, E, G, B and D.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the A Major Scale (C#) a 1/2 step to a “C”. The “b7″ symbol translates to “Flattened 7th” , which means we simply lower the 7th step of the A Major Scale (G#) a 1/2 step to a “G”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Am11

Easy Guitar Chord 45

Asus2

The Asus2 (also known as A suspened 2) is found by locating the 1, 2 and 5 positions (A, B and E) of the A Major Scale: A B C# D E F# G# A…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Asus2

Easy Guitar Chord 46

Asus4

The Asus4 (A sus 4, A suspended 4) Guitar Chord is definitely one of the easier basic beginner chords to learn how to play. The ASuS4 Chord is found by locating the 1, 4 and 5 (A, D and E) of the A Major Scale: A B C# D E F# G# A…

Follow this link for the full lesson on Asus4

Easy Guitar Chord 47

A7sus4

The A7sus4 Chord is found by first locating the 1, 4, 5,b7 (A, D,E and G) of the A Major Scale: A B C# D E F# G# A.  The b7, or “Flattened 7th” is just the seventh note of the A Major scale flattened a half  step or semitone to the “G” note…

Follow this link for the full lesson on A7sus4

Easy Guitar Chord 48

A13

The A13 chord is found by locating the 1, 3, 5, b7, 9 and 13 positions (A, C#, E, G, B and F#) of the A Major Scale: A B C# D E F# G# A. The chord chart below demonstrates how to play the A13 Chord…

Follow this link for the full lesson on A13

Easy Guitar Chord 49

Bm

The B Minor Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3 and 5 steps of the  B Major Scale: B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, or the notes B, D and F#.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the B Major Scale (D#) a 1/2 step to a “D”.

Follow this link for the full lesson on B Minor

Easy Guitar Chord 50

Bm7

The B Minor 7 Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3, 5 , b7 steps of the  B Major Scale: B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, or the notes B, D, F# and A.  The “b3? symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the B Major Scale (D#) a 1/2 step to a “D”. The “b7? symbol translates to “Flattened 7th” , which means we simply lower the 7th step of the B Major Scale (A#) a 1/2 step to a “A”…

Follow this link for the full lesson on B Minor

The D Major Guitar Chord

The D Major Guitar Chord is found in the D Major Scale: D E F# G A B C# D. It is made up of the 1, 3 and 5 positions of this scale. Meaning the notes D, F# and A.  The D Major Chord is a very easy chord to play and one of the first most beginners learn.

The only challenge to this chord is making certain you do not strum the Low E and A strings as indicated in the chord chart below. If you happen to hit the A string, its not a big deal. It will still sound like a D chord as the A note is part of this chord.

D Major Chord Notes: D, F# and A

Here is a key that will help you read the chart:

Make certain you are pressing down hard enough on the strings to produce a clean sound. Also, as indicated in the chart above, make sure you are only strumming the first four strings. The fifth and sixth strings are not played.

D Major Guitar Chord Video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsZ70ZcapKo

By Andrew Gavin Webber

Which beginners guitar chords are easiest to play?

The easiest guitar chords for a beginner guitarist to play are the ones that only use one finger. There are some guitarists who like to tune their guitar differently so that there are many more easy to play chords, but it is a good idea to rather use the standard guitar tuning and first master your guitar chords that way.

Here are the simplest chords you can play on a guitar with standard tuning.

The G chord – one finger version.

Place your third finger behind the third fret, on the first string of the guitar, and strum the first four strings. That’s a simplified G chord.

Okay, I see I’m going to have to explain a few basics on the guitar. Firstly, the strings on a guitar are numbered one to six, and the first string is the thinnest string and has the highest pitch.

I sometimes catch myself getting this wrong, and assuming that the thickest string is the first one. It’s a natural mistake.

The second thing is the finger numbering, which is quite logical, seeing as your index finger is the first finger, seeing as that’s the one you point with.

The second, third and fourth finger are the rest in logical sequence.

Frets are the metal bars in the fretboard behind which you place your fingers. The frets are numbered from the nut, so the nut of the guitar is basically zero. A long time ago, some guitars had a nut, and then immediately after there was a zero fret that the strings rested on.

Anyway, I’m sure you get the idea.

For this version of the G chord, the reason why I chose to use the third finger is because later, when you play the full G chord, your first and second fingers get used.

If you place your first finger on the first fret of the first string, and play the first four strings, you’ve got a G7 chord.

The simplified C chord on guitar.

For this chord you place your first finger on the second string behind the first fret. Here you only strum the first three strings.

So far, those are the simplest guitar chords I can come up with using standard tuning on the guitar. For small children just getting the hang of playing the guitar, these are an easy starting point.

The C and G guitar chords go very well together, but are only suited to a two chord song on the guitar. It’s a bit limiting. To really learn to play the guitar, a beginner would have to start with the open chords, which are still fairly easy to play.

Open chords are called open because they are all played within the first three fret spaces of the guitar, and use some notes from the open unfretted strings.

The open chords you’ll begin with.

The most common guitar chords for beginners are the major and minor open chords. For the major chords there is A, C, D, E and G.

For the minor guitar chords you’ve got A min (min is the chord suffix for minor) then D min and E min. This is a lot better than the one finger chords, but as you can see from the list, there is a lot more needed to be able to play any song you want.

On the positive side, the open chords are the building blocks for more complex and difficult chords on the guitar, and even though there are some chords missing, by changing the key of some songs, you could easily build a fairly large repertoire of songs to play with open chords.

Andrew Webber is a professional guitarist who’s website play-electric-guitar.net has enough Free guitar lessons to get you started on the guitar, not least of which is his page on Open guitar chords.

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