Your First Guitar Chord

One of the most important jobs of a guitar player is to play chords behind a singer or whomever is playing the melody of the song.  The first chord I always teach to my students is E minor.  If you are not familiar with chord diagrams please review the lesson on How to Read Chord Diagrams first.

Try this chord:

Lower case m = minor

Here is the Order of Placement I would like you to use for the E minor:

1. Start by putting the tip of your third finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.  Make sure it’s close to the metal fret but not on it.
2. Now place the tip of the second finger on the 2nd fret of the A string.  Push it’s right up close the 3rd finger, don’t leave any space between them.
3. Stand the fingers up tall so they are not accidentally leaning on any other strings.
4.  Strum all 6 string and check to see that they all are making a sound.

pic of hand playing Em

If you are not getting all the strings to ring out it could be either or both of these two things:

• you are leaning on the string below one of your fingers.
• you are not pressing the string down hard enough to make contact with the fret.
• If you are having any of these problems please also try reviewing the basics of Left Hand Position as well as How To Hold The Guitar The Right Way.

If everything sounds good the next step is repetition:

GRAB – Grab the the chord in the same order that I showed you above.  If you don’t the fingers will get confused and it will take you a long time to get comfortable with it. The Order of placement is extremely important when learning guitar chords.  Click  here to read why.

STRUM – Make sure it sounds good and that no notes are being weakly pressed or muted by leaning fingers.

LET GO – Let go fully so that you have the practice of reforming the chord from scratch every time.

REPEAT – The only way we get good at anything is thru slow, accurate, methodical practice.  Rushing thru with out order and control will not give you good results.

Previous Lesson: How To Read Guitar Chord Diagrams

Next Lesson:  Easy Guitar Chords

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