Q&A for How to Play Guitar Chords

There is a huge amount of information online in regards to music theory. Be sure to take it slow and progress only when you have a firm understanding of each topic. Take your time and don't rush things to ensure that you internalize everything that you learn.

Practice more to fully develop callouses. Some people put glue on their fingertips, but this is a very temporary solution, and will end up hindering your playing in the long run.

Start slow, and make your changes perfect, then begin to speed up. Work up slowly.

The x is a dead note, meaning that note does not need to be played.

The white dots make it easier to see what fret it is more quickly and represents the odd fret numbers on the guitar. For example the third white dot indicates that it's fret 7. The double white dot represents fret 12.

Place your fingers just behind the frets, so that when you finger the 3rd fret, your finger will be in the space between the 2nd and 3rd frets. Also, be sure to use the very tips of your fingers to prevent them from accidentally touching the adjacent strings.

In terms of numbering, the first fret is the strip of metal closest to the nut. So, that would be the top.

It depends on how much you practice. The more you work at it, the faster you'll be able to make the switch.

An "x" means that you don't play the string. However, some songs will specify that you need to mute the string with your finger.

You need to place one finger on whatever fret you want to bar and hold it there over all of the strings on that fret. The rest of your fingers will act as the next finger down the line (second finger barring, so third finger will be your main finger, and so on). You can also buy a capo, so that you don't have to deal with the pain of the guitar's strings going against your fingers. The capo bars the frets for you. This also works with a ukulele.

The same way you learn to play in a group. Start in a group lesson then, when you get comfortable with the strings and cords, you can try solos. Buy a lesson book and read some music and just try to play. It does take a while and you might get a little impatient but if you want it, you can work for it.

If a string on a chord diagram has an x on it, it means you do not play that string. You could try, but it may not sound right.

In terms of sound, no, they don't matter, but they will help you identify where the frets are. There are guitars without them, though.

Yes, that's exactly what you'll be able to do! If you go to ultimate-guitar.com/ you can find chords for almost any song you want.

No, it's not dangerous. Your fingertips will naturally hurt, but you will get used to it. The pain will decrease the longer you play as your fingers get stronger and calluses develop.

People tune their guitars differently. If you haven't tuned your guitar, do so with the assistance of a tuning app on your phone or computer.

Place each one of your fingers down on the designated strings. Some fingers may have to press down on more than one string at a time.

You can use a piano, though you'll need to know the notes of the strings, which are E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, and E4. There's also a trick you can use, but it requires the lowest guitar string (E2) to be tuned. There are several websites and YouTube videos that will tell you how. Just look up "5th fret tuning."

For some chords like D major, you don’t play the bottom two strings simply because your fingers aren’t pressing on any of the notes with those strings. You tend to want to strum from the root note to get the full sound of the chord.

It takes time. In my experience, I've been playing guitar for 9 weeks, 2 classes each week and it really just takes time to learn all the chords and form medleys. The only advice I can give you is to try to play chords everyday.

You could use any acoustic or electric guitar with a standard tuning.

It varies for people, because it requires a lot of practice and patience. It might take a few months or even a year to succeed in having "trained" fingers.

Yes, of course! It's just playing the melody instead of the chords. I learned how to play individual notes before I learned chords. Some easy ones to start with are 'Smoke on the Water' by Deep Purple or 'Outcast at Last' by Sticky Fingers.

You may use a guitar pick when strumming.You should strike the strings slightly across the strings you need to strum. Just concentrate on the chords you want to play. For example: C major. You place your index finger behind the first fret of the B string. Middle finger is held behind the second fret of the D string. Now your ring finger is held down behind the third fret of the A string. Keep your fingertips pressed down hard for the best sound of the C chord. Now strum down from the A string to the E string (5th to 1st string). If you just want to do one note, just hold your fingertip behind one of the frets of the 6 strings.

You first need to know what key you're going to play in. The key dictates the sequence of chords that will sound good. There are lots of YouTube videos that cover this topic.

Keep practicing, and your fingers will learn to stretch. It becomes muscle memory, and it gets easier with time. Just keep playing.

As with any skill you want to master, dedicating yourself to practice is the only thing that can really truly help you improve. It will be hard at first, but practice for at least five minutes a day. Just keep switching between chords, back and forth, for a few minutes. If you get frustrated, take a break. It's important to enjoy yourself!