Just starting out playing guitar?

One of the first things you should master are the essential guitar chords. With just eight chords under your belt, you’ll be able to play many different songs! 

You can use these chord charts to learn – or use the Fret Zealot app to get the chords at your fingertips with colors that coordinate with each finger! 

Blue = pointer

Green = middle

Yellow = Ring finger

Pink = pinky

There are many different variations on how to play each chord – including barre chords. You can focus on these open positions (the easiest ones to play) first. 

To read chord diagrams: 

The far left vertical line represents the low E string, and the far right vertical line represents the high E string. Each vertical line in the middle represents each string from the bottom up. 

An X over a string means not to play that string. The O means leave the string unfretted, but play it. Each dot represents a fret which you should hold down with a finger. Some diagrams include numbers at the bottom of the diagram, which represent which finger should be on which string (1 for index, 2 for middle, etc.) 

Here are some other essential chords:

 

C 

 

D 

E 

G

 

Am

Dm

Em