Major Chords
Major chords are made up of the Root (first), 3rd, and 5th scale tones of the major scale. There will be more theoretical discussion of chord building in the Triads and Inversions lessons elsewhere on this site. The purpose of this beginner lesson article is just to show you how to play some of the the easy major chords on the guitar.
See the main page of this section: CHORDS for an explanation of how to read the diagrams on this page.
Here we illustrate common major chord fingerings for the guitar, both in the open position, and common moveable chord shapes that can be played anywhere on the neck.
Open Guitar Chords
These are referred to as "open chords" because they are played at the low end of the guitar neck, involving notes on "open" (not fretted) strings.
A Major:
O----------------
---2-------------
---2-------------
---2-------------
O----------------
---X-------------
The B Major chord is generally not played in the open position, as fingering in this position is impractical for the most part. See movable chord forms illustrated below.
C Major:
O----------------
---1-------------
O----------------
-----2-----------
-------3---------
X----------------
D Major (the open fifth string is optional and can be muted or otherwise ignored depending on circumstances):
---2-------------
------3----------
---2-------------
O----------------
O----------------
X----------------
E Major:
O----------------
O----------------
--1--------------
----2------------
----2------------
O----------------
F Major:
Use the first finger to hold down both the first and second strings at the first fret. This chord is also commonly played in its moveable barre form at the first position instead of open position.
-1---------------
-1---------------
---2-------------
-----3-----------
X----------------
X----------------
G Major:
------3----------
O----------------
O----------------
O----------------
----2------------
------3-----------
A popular alternate fingering for the G Major chord in the open position, using a 5th at the third fret of the second string, instead of the open 3rd:
------3----------
-----3-----------
O----------------
O----------------
----2------------
------3-----------
Moveable Major Chord Fingerings
These chord shapes can be played anywhere on the guitar neck, to produce the chord that is named according to where the root note falls on the fingerboard position where you play it.
See the Barre Chords lesson (link at right) for more information about how these chord shapes work.
"X" = muted or unused string.
B Major in second position.
---2-------------
-------4---------
-------4---------
-------4---------
---2-------------
---X-------------
A Major in fifth position.
---5------------
---5------------
------6---------
--------7-------
--------7-------
---5------------
More guitar chord books like this available at Sheet Music Plus and Amazon
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