This document provides an introduction to guitar chords for beginners. It explains the 6 most common chords (C, D, G, Em, A, Am) and includes diagrams showing how to finger each chord. It also discusses strumming patterns and provides examples of songs that can be played using these basic chords, including Pumped Up Kicks and Rip Tide. Additional topics covered include the use of a capo to access new chords and some history on the development of electric guitars.

1. WELCOME
THIS IS THE LAST BEGINNERS GUITAR
GUIDE YOU WILL EVER NEED
BEGIN
CHORD EDITION

2. PLEASE CLICK THE APPROPRIATE BUTTONS TO NAVIGATE TO SELECTED PAGES.
HISTORY
CHORDS
SONGS
TABS
VIDEOS GAMES
MAP

3. HISTORY: THE ELECTRIC GUITAR
The Electric guitar is an absolutely amazing instrument with an extreme variety of playing
techniques available to use by musicians to get great sound and music out of the instrument.
The first ever Electric Guitar was called the Rickenbacker “Frying pan”, created in 1931 by George
Beauchamp. It’s known as the Frying pan guitar due to its shape representing that of a frying pan,
Beauchamp was however unfortunate in being unable to obtain a patent for his idea for a number
of years resulting in rival companies to produce them in the same time period. The reason why this
guitar is the first mass produced is because George Beauchamp and his partner Adolph
Rickenbacker, produced an electromagnetic pickup. The way this works is current is passed through
a coil of wire wrapped around a magnet, creating a field which amplified the strings' vibrations. In
the industry we call this a transducer, electromagnetic transducer.
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ACOUSTIC

4. HISTORY: THE ELECTRIC GUITAR – PART 2
The reason all this mass development, demand and essential need for amplification through
electricity was because of big bands, swing and orchestras were composed of a large number of
instruments and instruments had to fight and some be drowned out by the other already louder
instruments. So essentially, it was all a strive for quality of sound in general.
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ACOUSTIC

5. HISTORY: THE ACOUSTIC GUITAR
Fill this space with useless information about the acoustic guitar.
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ELECTRIC

6. CHORDS – FOR THE BEGINNERS
A chord is a group of typically 3 or more chords (however there can be less, known as power chords)
together which make a total chordal note. The typical chords learnt are:
C - D - G - EM - A - AM
The reason these are the chords people tend to learn is because they are the easiest to adjust to,
being able to quickly switch to the shapes with your fingers to make sure the correct string is being
pressed on the correct fret. By no means are they easy to just get, as soon as you pick up a guitar for
the first time, but they are the easiest to learn over time compared to more complex chords that
require further space apart on the fret board, as well as number of fingers required and what’s
known as barring.
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ADVANCED

7. CHORDS – FOR THE BEGINNERS - E MINOR
The first chord that will be shown to you is Em (E Minor), which looks like this:
That diagram tells us that when holding the guitar we would put a finger on the
A (2nd) string at the 2nd fret, and the same fret on the D (3rd) string. We would then strum all strings
to make the E Minor chord!
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ADVANCED

8. CHORDS – FOR THE BEGINNERS - D
The second chord that will be shown is the D chord, which looks like this:
The diagram is telling us, that on the 4th and 6th (G & High E) strings we should
Have our fingers on the 2nd fret. Then a 3rd finger on the 3rd fret on the 5th
(B) string. However, this chord is different to E Minor in that, we don’t strum
All strings. We can tell this from the crosses on the top of the diagram. The crosses above a string
mean they are either not to be strummed or muted with your thumb. So only the bottom 4 strings
should be strummed (DGBE).
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ADVANCED

9. CHORDS – FOR THE BEGINNERS - G
Next is the G chord, it’s a slightly different shape and looks like this:
The G requires you to stretch a little bit more with your left hand, however
Once you get used to it, its super easy. The Diagram is telling us that on the first string (E) has one of
your fingers placed on the 3rd fret, it also has a finger on the 2nd (A) string, as well as on the 6th (High
E) string on the 3rd fret. We play all the strings with this chord to sound the G chord.
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ADVANCED

10. CHORDS – FOR THE BEGINNERS - C
The C chord is a very popular chord. The C chord is another stretch one:
It requires you to have a finger on the 5th (B) string at the first fret, 3rd (D)
At the 2nd fret and one on the 2nd (A) string at the 3rd fret. The C chord is a very versatile and has
many variations to get a slightly different sound such as Cadd9, Csus9, this can be done with other
chords but overall I would say C is the most commonly used with Add’s and Sus’s.
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ADVANCED

11. CHORDS – FOR THE BEGINNERS - A
The A chord, is a nice chord. The A chord requires 3 fingers and looks like this:
Your first finger should be placed on the 3rd (D) string on the 2nd fret, also one
On the 4th (G) string on the 2nd fret as well as one on the 5th (B) string at the 2nd
Fret also. The A chord requires a 5 string strum (ADGBE) rather than all 6 strings, to correctly play
the A chord.
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ADVANCED

12. CHORDS – FOR THE BEGINNERS - A MINOR
The A Minor chord is a nice chord to play, but its sad. It looks like this:
The reason its sad, is because it is like E minor, E minor is the minor chord
of E, Minor chords sound more down if you were to associate them with mood. For example, the
happiest sounding song will have the least amount of minors in. Anyway, to play this you would be
placing 1 finger on the 5th (B) string on the 3rd fret, one on the 4th (G) string on the 2nd fret and one
on the 3rd (D) string on the 2nd fret also.
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ADVANCED

13. CHORDS – ADVANCED - DO THEY ONLY PLAY G C D EM?
If you can master the 4 chords the guide has taught you so far, through lots of practice, you can play
songs with them chords in. BUT! Is that all you can play? No :D
You can use what is called a Capo. A capo “changes” the place in which the end of the guitar neck is
and if you play the chords relative to what fret you clamp the capo to and then the chord shapes
you have learnt throw out different chords to what would if there was no capo. For example, playing
a G with capo on the 3rd fret, would ring out as a B flat. This means that you have even more songs
available for you to play, so its definitely worth buying a capo, it means there is basically no extra
learning to do either, except for how to clamp the capo on properly.
BASIC
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14. SONGS - I KNOW THE CHORDS, HOW DO I PLAY THEM?
So, We know the chords now, If you don’t quite know how to play the chords yet or need to refresh your
memory on the shapes etc. You can go to the chord pages by clicking here. So, Lets play some role-play,
you love to listen to Foster the people, like more than the majority of school girls love 1 Direction. So your
ultimate ‘fave’ song is Pumped up Kicks. The chords in Pumped up kicks are:
EM - G - D - A
So once you’ve got your capo stuck on the first fret, you’re ready to play right? Unfortunately not.
There is this thing called Strumming patterns. Strumming patterns the direction you have to strum in and
how many times, an example could be with Pumped up kicks.
The Strumming pattern with pumped up kicks is down down up up down up. So on
So while remembering to change chords at the proper time (you can do this by
using your ears with the original as a guide track, so you would make sure you
strum twice down, twice up, once down then once up again and then restart.
Just like when learning the chords, you get used to it easily over time.
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15. SONGS - I KNOW THE CHORDS, HOW DO I PLAY THEM?
So you’ve become familiar with chords, chord shapes and strumming patters, you want to know what
songs you can play after some practice with ease. So the next couple of pages will teach you a couple.
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16. SONGS - 1. rRIPTIDE - CAPO ON 1ST, HOWEVER SOUNDS GOOD CAPO 3RD
The Chords you will need is your A Minor, G and C. So, Stick your capo on 1st or 3rd and you’re ready.
Your intro is in the format is a fast Am, G, C. Following one after another quickly and consecutively. The
strumming pattern changes throughout the verse but you will have to listen to the song to get the
strumming pattern and then its different throughout the chorus.
Through the bridge You have Am, G, C and then again on the 2nd line of the bridge on the C it’s a hold.
Which means you deviate from the style of the song and hold it until the start of the chorus.
You can find the TAB Here. You can listen to the song Here.
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17. SONGS - 1. PUMPED UP KICKS - CAPO ON 1ST
The Chords you will need is your A Minor, G and C. So, Stick your capo on 1st or 3rd and you’re ready.
Your intro is in the format is a fast Am, G, C. Following one after another quickly and consecutively. The
strumming pattern changes throughout the verse but you will have to listen to the song to get the
strumming pattern and then its different throughout the chorus.
Through the bridge You have Am, G, C and then again on the 2nd line of the bridge on the C it’s a hold.
Which means you deviate from the style of the song and hold it until the start of the chorus.
You can find the TAB Here.
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