Steve Gorenberg - A Quick Guide to Guitar Chords: No Prior Guitar Experience or Music Reading Skills Necessary!

Hold the pick in your hand by gripping it firmly between your thumb and first finger. Keep the rest of your hand relaxed and your fingers slightly curved and out of the way. You can strum the strings with a downstroke (downward motion) or an upstroke (upward motion).

Keep your hand relaxed and your fingers arched. The first joint of your thumb and your fingertips are the only parts of your hand that should be touching the guitar. Avoid gripping the neck like a baseball bat; your palm should not be touching the guitar neck.

Place the first joint of your thumb on the back of the guitar neck. Curl your fingers so that only your fingertips are touching the strings.

To indicate chord fingerings, numbers are assigned to the fingers of your fret hand (1 = index, 2 = middle, 3 = ring, 4 = pinky).

Chords are taught in this book by using graphic representations of the fretboard, or chord diagrams . The vertical lines in the diagrams represent the strings; the horizontal lines represent the frets. The thick horizontal line at the top of the diagram represents the nut. Chord diagrams visually correspond to the guitar as if you stood the guitar up from floor to ceiling and looked directly at the fretboard.

The following symbols are placed on the chord diagrams to show you how to finger the chords:

• The black dots on the diagram indicate which notes are fretted (pressed down) with fingers.
• The fingers used to fret each note are shown underneath the chord diagram.
• The "O" above the diagrams indicate which strings are strummed open (with no fingers touching them).
• An "X" above the diagram indicates that the string should be muted or not strummed.

Let's get started with some simple chords that only require one finger. The chords in this chapter are simplified versions of the full, open chords that we'll get to later on. For now, these will get you started so you can play some songs right away.

When fretting a note, press down firmly with just your fingertip; be careful not to touch any of the other surrounding strings and accidentally mute them. Strum only the strings that are required, as indicated in the chord diagrams. To confirm that you're fretting the notes properly, pick each string individually to hear if they're ringing out cleanly.

For the C chord, fret the note on the second string with your first finger and strum only the highest three strings. For the G chord, fret the note on the first string with your third finger and strum only the highest four strings.

Practice changing from chord to chord in a smooth, even motion to prepare you for playing songs.

In the example below, strum each chord four times in a downward motion before changing to the next one. Count along in time and change chords without a pause or hesitation at the beginning of each measure.