Still confused how to play a chord

by trey
(D.C.)

So look I've had my electric guitar for almost a year now and learned the basics but once i got to playing the chords part i became really frustrated and confused because i didn't know where to place my fingers or if i played all strings or once so because of that I stopped trying to play my guitar for. Now I've come too the conclusion that i really want to excel in playing this instrument so can u tell me how to really play a chord?

Answer

Hi Trey, it's very simple to play a chord,
let's take A minor chord as an example   -->

And focus on the fretting hand:

Press the 4th string at the 2nd fret with your middle finger,
the 3rd string at the 2nd fret, with the ring finger,
and the 2nd string at the 1st fret with the index finger



You need to strum all the strings on the guitar except the one that marked with X symbol in the top of the diagram, so you skip the E low string, and play A, D, G, B and high E.

The transparent circles in the same row with X symbol only mean that these strings are open. (You don't need to press any fret on them, but they should be strummed)

So you'll get something like this:


Play a slow strum and check that each string sounds OK, if you hear some buzz, push the string stronger and avoid your fretting fingers touching and muting the next strings.

Learn a number of basic guitar chords along with strumming patterns and you will be fine to play a lot of songs much sooner than in one year ;)

GOOD LUCK!