Songwriter Advisor Blog

If you’re a beginner guitarist, you can be playing and writing songs immediately in any genre if you know which chords to learn first! Learning chord fingerings is not that difficult at all if you practice consistently for a few days. In this article we’ll learn the basic chords in the keys of “C” and “G.”

Two of the most popular songwriting keys are: The key of “C”, and the key of “G”

These two keys contain many of the same basic chords so you only have to learn 10 instead of the 14 listed below in the two “key” columns!

Key

“C” = C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bmb5

“G” = G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#mb5

Here are the ten chords to jumpstart your guitar playing and songwriting:

All chords will be located on the first four frets of your guitar

X = don’t play string
O = open string
Fingerings: 1 = pointer finger, 2 = middle finger, 3 = ring finger, 4 = pinkie finger

     “C Major”

O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
  |-1-|—–|—–|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
  |—–|-2-|—–|—–|
  |—–|—–|-3-|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|

     “D Minor”

  |-1-|—–|—–|—–|
  |—–|—–|-3-|—–|
  |—–|-2-|—–|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|

     “E Minor”

O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
  |—–|—–|—–|—–|
  |—–|-3-|—–|—–|
  |—–|-2-|—–|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|

     “F Major”
*This is a “bar chord” so your pointer finger lays flat on the indicated guitar fret
|–1—|—–|—–|—–|
|–B—|—–|—–|—–|
|–A—|-2-|—–|—–|
|–R—|—–|-4-|—–|
|——|—–|-3-|—–|
|–1—|—–|—–|—–|

    “G Major”

  |—–|—–|-4-|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
  |—–|-2-|—–|—–|
  |—–|—–|-3-|—–|

   “A Minor”

O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
  |-1-|—–|—–|—–|
  |—–|—–|-3-|—–|
  |—–|-2-|—–|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|

   “Bmb5″

  |-1-|—–|—–|—–|
  |—–|—–|-3-|—–|
  |—–|—–|—–|-4-|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|

    “B Minor”
*This is a “bar chord” so your pointer finger lays flat on the indicated guitar fret
  |—–|-1-|—–|—–|
  |—–|–B–|-2-|—–|
  |—–|–A–|—–|-4-|
  |—–|–R–|—–|-3-|
  |—–|-1-|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|

   “D Major”

  |—–|-2-|—–|—–|
  |—–|—–|-3-|—–|
  |—–|-1-|—–|—–|
O|—–|—–|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|

     “F#mb5″

X|—–|—–|—–|—–|
X|—–|—–|—–|—–|
  |—–|-2-|—–|—–|
  |—–|—–|—–|-4-|
  |—–|—–|-3-|—–|
  |—–|-1-|—–|—–|

Follow these practice tips to accelerate and super-charge your chord learning:

1. Start by fingering the “C” chord with your fretting hand. Practice removing your fretting hand and placing back on the “C” chord several times until you feel comfortable.

2. Now repeat step 1 but add your other hand into the mix by lightly strumming the strings with your thumb or a pick everytime you finger the chord.

3. When this becomes easier, move on to the next chord, “Dm,” and repeat steps 1 and 2 with this new chord only.

4. Now practice switching from “C” to “Dm” with your fretting hand only, then start lightly strumming with your other hand when you feel you’ve got the fingerings down!

5. Repeat the whole process by adding one new chord after another and you’re on your way!