A Major Chord
June 6th, 2010
Chord Diagram
In the chord diagram being shown below you may notice that the A major chord is played using fingers 1, 2, and 3.This is the style of chord diagram that we will be using from now on. The A major chord is made up of several notes.These notes are A, C# and E.For now we will not worry about knowledge of individual notes.
You may notice a red dot next to the sixth or top string in the diagram above. This simply indicates that the string will not be played for this chord. All other strings will be played.So what does the chord look like when being played?Well, I’m glad you asked!Check out the demonstration below and then lets head into our first practice exercise.
Playing the A Major Chord
Are you ready to start playing? Ok, the first thing you do is go ahead and try to position your fingers like you see them positioned in the above diagrams. Make sure that your fingers are positioned just behind the fret on the neck of the guitar. Now go ahead and pluck each string individually one by one. Work at it until you get it so that none of the strings sound muted or buzzing. Make sure each finger is only playing the string it is intended to play and not touching any other strings. This will cause them to be muted or they will buzz if they are lightly touching your hand. Once you get the chord down and can play it readily without muting or buzzing of the strings lets start working on strumming patterns.
Intro To Strumming Patterns
When strumming the guitar there are 2 obvious types of strokes. The up stroke and the down stroke. These are often indicated by arrows when illustrating a strumming pattern. Rhythm and strumming is a major part of being a successful guitarist so do not take this strumming exercise lightly and skip it unless you are confident that you have it down.
So lets try it out! Go ahead and position your fingers on the guitar as indicated to play an A major chord. Make sure that you are holding the chord properly and pluck each string individually so that you can hear whether there is any buzzing or muted strings. When you are sure that you are holding the chord properly then try to strum the downward stroke as indicated.Try and count an even 4 count out loud as you strum the strings. Also try and make sure that you are not playing the top or 6th string while you are strumming. If you do hit it won’t sound bad but it sounds more professional if you play it right. The main thing to remember is to just stay relaxed. Your fingers and hand may be a little sore but this will get better over time as they adjust to your new found guitar playing skills.
Got it? If so then great! If not, then keep at it.Remember the practice techniques. When you learn to play guitar, repetition is key rather than prolonged periods of practicing. So take a break! But remember to come back and keep practicing. Speaking of breaks, lets take one from all of this strumming and chords stuff. Next up, learning to tune your guitar to itself.
