Hello YGT students
In Beginner Guitar Lesson 3 you learnt how to play chords 3 and 4 of ‘The Ten Chords To Beginner Guitar Mastery’ this was the open G major chord and the open E major chord. To finish off the first 5 major shapes you will learn the open D shaped major chord (Chord 5 of The Ten Chords To Beginner Guitar Mastery’) before moving onto the 5 minor versions of the chords you will have learnt.
Lesson Aim: Learn the open D major chord.
Already with the chords you have learnt you could begin learning some songs or experiment by writing your own but the real fun will come when you have all your open chord shapes learnt. Once you have learnt all 10 shapes you will begin to really have fun because you will start to hear the different sounds you make when you change between chords.
Lets learn the open D major chord
Chord 5 of 'The Ten Chords To Beginner Guitar Mastery'
To play the open D major chord:
- Take your first finger and place it on the 2nd fret G string
- Place your third finger on the 3rd fret B string
- Place your second finger on the 2nd fret high E
- Now with your picking hand, let the pick fall down the strings from the D string to high E string
- If anything sounds muffled or muted then make sure each note is fretted properly by picking each individual string whilst holding the chord.
- Remember a lot of the trouble when learning chords comes from two things- the position of the thumb on the back of the neck (rearrange the thumb until it feels comfortable) and the fingers being lazy and not pressing down the strings with the tips of the fingers.
If you would like to work through Beginner Guitar at your own pace then why not purchase ‘Be The Guitarist’ today and get ‘The Ultimate Practise- Planner’ completely free. These two eBooks will help you progress through Beginner Guitar and push your playing forwards quickly.
Next Time- In Beginner Guitar Lesson 5 you will learn chords 6 and 7 of ‘The Ten Chords To Beginner Guitar Mastery’.
Keep Practising!
Tom@YourGuitarTutor