Guitar Lesson 4 - Basic Guitar Chords, E and Em Chords

Open Guitar Chords

Open guitar chords are chords which involve a combination of open strings and strings being played on certain frets. For beginners guitar chords can be difficult at first, and making a transition from one chord to another can be difficult too. As with anything you learn on guitar, practice makes perfect. It takes a while to get your fingers used to chords, how to play them, and get good at transitioning from one chord to another. Remember to prevent fingers from muting strings by placing your thumb on the back of guitar neck and not the top. For this lesson we will cover chords E and Em (minor), these two guitar chords are basic and, in my opinion, the easiest to play.

Reading a Guitar Chord Chart Reading a chord chart is simple. Some people draw the charts differently, but the concept is all the same. Since we are playing open chords you will see a double bar across the top of these charts. This is the top of the neck, also known as the nut. Below the nut are the frets on your guitar, the top fret is referred to as the first fret. Above the nut are the list of strings counting down from 6th to 1st.

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E minor chord (Em)
Tab	Em Chord Chart	Em Chord Image
E|--0--| B|--0--| G|--0--| D|--2--| A|--2--| E|--0--| Figure 1	Figure 2	Figure 3

Sound File: Em.wav Part 1 Above you will see the tab for an E minor chord (Figure 1) and to the right of the tab is the E minor chord chart (Figure 2). In tab when two or more numbers are directly above/below each other that means you play them together. From the example above you can see several numbers, one on each string, which means we'll play all six strings at once. The chord chart (Figure 2) is very important. It tells you what fret to play and it also tells you where to place your fingers (see the hand if needed). Finger placement is very awkward for beginners because it's simply "awkward" to place your fingers in "awkward" positions! However, no matter how "awkward" it may be at times, trust me it is very important to place your fingers where the charts tell you to. Figure 3 shows an actual image of the chord, NOTE, the index finger (on the far right) is not pressing down it's actually in the air just the angle makes it look different. To play the Em chord: 1. Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th string. 2. Place your 3rd finger on the 2nd fret of the 4th string. 3. Strum down from the 6th string. This is a simple chord, the finger placement might seem a little strange but as you learn more chords you will start to see why finger placement is important.

E chord
Tab	E Chord Chart	E Chord Image
E|--0--| B|--0--| G|--1--| D|--2--| A|--2--| E|--0--|	E Chord Chart	E Chord Picture

Sound File: E.wav Obviously this is very similar to the E minor chord. This time we can see why finger placement becomes important. Simply adding our first finger to the first fret of the 3rd string changes the chord. Part 2: 1. Set your fingers just like the E minor chord and add your 1st finger to the 1st fret of the 3rd string. Notes: Practice transitioning from E minor to E and back...

Next Lesson: Chords A - A minor