To really learn how to play chords, you don’t have to remember which finger you have to press which string. It’s enough to understand what you’re doing and why. This is a lot of material, but I didn’t break it up into several articles to keep the narrative logical. If you can’t get through it the first time, go back and reread it in a few days.
Why there are seven notes
First of all, you need to know the names of the 7 notes – do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ci-do. In fact, there are not 7 notes, but 12. For example, there is another note between Do and Re – Do-sharp or Re flat. These are two names for the same note. A sharp (indicated by #) means that the note has to be raised by one “half note”. That is, a Do sharp is a half note that comes after a Do. And if the Do is a two-diez note (##), then the Do note must be raised by two half notes. With one sharp C, it becomes a C-sharp note, and if you raise it another half note, it becomes a Re. It’s the same with a flat (♭) and a double flat (♭♭♭). Only they don’t raise like the diheses, but instead lower by fullness.
There are such half notes between all seven standard notes. Except for two exceptions, there are none between Mi and Fa, and between Si and Do. That’s why there are only 12 notes, not 14, as there would be if there were half notes between each note.
These half notes are no worse than the “standard” notes. Moreover, each of the 12 notes is the same distance from the neighboring one. That is, the frequency of oscillation of two neighboring notes has the same interval. This is something that the standard seven-note model cannot boast of. There is twice as much space between the notes Re and Mi as between Mi and Fa. Because there is no “half note” between Mi and Fa. That is, technically, for Mi, the Fa note is the next “half note,” not the note.
Why do the notes have these names?
What are chords
A chord is a combination of three or more notes (or half notes). The simplest chords are major chords. Most of the chords that go into a song are made up of these chords. Major chords are built from any note and consist of three notes – the first, third and fifth. So for a Do major chord, it is Do(1), Mi(3) and Sol(5). For a Re major chord, it is Re(1), Fa(3), and La(5). Since there are only three notes in a chord and there are 6 strings on the guitar, some strings play the same note. For example, the first string plays Do, the second Sol, the third also Do, the fourth Mi, the fifth Sol again and the sixth again Do. That is, three strings play Do, one plays Mi, and two play Sol. And it doesn’t have to be in that order. You can play any note on each string, so there are actually a lot of ways to play a chord. But some ways are more convenient to play, that’s why they are more popular.
There is a little nuance. In the C major chord, there are three half notes between the first (Do) and the third note (Mi) – Do sharp, Re sharp, and Re sharp. But in the Re major chord, there are only two half notes between the first (Re) and the third note (Fa) – Re sharp and Mi. That is, if you use the 12-note system instead of the 7-note system, then the Do major chord will consist of the first note (Do), the fifth note (Mi) and the eighth note (Sol). Similarly, a D major chord consists of the first note (Re), the fifth note (Fa sharp), and the eighth note (La). That is, a major chord always consists of 1-5-8 notes, regardless of which note it is built from. That’s why the 12-note system is much easier – in the 7-note system it is not enough to say that the chord consists of 1-3-5 notes, you also need to remember if there should be a sharp next to the 3rd or 5th note for this particular chord.
Chords don’t have to be built from a “pure” note. They can also be built from a half note. For example, from Do-sharp – just like 1-5-8 – Do-sharp(1)-Fa(5)-Sol-sharp(8).
What chord names mean
You’ve probably seen chord names like G, Am, C, and you couldn’t figure out what those letters mean. It’s really quite simple. Each letter corresponds to a specific note. And they are not arranged in a random order, but alphabetically – A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The only thing that can be confusing is that the letters do not start with the note “Do”, as we are used to, but with “La”. That is, the note “La” corresponds to the letter A. After the “La” comes the “Si,” which corresponds to the letter B. After the Si, there’s a Do, which corresponds to the letter C. And the rest is the same, ending with the note “Sol” which corresponds to the letter G.
What the icons next to the chords mean
Next to a large letter there are small letters, numbers and even icons. For example, the letters “Am”, “Gmaj”, “Cdim”. Numerals “A5”, “D7”. Icons “EΔ”, “B°”, “F♭”. The good news is that you don’t have to remember all these scary names. They hardly ever appear in ordinary songs. They only make sense if you want to go deeper into the guitar and play jazz, for example. But in case you’re wondering, all these notations mean that you have to do something with a “clean chord.” For example, a C7 chord means that you have to add another 7th note to the basic C chord, which is in Do-Mi-Sol, which is 1,3 and 5 notes, which is Si. Or if you look at the 12-note system, it is 1,5,8 and 11 notes. The result is do-mi-sol-si.
The only modification you have to learn is the small letter m. Because chords like Am and Dm are often found in popular songs as well. The letter m means that we are facing a minor chord that sounds sad. For example, the chord D is a Re major chord that sounds cheerful and solemn. And the chord Dm is in Re minor. They differ in just one note. The D major chord has three notes – Re, Fa sharp and La. In Re minor, it is just Re instead of Re-sharp. So in the 12-note system, the general scheme for all chords is not 1-5-8, but 1-4-8.
What are the differences between the different variations of the same chord
As mentioned above, a chord can be played in many different ways. For example, the C (Do major) chord is usually found in this way (the numbers in the circles are which finger is most convenient to hold the string. We do not clamp anything with our thumb, so the number 1 is the index finger):
But it can also be in this form:
In both cases, the chord consists of only three notes – Do, Mi, and Sol. But in different sequences.
They will sound pretty much the same. Which option is better? It depends on the situation. For example, if in the previous chord you had your index finger on the 1st fret of the 5th string, and in this chord you also have your index finger in the same position, it is better to choose this version of the chord. But it doesn’t really matter – you can choose whichever one you feel more comfortable playing. But if you don’t have time to put your fingers in the right places quickly, you’re probably using the wrong option. And it’s worth trying other variations of this chord.
How to find new chords on your own
If you play the first string without clamping anything, you will hear the note Mi (E):
Put your finger on the first fret and play the first string again. This will sound the note Fa (F):
If you put your finger not on the first but on the second fret, you will hear the Fa-sharp note (F#):
That is, every time we shift by 1 fret, the note is raised by one half note.
Let’s now try to raise not one but three notes in the same way. Take the chord in La major (A) as an example. Let me remind you that it consists of the first note (La), the fifth (Do sharp) and the eighth (Mi). In this version, though, they are in a different order – first the eighth (Mi), then the first (La), then the fifth (Do sharp). But it is not a matter of principle:
Now raise each of the three notes by 1 fret, that is, by 1 half note. A (La) turns into A# (La sharp). C# (Do sharp) becomes D (Re). E (Mi) turns into F (Fa). That is, the fingers are placed on the strings in the same way, only no longer on the second fret, but on the third:
Each note is shifted up one position. That is, from chord A, where notes 1-5-8 were involved, we moved to position 2-6-9. This is if you count from the note A (La). But if the first note is not the A, but the A#, then you will see that we again have the standard scheme of the major chord 1-5-8. Only this chord is no longer the original A (La major), but the new A# (La sharp major).
Similarly, if you move the fingers even further away, not to the third but to the fourth fret, we get the notes Si (B) – Re sharp (D#) – Fa sharp (F#). That is, all the notes of the B (Si major) chord. In the same way, you can raise by 1 fret to obtain all 12 major chords, after which they will start repeating from the beginning (in our case, from the A chord).
I would like to notice that in the A chord only 3 strings are clamped. The remaining 3 strings – first, second and sixth – are open, i.e. not clamped:
In fact, they are clamped, too. But not with the guitarist’s fingers, but with the guitar itself. And they are clamped on the zero fret.
That is, if you want to play a chord not only on the three strings, but on all six strings, you have to raise them by 1 fret in the same way. The easiest way to do this is to pinch all the strings on that fret with your index finger. This technique is called barre:
I want to point out that the numbers in the circles have changed from 1-2-3 to 2-3-4. Because the index finger (under the number 1) now clamps the barre.
You don’t have to worry if the 3 strings are squeezed twice – on the 1st and 3rd fret. The sound will still be the same as it would be if you were pressing only on the 3rd fret.
A lot of beginners are bad at barre, which makes the guitar not sound very nice. But it’s an important technique that will come in handy. So I recommend you to work on it. In the future I will write a separate article on how to play the barre easier.
CAGED system
CAGED is based on the chord progression method described in the previous section. It lets you quickly memorize five variations of any chord. It is so called because the base for each variation is a C chord, an A chord, a G chord, an E chord, and a D chord. Together you get CAGED.
These chords are very easy to shift, so I recommend learning them so that you have 5 variations of each of the 12 major chords in stock:
This way you can move not only for major chords, but also for minor chords. For example, the Am (La minor) chord:
Basically, you can use the same five CAGED chords. Only minor ones – Cm, Am, Gm, Em, and Dm. I will not give all of them, so as not to overload you. When you master all the major chords, it will not be difficult for you to find the minor chords on your own.
Well, if you want to go further in learning chords, this method will help you to move not only major chords, but any other chords as well.
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