Kid Guitars

The easiest guitar chords for a beginner guitarist to play are the ones that only use one finger. It is best to use the standard guitar tuning and first master your guitar chords that way. Here are some simple chords you can play on your guitar using standard tuning.  The first is the G chord – one finger version.  When using this chord, place your third finger behind the third fret, on the first string of the guitar, and strum the first four strings, (this is referred to as a simplified G chord).  The strings on a guitar are numbered one to six, and the first string is the thinnest string that has the highest pitch. The second, third and fourth finger are the rest in logical sequence.  Frets are the metal bars in the fretboard behind which you place your fingers. The frets are numbered from the nut, so the nut of the guitar is basically zero. A long time ago, some guitars actually had a nut, followed by a zero fret that the strings rested on. If you place your first finger on the first fret of the first string, and play the first four strings, you’ve got a G7 chord.  You could also play the simplified C chord on guitar.  For this chord you place your first finger on the second string behind the first fret and only strum the first three strings. The C and G guitar chords go very well together, but are only suited to a two chord song on the guitar.

Open chords are called open because they are all played within the first three fret spaces of the guitar, and use some notes from the open unfretted strings. The most common guitar chords for beginners are the major and minor open chords.  The major chords consist of A, C, D, E and G.  For the minor guitar chords you’ve got A minor (a small m is the usual suffix used for minor chords, so it is written Am then Dm and Em).  The open chords are the building blocks for more complex and difficult chords on the guitar, and even though there are some chords missing, by changing the key of some songs, you could easily build a fairly large repertoire of songs to play with open chords.  These tips are helpful for both children and adults.  Adults seem to have a large selection of guitars form which to choose but there are some good quality beginner childrens guitars also suitable for learning to play chords.  Best of luck and have fun!