8 Guitar Chords For Beginners

Learn 8 essential guitar chords for beginners in this lesson with Guitareo instructor Ayla Tesler-Mabe!

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0:00 - Intro

Every guitarist should know these eight chords because they are used forever in your guitar-playing life.

0:21 - E Major

The first chord on the list is the first chord many guitarists learn to play.

0:49 - E Minor

All you do is remove your first finger from the E Major shape, and you have an E minor chord!

1:19 - A Major

A is the starting note of the chord, so you strum from the A string down.

1:59 - D Major

There are many cool ways to play the D Major chord. Once you’re comfortable with the shape, try adding your pinky on the third fret of the high E string and taking your middle finger on and off.

3:30 - C Major

The C Major chord is one you’re going to run into A LOT.

4:05 - C Major7

Take your first finger off of the C chord shape and you’ll get C Major7. It’s a richer and fuller sounding C Major chord.

4:50 - G Major

There are different ways to play this chord shape that only uses three of your fingers, but in this G Major shape that uses all four fingers. It’s good practice to play chords that use all of your fingers.

5:59 - G Major Special

This chord is a great stepping stone for when you begin to play bar chords.

About Ayla Tesler-Mabe:
Ayla has been making waves in the world of guitar playing as a professional guitarist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer, since the early age of 14. After only been playing for two years, her first YouTube video (a rendition of John Mayall’s “Hideaway”) put her on the map and kickstarted her music career. She has since been featured in Rolling Stone magazine, become a member of the Ernie Ball and Fender family of artists, and earned various Berklee College of Music scholarships. Musically, Ayla finds great pleasure in exploring the numerous avenues available to her through various styles of music, as seen through her work with Calpurnia and Ludic.

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[MusoraMedia]

Ready to level up your playing? Get personal coaching tips and structured lessons: enjoy your free 7-day trial to Guitareo!

[vancesnyder]

Zen Guitar is what your channel should be called. You have a compassionate way of presenting your lessons.

[jackcallahan]

I bought my first guitar on Sunday... I've watched this 20 times so far... you do an AMAZING job teaching!!! Thank you :)

[cooper]

I love the way you teach or how you show other's how to play . i just found your site and never leaving .
Thank you so much, i have learned so much in so little time .
Thanks Again !!! 🎸😎

[sabrosso]

I'm a simple man. I see a new guitar lesson from guitareo, I press like and go practice the hell out of it.

[gregkunkel]

The D major variations equal Rush Fly by night ✌ A perfect 5 apples for our wonderful teacher🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎

[GGGatzy]

I've seen a lot of tutorial and I already knew these chords, but there's something with this human to make me play my guitar again, Thank you!

[markcafebrown]

I absolutely love your videos. I haven’t played in 17 years. I just bought a Martin GPC X2E and am going to learn guitar again as I wasn’t that far when I had to stop playing do to my 1st son being born and his mom got daily migraines for last 17 years. It’s time to learn again and go play daily for next 30 years as I’m retired at age 48

[adamthirdbourne]

You're a very good teacher.

Thank you.

[yuyu_]

thanks for doing videos like this for beginners! i've been struggling with getting used to playing f major and barring in general so i love that g major special it's definitely gonna help me a lot! plus when you threw in that those first chords make up back in black i loved it, i think stuff like that really helps keep motivation up for beginners and makes us feel like we can already play a song with what we're learning. you have a beautiful day too!

[KishanKishan-wmri]

Ayla can you please do some strumming videos, as a beginner iam struggling at strumming learning chords was easy but strumming

[oskarbjornstad]

I am again not very sure where I would have started without theses videos bigtime shaht aht

[MusoraMedia]

Which chord from this lesson was your favorite? ✌

[guygranger]

Always learn something from you, , , .Thank you. I pretty much use all the basics of the seven out of eight.But that special cord had me doing yoga to form it. First cords I learned were C, F, D and G7. . It was good to start there because I could play a million songs with it. I thought G7 was the prettiest sound.

[Uchawibeatz]

I always feared playing the guitar until I found Ayla's videos. She's such a great teacher. Now I can play all these chords and even play bar chords. You are a godsend🙏

[documentalist-NL]

Cmaj7 is one of my favorite chords. I like how relaxed and clearly you explain everything. Keep it coming!

[windedwith]

I liked the ones in the back in black set. I am a self taught drummer, trying to become a self taught guitarist, and this video was very helpfull, so thank you, and keep doing what you do!

[FloridaBikeVlogger]

this video used to seem out of my league but now it's going to attainable. been trying to figure out since 2019 and I am finally getting it.

[edwarddecarlo]

Thank you for sharing and taking time out during your busy career I love your lessons you making so relaxing and enjoyable to watch and practice ☮️😊🎼🎶

[brianspeck]

Great lesson. At 2:12, for a D major chord do what she shows you, not what the audio says (third fret of the B, not second fret), although, in keeping with the spirit of her approach, try both and see what happens!