Have you ever downloaded an "easy play" guitar method from the Internet or browsed through a "simple" beginner's guitar instruction book at a music store? I'm sure you have... and I'm also certain you were disappointed to find how hard these "easy play" methods are.
I know from my own early experiences trying to play the guitar that one of the biggest stumbling blocks is trying to cope with difficult chord shapes; just recently I though I'd do some research to see if anything had changed over the past ten years, surely with all the new advancements in technology and the ability to instantly access information worldwide things should have advanced in guitar instruction!
Well, long story short... it hasn't, "easy" guitar methods are just as hard as ever with the only change I can report is there's a lot more of them!
Here's the musical facts of life to get you off to the best possible start with your guitar playing:
1. A guitarist must first learn to develop their beat... it does not matter how many chords a guitarist knows if they can't feel the rhythm and develop their groove.
2. Guitarists can NEVER develop their sense of rhythm while struggling with difficult chord shapes.
3. People respond to music in this order (a) rhythm; then (b) melody and lastly (c) harmony.
Notice how rhythm is first in the list!
O.K., how do we overcome this issue of difficult chord shapes, the good news is there are many ways to play easy chord shapes on the guitar; here are just a few to get you started.
G
-3--
-0--
-0--
-0--
-x--
-x--
Em
-0--
-0--
-0--
-2--
-2--
-0--
C
-0--
-1--
-0--
-x--
-x--
-x--
D
-2--
-3--
-2--
-0--
-x--
-x--
Learning how to play these chord shapes will allow you to play many songs.
Concept 1: The idea is to learn easy chord shapes so you can concentrate on your beat.
Concept 2: Once you have master these shapes practice them in common chord sequences called 'chord progressions'.
Concept 3: Apply these chord progressions to songs.
Here is an example of a common chord progression using these simple shapes.
G /// | Em /// | C /// | D /// |
The song "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam has this exact same progression throughout the entire song.
Summary: The trick with learning easy chord shapes on guitar is to know how each chord is spelt, every chord has it's own unique spelling, once you know the names of the notes that make up a particular chord you can design or re-design a chord shape to suit your fingers.
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