A chord in music is three or more notes sounded at the same time. One common way to notate guitar chords is by using chord diagrams. The illustration below shows all the parts of a chord diagram and what they mean. Once you feel comfortable reading chord diagrams, I will show you how to play the chords.

This example shows you how the chord diagrams are taken directly from the guitar neck. Study each part of the chord diagram until you them memorized. One of the best thing to do is commit the lesson material to memory. Memorizing the lesson material will allow you to play guitar independantly.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to read chord diagrams, it's time to learn how to play them. I have found the best way to learn chords is to learn songs. Instead of trying to memorize hundreds of chords just memorize the chords to the songs that you are learning. Hundreds of famous songs can be played with just three chords.

For an in depth look at guitar chords check out Guitar chords

Open chords