Chords 01: C major

We are starting a new series whose aim is to teach complete beginners as many chords as possible. In today's video we learn C major, the simplest chord and probably the one with which almost every beginner starts learning chords. Over the course of the series we will go through the basic chords, progressing from the easier ones to more complicated shapes. The goal is for complete beginners to reach a point where they can play the most common chords confidently and are not discouraged by an unfamiliar, less frequently used chord, but are able to work it out independently in the future.

So let us look at C major. In written chord notation we usually represent it as 0 0 0 3. This means that of the G, C, E and A strings, the G, C and E strings remain open, and only the A string has to be pressed down at the third fret with one of our fingers.

But it does not have to be fretted with the middle finger. Let us see:

C major also has several other versions, meaning it can be fingered in ways other than the 0003 shape. We will deal with those in another post. For now, the important thing is to make the basic C-major chord completely secure and practise the exercises shown for 10-15 minutes every day. You can be sure you really know C major when you can perform the exercises from the video flawlessly and find them horribly boring . That is a good sign! We will continue soon.