This page contains a listing of the easiest chords on guitar. These basic guitar chords will allow you to play hundreds of thousands of songs (no joke!)

Before you dive in, I have one huge piece of advice:

DON’T MEMORIZE ALL THE CHORDS BEFORE YOU START LEARNING SONGS!

If you do that, it’ll get boring fast, and it’ll be really hard to feel motivated to practice guitar enough to get to the point where you can play songs.

Just Getting Started on Guitar?

Please take a look at this page, which will show you how to learn guitar chords and easy guitar songs at the same time.

It outlines a process where you start by picking an easy 2 chord song you want to learn, and then focusing on JUST those two chords, working out the switching, developing the muscle memory and so on. It’s the best way to start guitar and will help you stay motivated.

Want To Play Popular Songs Right Away?

If you want a quick way to be able to play thousands of different songs right away, there’s a little chord progression trick that I’d like to share with you. It uses modified “beginner friendly” versions of 4 common shapes, and with them we can play the most popular chord progression used in all music.

These Are The 8 Basic Guitar Chords

The first 8 chords are THE shapes. The entire fretboard is based on them, so even if your goal is to play rippin’ guitar solos, these shapes will keep coming up as everything from scales, to modes to arpeggios are based on these shapes.

I have set up a reference guide for each of these shapes, including a video tutorial, songs you can play and more…

• Learn the C chord on Guitar
• Learn the A chord on Guitar
• Learn the G chord on Guitar
• Learn the E chord on Guitar
• Learn the D chord on Guitar
• Learn the Am chord on Guitar
• Learn the Dm chord on Guitar
• Learn the Em chord on Guitar

Here’s a cool way to play them all, in a certain order where they lead into one another nicely.

Make Sure Your Chord Shapes Sound GOOD!

Here are two more shapes that are worth learning early on:

• Learn the B7 chord on Guitar
• Learn the F chord on Guitar

Here Are Some EASY Barre Chord Alternatives

• The easy way to play Bm on Guitar
• The easy way to play F on Guitar
• The easy way to play F sharp minor on Guitar
• The easy way to play Gm on Guitar
• The easy way to play Fm on Guitar

Once you’ve mastered the basic guitar chords, I recommend learning these additional shapes. These may seem a little complicated, but they’re still considered guitar chords for beginners. By learning them, you’ll increase the number of songs you can play EXPONENTIALLY!

How To Read A Guitar Chord Diagram

No matter what the shape, whether it’s one of the beginner guitar chords, a barre chord, or the Jazziest Minor 13th, they can all be written out in a simple way. Everyone who plays guitar NEEDS to know how to read a chord diagram.