Guitar chords for beginners
23 essential chords with the finger to use on every string. Open any chord to hear it, see how to play it step by step, and practise changing to it.
Your first five chords
Learn these first. Each one reuses shapes from the one before.
More open chords
The rest of the open-chord family, plus 7th and colour chords.
Barre chords
One finger presses several strings, so the shape moves anywhere.
Power chords
Root and 5th only: the sound of rock and metal.
How to read the diagrams: the neck stands upright with the thickest string on the left. Numbers are fingers: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little finger. o = play the open string, ✕ = don’t play it.
Learn them in order
Our lessons teach these chords one at a time, with a ring test and a chord-change check.