Guitar All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1

Basic Major and Minor Chords

IN THIS CHAPTER

Checking out chords in the A, D, G, and C families

Playing songs by using basic major and minor chords

Sweatin’ to the oldies

Access the audio tracks and video clips at www.dummies.com/go/guitaraio/

Accompanying yourself as you sing your favorite songs — or as someone else sings them if your voice is less than melodious — is one of the best ways to pick up basic guitar chords. If you know basic chords, you can play lots of popular songs right away, from “Skip to My Lou” to “Louie Louie.”

This chapter organizes the major and minor chords into families. A family of chords is simply a group of related chords — related because you often use them together to play songs. The concept is sort of like color-coordinating your clothing or assembling a group of foods to create a balanced meal. Chords in a family go together like peanut butter and jelly. Along the way, you’ll expand your guitar notation vocabulary as you start to develop your chord-playing and strumming skills.

Or think of a family of chords as a plant. If one of the chords ...