There are two ways to approach learning guitar chords. One is to memorize the name and shape of each chord so you can recall it quickly as you’re reading through a song and playing along. Obviously, this is the quickest way to start enjoying songs.

The second way is to learn the individual notes that make up the chord on the fret board. This method of learning chords will expand your ability to play any chord anywhere on the fretboard.

Step 1: Learn and memorize the notes of a chord all over the fretboard. For example: the C Major Chord is made up of the notes C, E, and G. You can basically play those notes in any order and still call it a C chord. It turns out that the notes C, E, and G are found all over your fretboard: (click the graphic to enlarge)

Look for all the C, E, and G notes, memorize their location, and presto, you’ve now learned all the places on the fretboard that you can form the C Major Chord. One way to quickly memorize these chord shapes is to think about the C-A-G-E-D system. You should have the C, A, G, E, and D major chord shapes memorized (hopefully). Well, it turns out that on your fretboard, these 5 shapes can be “translated” into the chord in our diagram, the C major chord. Now you can play the C chord anywhere on your fretboard, and they all sound a little different. Try them out!

(There’s a LOT more to the CAGED system, but this will at the very least give you an idea of why it’s useful…)

Here is a quick reference guide for the notes that belong to major and minor chords:

C major: C-E-G
D major: D-F#-A
E major: E-G#-B
F major: F-A-C
G major: G-B-D
A major: A-C#-E
B major: B-D#-F#

C minor: C-Eb-G
D minor: D-F-A
E minor: E-G-B
F minor: F-Ab-C
G minor: G-Bb-D
A minor: A-C-E
B minor: B-D-F#

Step 2: Start memorizing, and visualize the “C-A-G-E-D” shapes!

The Musician’s Toolbox