The 5 Most Important Guitar Chords

The 5 most important guitar chords are the open chords C, A, G, E, and D. They are important for the guitar because almost all of the other chords that you can play on the guitar are a variation of the shapes of these 5 basic chords.

These are ‘major chords’ which are a type of chord. Major chords are sort of like the default chord in music and from here on out we’ll just refer to the major chords by their letter name. For example, we’ll just refer to A major as simply ‘A’.

The C Chord

Here’s how to form the C chord:

Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the A string (5th string).
Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the D string (4th string).
Leave the G string open (3rd string)
Place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the B string (2nd string)
Leave the high E string open (1st string)
You strum every string except the low E string (6th string)

C

The G Chord

Here’s how to form the G chord:

Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the low E string
Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the A string
Leave the D, G, and B strings open
Place your 4th finger on the 3rd fret of the high E string
Go ahead and strum all six strings for the G chord

G

The D Chord

How to form the D chord:

Leave the D string open (hint, hint)
Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the G string
Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the B string
Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the high E string
Do not strum the low E string or the A string. Only strum the D, G, B, and high E strings