Four Open Chords

Open chords use unfretted strings ringing alongside fretted ones. They sound fuller than power chords and they are what you strum on an acoustic.

Four of them — G, E minor, C and D — cover an enormous amount of rock and pop. The track at the end of this lesson contains those four chords and literally nothing else, which makes it the best possible place to start.

Learn them one at a time. Press just behind the fret, not on top of it, and arch your fingers so they do not deaden the strings either side. Strum slowly and check every string sounds. A buzzing string means a finger is not pressing hard enough or is leaning on its neighbour.

E minor is the easiest — two fingers. Start there.

Em

E minor. Two fingers, and every string rings. Play this one first.

G

G major. The stretch between the low and high strings is the hard part.

C

C major. The low E string is not played — mute it or avoid it.

D

D major. Only the top four strings.

Now put them together. This backing track is built on G, E minor, C and D, cycling steadily.

Strum once per bar. Once. You are not trying to sound busy, you are trying to arrive at each chord on time, and a single strum per bar gives you a whole bar to move your hand.

When that feels reliable, go to four strums per bar. Not before.

G, E minor, C and D, and nothing else. One strum per bar to start.