Guitar Chords For Beginners - The Awesome D Chord!

Did you ever want to learn how to play the guitar? If your answer is yes then you're in luck as learning guitar chords for beginners is not that difficult.

I've been playing guitar for the past 30 years and although technology has made it easy to watch online guitar lessons, it's up to you to put in the time to learn the chords as well as the music theory behind the chords if you wish.

For this article, we will be focusing on the D chord as well as some other guitar chords for beginners that will help form the foundation of many of the songs that you will end up playing.

Your guitar has 6 strings on it and is normally tuned to the following notes:

E, A, D, G, B, E

There are also guitar tabs that can help you learn to play beginner chords. For reference they number the strings as well as show you where your fingers should be placed to form the chord.

The guitar strings are normally numbered from highest to lowest meaning the last string on your guitar (the high E string) is know as the #1 string. So the numbering orders is as follows:

#6 - E (low)
#5 = A
#4 = D
#3 = G
#2 = B
#1 = E (high)

So without going into too much detail regarding music theory for now, some of the most common guitar chords for beginners are known as "open chords" because of their fingering style. When it comes to playing the D chord, the most common way to play it is as follows:

Step 1 - Place your first finger on string #3 (G) on the second fret.
Step 2 - Place your middle finger on string #1 (E high) on the second fret.
Step 3 - Place your ring finger on string #2 (B) on the third fret.

Congratulations! You just played an open D chord. You may want to work on bending your fingers, especially your ring finger, so that the tips of all of your fingers press firmly down onto the fret board to make the chord sound clean when you strum it. When it comes to guitar chords for beginners, if you practice and have some patience, you will see results come very quickly!

The D chord has a really nice and bright sound to it. Learn to play this chord well and you will be on your way to many well known songs that start off with this chord (i.e. Sweet Home Alabama).

Here's a few extra tips on the D chord that will have you sounding like a pro in no time.

Tip #1 - Play the D chord and while strumming or picking, place your little finger (pinky) on string #1 (E) on the third fret and then take it off again. Sounds cool doesn't it! You are playing what is called a D Sus (Sus = suspended) chord when you add your little finger to the mix.

Tip #2 - Play the D chord and this time remove your middle finger from string #1 (E) on the second fret and strum a few times and then put it back on again. When you remove your finger you are now playing what is known as a D5 chord. I love this chord as it has a darker feel compared the the open D chord itself.

So work on playing the open D chord as well as the D Sus and the D5 and you will begin to see lots of opportunities to make some great melodies happen!

Scott has been playing guitar for the past 30 years and enjoys sharing the love of playing the guitar with others. If you would like to learn how to sound great playing the guitar, enjoy these free guitar lessons.

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