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How do I play the G major chord?
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- Open G Major. A Familiar Form of G major on the Guitar. Open G major chord diagram. Open G major arpeggiated guitar tab.
- Root Plus the Fifth. G Major Power Chord. Dyadic G chord with only two notes. Tabbed version of the dyadic G chord.
- G Major Triad. Root, Major Third & Perfect Fifth. G major triad chord diagram. G major triad guitar tab.
- Full G Major Power Chord. Root, Fifth & Octave. Thick G major power chord example. Tab example.
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The basic cowboy chord G major requires careful fingering to avoid muting strings with the underside of fingers, so check you are hearing all six strings. We are using fingers two, three and four, which is harder than one, two and three, but it makes it much easier to change to C major, which in this key is likely to happen often.
Some guitarists find the low B troubling; in classical teaching doubling the major third in a chord is considered poor practice although examples of it abound. Leaving out the low B cleans out the low end and makes the chord easier to play, provided you can mute the A string with the underside of finger three. In general, we like this voicing more.
Another way of avoiding the doubled third is to double the fifth instead. The fifth has a hollower quality and doesn’t suffer from the turgidness of a major third, and there is energy and power in this voicing, which makes it the go-to version of G for many players. It sounds great with a capo on the second fret or higher and is one of the chords i...
Though not technically G major we couldn’t resist including this G5 (“G five”) chord which does away with a major third altogether as it contains just roots and fifths. 5-chords have an open ringing quality which means they cope better with distortion than their major chord equivalents. Do you feel a Lynyrd Skynyrdriff coming on?
When you add a minor seventh to a major chord you get a seventh chord; in this case we have added F to make G7. We used figure 2 as a starting point, but it works with figure 1 as well. G7 is chord V in C, so try playing a C major chord after G7 and you’ll hear chord V resolving to chord I. This works because the tension between the notes B and F i...
The high F in figure 5 can sound piercing, and we like the idea of moving the interesting note in a chord to the lower octave. Here, we’ve moved the F to the D string. Try switching to a C major chord again, this time leaving your fourth finger on the high G on the top string. It works particularly well if you can pick an alternating bass with your...
Technically, a 13th chord should include the ninth, but guitarists often dodge such details when a good voicing falls under the fingers, especially if it means simply releasing a finger from the chord. Some theorists would describe this chord as G7/6, the sixth coming from the open E string. Try following this one with C major seven for a dreamy V ...
Here you get the full fat 13th chord, with the ninth added on the G string. This also sounds good followed by Cmaj7, but this time see if you can keep the A on the G string sounding in both chords, so that the C major chord becomes Cmaj13. This C chord would be a 13th which omits the ninth. Though these are jazzy chords there’s a breeziness to thes...
We’ve kept the A on the G string here but added it to the basic G chord. This makes Gadd9, which is useful if you are playing a G chord and want to add interest without disturbing the essential harmony. You can add and release the A note to create movement, and try letting the top string ring open to alternate between G6 and G6/9. With some adjustm...
F sharp is the major seventh over G, so you won’t be surprised that adding it to G major makes a G major seven chord. This is one of the chords which gives the intro to Billie Eilish’s idontwannabeyouanymoreits wistful and dreamy quality, a property of major sevenths generally. Try playing G, Gmaj7, G7 before going on to C and C minor to hear how t...
- The Open G Major Chord Shape. First up, we have the most popular way to play the G Major chord on the guitar. You use all four fingers and play all six strings in this shape (see the diagram below).
- Three Fingered G Major Chord Shape. Below is a popular variation of the previous open G Major guitar chord shape. In this shape, we use three fingers instead of four and leave out the D note on the 3rd fret of the B string.
- Another Three-Fingered G Major Chord Shape. Shape number three is a simple beginner-friendly way to play the G Major chord on your electric or acoustic guitar.
- G Major Barre Chord “E-Form” Shape. Here’s a classic barre chord shape many guitarists opt for when playing the G Major chord. We use the open E Major chord shape to make this chord shape, move it up the neck, and press our index finger down on all 6 strings to form this movable barre chord voicing.
Place your first finger on the second fret of the fifth string. Place your third finger on the third fret of the second string. Place your fourth finger on the third fret of the first string. Strum all six strings. The instructions above are step by step instructions for playing the open G Major chord shape. These instructions can actually be ...
The most common way to play the G Major Chord is in the open position, like this: Index finger on the 2nd fret of the A (5th) string. Middle finger on the 3rd fret of the low E (6th) string. Ring finger on the 3rd fret of the E (1st) string.
- Dan Macy
Step-by-step guide on how to play the G chord on guitar: The G Chord. Step 1: Place Finger 1 on the 2nd fret of the 5th string (a string). Step 2: Place Finger 2 on the 3rd fret of the 6th string (low e string). Step 3: Place Finger 3 on the 3rd fret of the 1st string (high e string). Finger 4 – We do not use it.
Learn how to play the G Major chord on guitar! View the chord chart, a clear image of the chord shape, and how it's spelled (G-B-D).
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