EASY CHORDS TO PLAY ON GUITAR - FULL SONG WITH JUST TWO CHORDS

Guitar Lessons


Easy Chords For Beginner Guitarists

Two chords go a long way! In this lesson we show you how to play 2 easy chords on the guitar. If you're a beginner or even if you've never picked up a guitar before you can try these chords!

We then show you how to put the chords together to play your first song. Dan will take you through each chord in great detail, followed by showing how to use them to play "Horse With No Name" by America.

The Chords

In this lesson Dan shows you how to play 2 chords, the first is E minor and the second can be called D6. Try to remember the name of E minor as it will come up a lot, but the D6 is a lot less common so it isn't as important to remember the name.

    Top Tips: Chords

  • 1. Keep your thumb flat on the back of the neck.
  • 2. You need to push down hard and play with the tips of your fingers.
  • 3. Press as close behind the fret as possible.
  • 4. Once you get your finger in postion pick the strings individually to make sure they're ringing out clearly.
  • 5. It's important to take breaks too!
  • Your second finger (middle finger) goes on the second fret of the A string (second string down).
  • Your third finger (ring finger) goes on the second fret of the D string (third string down).
  • All the other strings are open, and when you play through the strings individually you can expect the open strings next to the fretted strings to sound a bit muted. Make sure you're arching your fingers over to create a 'bridge' with your fingers so they can get to the string without touching any others.
  • Try to memorise the name of this chord - it's a very common chord.

  • Starting from the E minor:
  • Move your second finger up one string, staying on the second fret.
  • Move your third finger down one string, staying on the second fret.
  • The A string will probably sound a bit muted on this chord. Just take it slow and focus on 'bridging' with your fingers to allow the strings to ring out.

    • The Rhythm & Strumming

    It's important to get your left hand used to changing chords before moving on to the strumming pattern. Put a drumbeat (or a metronome) on and try to play each chord for 1 bar (4 beats). In the video we have the tempo set to 70BPM. The aim here is to try to be playing the chord on the first beat, not to have it sound perfect.

    Once you feel confident changing between the chords you can move on to some strumming! Here is the strumming pattern written out, and check out the video for a more in depth explanation.

      Keep Learning: Acoustic Beginners

      Many thanks for watching this video and visiting the website. If you enjoyed this lesson and would like to learn more we have a great, structured beginners guitar course available as part of our online course. All 100% free as always! See the course here: Acoustic Beginners.