Guitar Chords - First Chord C Major

Difficulty: Tricky if you're new.

Lesson Length: 4:32

Instructor: George Goodman

Concepts

* How to clean up the sound
* How to get great sounding chords easier
* Memorizing chords
* Learn the notes that make up the chord also know as chord tones
* Ear training - singing the chord tones and recognizing major quality

George Goodman's Guitar and Harmonica Method

Takamine EG541SC
I am playing my black tak in this one.

This is a Takamine G Series EG541SC bought in North Carolina when I was playing in a band called Double Take.
Specs:
Top - Solid Spruce
Back - Nato
Sides - Nato
Finger Board - Rosewood
Electronics - TK40
Finish - Gloss Black
Check out more Takamine G Series Guitars

Tips
First off, when playing chords, unless we are playing some sort of bar chord, we want to be playing with the tips of our fingers and pushing straight down on the fretboard.
Secondly, position the left hand fingers close to the fret. You don't have to push as hard there to get good sounding notes.
Fret the C Major chord. Use the chord diagram to help if needed.
Your left thumb can be positioned in the middle of the back of the neck to give good stability for your hand but it can also be wrapped around and used on the fretboard.
I will often use this technique to mute the sixth string when I don't want it to sound when playing a chord, like C Major.
If you want to use this technique, make sure that this hand position doesn't cause buzzing to occur on other strings.

When you have C Major fretted, play each note separately starting with the fifth string and ensure that each note rings out clearly.

Memorize The Chord
Practice fretting the chord as one and not one finger at a time.
Learn where each finger goes and move them all at the same time to their positions.

Ear Training
When learning new chords, learn the notes that make up the chord and learn their sound.
C Major is made up of the notes C, E, and G. When playing the chord, learn to sing and recognize each note in the chord.
Also listen to the chord quality and learn to be able to distinguish between major and minor, etc.

I Major
When playing in the key of C, the chord C Major is the root or I Major (reads one major) chord.

Practice strumming C Major, work on getting clean sounding chords.
Also listen to the notes that make up the chord as well as the chord quality.

That's C Major. See you in the next one.