The C Major Chord on Guitar
In this video we're learning about the C major chord on guitar!
We’re going to cover how to create the C major chord, what music notes it is made of and talk about some songs you can find it in!
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Transcription
In this video, I want to talk about arguably the most important chord you can learn on guitar, the C major chord! So the C major chord in the open position, it's not the easiest chord, especially for beginners, but it is the most important in my opinion. What we're going to do is we're going to do a mutated E string, and we’re gonna do the 3rd fret A string, 2nd fret D string, the open G string, the 1st fret B string, and the open E string. So I'll use my third, second, and first finger for that, which is my ring finger, middle finger, and index finger. So when I give advice to beginners about the C major chord, that are having a lot of trouble with it, I'll actually tell them to leave the top E string open. Now all chord grids are going to say mute that E string, but the chord is made up of the notes C, E and G. So E is in the chord, it's just now you're making it the bass note instead of the C. So it's not going to sound horrible, it's not going to sound bad, it's just going to sound a little different. But then as they get more comfortable making the chord, then you start to work on muting it with either your thumb or moving that ring finger up a little bit so you get that, that mute when you're strumming. So when making the chord, I'll tell people to start with a three, two, one method. Third finger, second finger, first finger. I see a lot of people try to start with a one, two, three method. And the thing is you're kind of racing against time because you're usually going to go with a downstroke to start, but also you're starting with your dominant finger, your index finger, which is a pretty strong finger. To a little bit of a weaker finger, to I would argue your weakest finger of the four. So you're asking this one to do the most amount of work while also trying to race against time. Whereas if you reverse it, your weak finger first, pinch it down, you take your next strongest finger, and then your strongest finger. So it's easiest to manipulate this one. So that makes it a little easier to get them in place and you don't have to get the chord instantaneous. You can start the strum before you even get it to that last finger. Now of course you want to get as fast as you can. It needs to be fast. But it doesn't have to be snap, instantaneous at first. And it will get there eventually. Like I've said before, the C major chord is made up of the notes C, E, and G. You can find the chord in the keys of C, G, and F major or the relative minors of A minor, E minor, D minor. So made up of the notes C, E, and G, I would sit down at a piano and I would hit C, E, and G. Because we have five or strings that we're using, we would use a combination of them. So the average open position C major chord, again we would mute the E string. Then we would hit the notes C, E, G, C again, and E again. The amount of songs that you find the C major chord in are just endless. That's why I say it's the most important chord. You have Like a Rolling Stone, Hand in My Pocket, Let it Be, House of the Rising Sun, Brown Eyed Girl, and just a million more. And of course there are multiple ways to play C major on guitar, so I'm going to show you a few here… So I really hope that you learned something today and that you have a good you time playing the C major chord! If really enjoyed the video, please like it! Subscribe if you want to learn more guitar! Just go out there and have fun! Play songs and Happy Practicing!