Improving Your Guitar Chords: What Beginners Need to Know

Does your chord playing need work?

One of the most frustrating parts of beginning guitar lessons is getting your chords to sound good. These tips will help you make your chords sound like they should.

Stop the strings from buzzing. One of the things you need to work on when you play guitar chords is eliminating string buzz. The causes are: not playing close enough to the fret, not pushing hard enough and not keeping the pressure on. The frets are the metal bars, not the spaces in between. You want to get your fingers close to the frets, but not touching them. If you're close to the fret and they're still buzzing, push harder. In the beginning stages your fingers aren't tough yet so you need to push harder. If you get a buzz after a second or two, you've let the pressure off.

Making the strings ring clear. A muffled or deadened sound is usually caused by something being in the way. It can be a sleeve, a fingernail, or another finger. Arch your hand so that each finger is bent at both joints and the fingers come down as straight as possible. This will get the fingers out of each other's way. Be sure your sleeve isn't blocking the string and keep your left hand fingernails trimmed. The last cause is having your finger right on the fret instead of behind it.

Checking your progress.  If you're not sure how the chord sounds, play each string individually while holding the chord so you can find the source of the trouble. Work to position your hand and fingers so that all of the strings are making a clear sound. You also need to be sure that you're not playing strings that don't go in the chord. At the top of the chord grid there are Xs and Os. An X means the string isn't played, so be sure you don't strum that one. Os are played open, you have no finger on there but it is part of the chord.