Chords

While a lead guitarist is often all about the riffs and the solos, it's important to learn some chords. Being able to quickly change between chords is not only essential to become a well-rounded guitarist but will increase your finger independence and ability to move multiple fingers into multiple different positions quickly and accurately.

The Chord section contains some shapes of the most commonly used chords. Each exercise contains two chord shapes (where applicable). There is a chord shape with the root note on the E string and a chord shape with the root note on the A string. All exercises are written with a root note of G, situated on either the 3rd fret of the E string or the 10th fret of the A string. These chords can easily be moved between keys by simply moving the chord shape so that you start on a different root note.

For example: if you want to play a chord in the key of A Major, just simply move the relevant shape from either the 3rd fret to the 5th fret. Equally, you could move the shape from the 10th fret to the 12th fret.

Practice these chords, and once you have learned them all sufficiently, you can use them as backing loops to practice over.