Learn to Play 8 G Major Chords All Over the Fretboard | Chord by Chord

Welcome to the second installment of Chord by Chord, a series designed to develop your fretboard familiarity and understanding of harmony. Today we’re going to have a look at a G significant chord. I’ll show you how to play a G chord in a couple of different places on the fretboard, with G constantly at the bottom of the chord.

THE WORK
A G chord is a significant triad, comprised of 3 notes: G (root), B (third), and D (fifth), as shown in Example 1. Since we have 6 strings on the guitar, some notes are repeated in many chord shapes. If we take an appearance at Example 2a, you’ll see that there are 3 Gs and 2 Bs. In this case, the most affordable note in the chord is the root note G on the low E string. For a variation on the G open chord, you can play the third fret on the B string to add a second D to the chord, as displayed in Example 2b.

Next, in Example 3a, we have the most typical closed voicing– simply put, no open strings– a barre chord played in 3rd position. Notice that the most affordable note is still G on the low E string. As displayed in Example 3b, you can likewise play this chord with just the bottom 4 notes. With just the bottom 3, it would be a power chord, as it’s missing the middle note, or the 3rd of the chord. Or, as shown in Example 3c, you can play simply the top 4 strings. In this case, the most affordable note would be the G used the D string at fret 5.

Example 4 shows a less common chord shape, in seventh position. Here, the lowest note is the G played on the 10th fret of the A string. Finally, for instance 5a, we have a barre chord in 10th position, minus the low E string. If the 3rd finger barre is too difficult, fret strings 4, 3, and 2 with your 2nd, 3rd, and fourth fingers, respectively. You can likewise play a derivation of this chord, Example 5b, on just the leading three strings. This time, the most affordable note is the G on the G string at the 12th fret. Though I prefer to use my second, third, and very first fingers on strings 3, 2, and 1, you might instead try your third, 4th, and first fingers– choose whatever fingering feels most natural.

THE RESULT
If you also have viewed the first installation of the series, you must now know how to a couple of different methods to play a C chord as well. There are lots of tunes that make usage of a C and G chord, for instance, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.”