"Guitar - Basic Chords Part 1" Video Transcript

Video Transcript: Guitar - Basic Chords Part 01

Alright, in this video, we're going to learn some basic chords, three of them, all of them in the key of D. A key is just a group of chords, that sound good together, we're going to learn D, and we're going to A and we're going to learn G. And you'll notice I'm playing all the strings with these chords.

Sometimes people think you have to learn the names of the notes. There's a scale in the key of C. And that's good to do. But the guitar is a little bit different than the piano, we're not going to learn all kinds of notes, and then finally put them together into chords, we're just going to learn the whole chord, and the whole chord plays all of the notes at one time. And so it's a lot simpler, because all you have to do is learn one letter. And that one letter stands for four, or five, or even six strings, there's six different notes at one time, you don't know what I'm talking about, it doesn't matter. Just keep following along, and it'll all become clear. So we're going to start with the chord called D, this is how it's played. 

You can see my fingers are arranged on these strings, and I can show you this and you can replay the video over and over again, and try to learn them, or, which is a lot easier, you can learn it from a chord chart. And this here is a large version of what you have, as part of the course you can just download it. This is the chord chart of the chord, D. And the way to think about this or a way to read it is to see this as just a picture of the guitar. You see the top line is just the top line on the guitar. And this next line is just this next line on the guitar. So you see the six strings represented here. If you put it sideways, it would look like this. So this is the the high string down here. And then when they're ready to read this is you see the number to get a number of your fingers, this is 1 2 3 4. So 1 2 3 4, and you take your two finger, and it's this first string here, it's the second fret. So here's the first string is the first fret is the second fret. So that's number two, then number one is on the third string from the bottom here. So right here on the second fret. So we put these two right here. And then we have finger number three is on the third fret. So 1 2 3 And the second string,

this is the key, or this is the chord called B. Now within the chord, D, we're really only supposed to play these top four strings, these bottom ones don't really fit, but if you bump into them, it's not gonna matter much. So now we have the key, or the, the chord B. And at first, as you're trying to learn this, you know, I can just jump right to it, my fingers know exactly where to go, but you're not, you're gonna have to look at this piece of paper, you have to go Okay, where does the first finger go? Okay, and the next one, and then you'll have to look and then you'll play, and maybe you'll be touching some of the strings won't sound very good. Doesn't matter at first you're just trying to train your mind, first of all, to know where your fingers ought to be. And that that takes you have to do it 100 times before your mind remembers where your fingers go. And then eventually, yet you have to be able to do without looking. So right now you're looking at the paper, looking at your fingers looking at the numbers and trying to put them there. Eventually, what you want to have is this memorize, okay, where does the first finger go? It goes here, the second one, okay, it goes here. So I have the paper memorized in my head, but I still have to look, I still have to think about each individual finger. And after you've played 100 or 200 of these, eventually, you can do it without thinking I just see the D chord and my fingers automatically go into the shape that they should in the order that they should just find where where not to go. 

So that's D The next chord in the key of D is A this is what A looks like. So if we were going to retend this is just a picture of our fretboard here, we need the third finger that goes here, we need the first finger that goes there, the second finger goes there. There's a name. Now some people play it by reversing these two, they just play it like this, three fingers in a row. Depending on how fat your fingers are, if you have really fat fingers, then it's easier to play with these two down first. So the second finger and the third finger straddling this third string, and then you slip this first finger right behind them. So it just gives you a little bit more room. So that's how you play the A, so we have the D. Now we have the A and D. Now the A, we're going to add one more record to the key of D, and that's the G. So if we lay this sideways, like the other ones, key of G is a little trickier. We have the third finger on the last string here, the fattest string, and it's the third fret 1 2 3 third finger. So I go all the way over here, 1 2 3, you press it down, sort of in the middle of these two lines, you push it down right from the middle. So I've got my third finger, and then the second finger goes right here, this second string from the top here.

And now the hard one way over here, this bottom string is number four, which is the pinkie and you want the third fret. So the way I do it, and this is where different hands have to do different kinds of things. But the way for me, I when I hold the neck, I sort of put it right there in the crook of these two fingers that I'm pressing the fretboard against my hand here. And I put these two down first. You notice my hand is right, I'm right on the fretboard. And I take my pinky. And I just lock it like this. And then I just bring them to take my hand and bring it down right on that string. A lot of times when when people are learning, and that's okay, because eventually your hands figure out what they should do. A lot of times when people start learning, they sort of have their hands unanchored. So they'll have, they'll be trying to play the G and they'll be like this. And then they'll be like, you know, it's just on anchored, you have no power, no force, see, I'm holding my hand right behind this, and my hand can push this way, as my fingers are pushing this way. 

But some people when they play a D, that they're real flat, like this, their hand is turning like this, that hurts my hand, I can't do that. I have to come in more from the top. So you see, my hand is more like this, as I'm playing my D, some people play their hand, leave their hand like this. And that's perfectly comfortable for them. So, in the beginning, you know, it's you have to look at the thing, the page, the chord chart, and you'll be looking and you'll be, you know, playing Okay, now, going to an A, where's that again? Okay, one, where's that finger and you know, it takes 30 seconds for even for your fingers to find the right place and then do the G. But that's okay. That's that's how you start learning. Eventually, you're just training your fingers, what to do. But even when you're just starting out with this, we have some songs that you can play with these three chords. The page with this is the day that I don't know if you can zoom in on that. But you can see that there are these names of the chords we've just learned. So above, this is the day, there's a D. So we have to start playing the D chord when we start seeing this. And then when we get to the second line, that the Lord right above the Lord is the A. So that's when we switch to the A. So while you're sitting there practicing, you'll just go Okay, I got my paper, this is the day I've got my chord chart over here. Let's start out with D (now singing this is the day and instructing how to move your hand to the next chord)

day that now we need to change for Lord to a so then you have to look at your chart and figure out okay, what's a get your fingers in the right place? Lord has made that Lord has made. We will rejoice Rejoice and be, then it goes back to the D. So you gotta find your D Where is it? Glad, Be glad. And then go to the G see it find the G, what is it, find the fingering to find the D load. And that's kind of how it's going to go for you at first, it will take a long time, but eventually it'll be (singing) that we got some of the other songs Amazing Grace (now he is singing that song)

Oh, when the saints go marching in, See that, we just these three chords that we're learning, very simple chords to learn, you can start playing a whole myriad of songs back that you could play thousands of songs with just these three chords. So your assignment really is or the next it'll probably take about two or three weeks for you to learn these chords so that you've memorized them, you don't have to look at the chord chart anymore. Eventually, you'll just have to look at your hands to change them. But ultimately, what you want to see if what we want to see happen over the next two or three weeks is that you can go to a D into a into a Jeep without looking looking at the quarter chart. And without looking at your hands.

You want to be able to do that because eventually we're looking at music and words. And the words have this letter above so you don't have time to be looking at your guitar and you don't have time to be looking at the chord chart. So your assignment is try to get just the three chords down the next two or three weeks.