Lesson #2

Here’s your bonus video with exercises #7 through #16. Be sure to take your time with these exercises and apply the principles I taught you in the lesson above.

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Hi there, Tomas Michaud here with Basic Guitar Chords number 2. So I got a quick quiz for you. What is that little black thing at the end of my guitar neck? If you don’t know, I’ll go ahead and tell you at the end of this video. So if you haven’t watched video number 1, I encourage you to go back and watch that. It’s not just about the chords, but I’ve given you some tips in there that apply to this whole series. So, get your guitar tuned. Ready to go? Let’s do this.

Okay, let’s start with the A minor chord. Three finger chord, first finger on the second string; third finger on the third string; and second finger on that fourth string. That’s on the second fret there. We’re gonna strum five strings. It’s okay if you hit that sixth string but aim for five. Do with me. First finger, second string, first fret; third finger, third string, third finger; and then the fourth string, second finger, second fret. My two fingers are next to each other on the second fret, and the first finger is on the first fret. That’s the sound, okay?

We’re gonna go to the E minor now. The second chord and this E minor is a lot like the A minor, so I’m gonna do it from there. Watch my fingers. Take your first finger off, and move the second and third fingers over one string, to the fifth and fourth string. That’s E minor. My second finger is on the fifth string, second fret; my third finger is on the fourth string, second fret. You hit all six strings. Except for those two strings, the rest are all open. So try it with me. Second finger on the fifth string, second fret; and then the third finger next to it on the fourth string, second fret – E minor.

Let’s go on to the C chord now. C chord looks like this, very common chord. First finger on the second string, first fret; I’ll miss a string and go over to the fourth string at my second finger, second fret; and then the fifth string, a little bit of a stretch, third finger, third fret. Try it with me. We’ll go for five strings, its okay if you hit for six. Try it. First finger, second string, first fret; second finger, that’s the fourth string, second fret; and then the third finger, stretch over, and you may have to angle a little, fifth string, third fret – C. Good, check it out.

Let’s do a simple little exercise with those three chords. So start practicing changing from one chord to the other. So we’re gonna do the C chord two times, the A minor two times, and then the E minor four times. And just strum straight down for now. Start with the C chord, here we go. Two times, ready, hit it. Strum, A minor, and to the E, four times. Again, C chord, A minor, and the E minor, four times. Do with me two more times. C, A minor, and your E minor, C, A minor, and E. Good!

So feel free to rewind the video and practice that. Go back and practice those chord changes as well as the chords. One more little trick that is really fun, I’m gonna add a simple little strum that you could use to practice your chords. We’re gonna do this with the A minor chord, and the strum sounds like this, listen from there. One, two, and three, four. One, two, and three, four. One, two, and three, four. One, two, and three, four. So I’ll go a little bit slower and you could try it with me. I’m going down on the one, muting on two, the second half of two – that’s why I call it ‘and’ – I’m strumming again, and then it rings until I get to four and mute it again. So it goes one, two, and three, four. One, two, and three, four. One, two, and three, four. One, two, and three, four. A little bit faster now. One, two, and three, four. That should ease you when you get a little faster. One, two, and three, four. Little bit faster. One, two, and three, four. I tap my foot to keep the beat. So, listen to it with the exercise. I’ll start on the C chord, here we go. One strum each chord, and two strums on the E minor. C, you don’t have to get carried away slapping the guitar.

Okay, that’s it for this video. Thank you for joining me. I look forward to seeing you on video number three. Now, if you’d like, I’ve made a download sheet with all the chord forms in the entire series, along with the exercises and a whole bunch more of exercises. You can get it with the link below this video. So I encourage you to do that. It’s absolutely free and it’s a great help to get through this video series.

Thank you for joining me. I look forward to seeing you in future videos. Bye for now.

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