Open Major Chords for Guitar

Open major chords are so called because they are major chord fingerings that include strings played with no fingers on frets, or ‘open’. A major chord being the first note (or ‘root’), third note and fifth note of a major scale – you can read more about the major scale here. These are among the first chords a beginner guitarist will learn.

In the diagrams that follow you will see the first four frets of a guitar neck – low E string on the left side, and the nut toward the top – if these terms are unfamiliar, check out Guitar Basics. The following guidance applies to all fretbox style diagrams on this site, and many others:

An ‘O’ above a string means play that string ‘open’ (no fingers on frets).
An ‘X’ above a string means do not play that string at all.
The black dots direct you to place a fingertip in that location, with the numbers being the suggested finger to use – 1=Index, 2=Middle, 3=Ring, 4=Pinky.
The coloured dots are the root note, so in an A minor scale the note A will be coloured. The note G would be coloured in G major and so on.

And these are the open major chord shapes most commonly used on the guitar. You will note that open B Major is not listed – not because it doesn’t exist as such, but because it is so arduous to play you’re better off playing the full barre chord.

Open Major Chords

These are the popular way to hold the open major chords on guitar. The suggested fingerings have proven the most successful but you may find others work better for you and your physical circumstances – if any are uncomfortable, persevere but also experiment. Be sure to keep your thumb in the middle of the back of the neck and check the strings left to ring open are ringing clear. Also be sure not to play the strings marked ‘X’ – those notes are not in the chord, and will make the result less pleasing to the ear!

You’ll find a video clip of me demonstrating the open major chords below, as well as loads of other video lessons HERE

And that’s the Open Major Chords. You can find more articles on scales and guitar technique to help you develop as a player here. If you’ve got any questions please get in touch on Facebook or Twitter.

Now practice practice practice!