EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY NEWS 20

Popular Songs Sometimes Only Have Three Chords.

Have you ever heard “Wild Thing” or “Louie Louie” and wondered what chords make up these songs? Maybe you haven’t, but at any rate you might be interested to know that these songs along with “Twist and Shout” and “Hang on Snoopy” are all built from three major chords. They are the A, D, and E chords.

What Exactly is a Chord?

What is a chord? A chord is two or more notes played together. A common type of chord is called a triad, which is three notes played at the same time. With the guitar, you can make chords by strumming, as a minimum, three strings simultaneously to send out three notes or more. It’s simple to see that with the guitar having only six strings that the max number of notes in a guitar chord is going to be six.

Basic Chord Types.

• Now it is important to understand that there are many different variations of chords. Three of the most common types of chords are major, minor, and sevenths. The way in which you use these chords will determine the type of music or mood that you will make. For example, if you need some solemn and meditative chords, use minor chords. If you want a really solid and stable sound, then you will want to be using major chords. If you want a jazzier yet somewhat incomplete sounding chord, you would want to go with seventh chords.
• Commonly Used Chords.
• Just as you would need to know several basic phrases in the case of learning another language, so you will need to learn around 6-16 chords fluently in order to really have a grip on playing the guitar. Some of the most common chords are listed below.

A, G, C, D, E, F, Am, Em, and Dm chords (note: the lowercase “m” next to the letter means that it is a minor chord.)

• Get Out your Guitar and Strum Some Chords.

Now that we understand the need to learn chords, let’s look at what steps there are to help you learn chords.