Your First Five Guitar Chords for Kids: G Major

Girl with Guitar

 

Welcome back to Your First Five Guitar Chords for Kids! Over the last few weeks, you learned:

Today, you’re going to learn how to play one of the most popular guitar chords of all: G major! If you’re ready to rock, then it’s time to get started!

 

 

What is a guitar chord?

A chord is three or more notes played on the guitar at the same time. There are many different types of guitar chords. Major chords sound happy. Minor chords sound sad. Dominant chords sound bluesy. And suspended chords sound ambiguous. For the purpose of this series, we’ve been focusing on the open position chords in major keys because they’re often the easiest to play and the most popular.

 

What is the G major chord?

Major chords are built from the first, third, and fifth-degree of any major scale. Therefore, the G Major Chord contains the notes G (the root), B (the third), and D (the fifth.) On a side note, the third degree of any scale is the most important note because it determines if the chord is major or minor, but that’s a topic we’ll cover on another day!

The G Major Scale

 

Open Position Guitar Chords

An open position guitar chord is any chord that uses open strings. Most guitarists begin their journey learning open position guitar chords, which is smart because they’re relatively easy to learn and sound great! Plus, there’s only a handful of them, so once you know a handful of open position chords and a few minor chords, you can start playing in a band or writing your own songs. 

The G Major Guitar Chord

 

 

 

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Next week, you’ll learn how to play the fifth and final chord of this series: C major. In the meantime, you can contact us on the Rock Dojo Facebook page if you have any questions!

 

Free Backing Track Provided by Band-in-a-Box

Click on the play button below to jam along with the free guitar backing track. This guitar backing track for kids is provided by Band-in-a-Box, an incredibly powerful backing track generator! Learn more at Band-in-a-Box.

 

GET A BLACK BELT IN ROCK!

The Rock Dojo offers award-winning, introductory-level guitar lessons for kids after-school in Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Lake Oswego. You can check out the Rock Dojo FAQs to learn how our colored-belt systems works (hint: it’s like karate. As your students improve on the guitar, they graduate belt levels just like the martial arts). Do you have a specific question about our guitar lessons for kids? Drop us a line at (503) 484-6417 or contact us on the Rock Dojo Facebook page.