Acoustic guitar chord is made up of several different notes, which a guitarist will play at one time together. Yet as you will soon discover there are lots of different acoustic guitar chords, but if you are able to learn just the basic ones, then you will be able to play hundreds even thousands of different songs on your guitar. As you will discover some of the major chords have quite a bright sound to them, whilst the minor ones will often make a much darker or sadder one.

Guitar chords are notated with chord diagrams. Acoustic guitar chord diagrams are similar to guitar tabs, except that the lines representing the strings run vertically (up and down) rather than horizontally (side to side). When you look at a chord diagram, you will see a grid.

The vertical lines represent the strings. The horizontal lines represent the frets. The dots represent where you are to hold the string down. You will also see numbers, either at the top or the bottom of the diagram which represent which finger you are to use to hold down each string, with 1 meaning index, 2 middle, 3 ring and 4 pinky.

Where you see a number 0, that string is left open and played. Where you see an X, that string is left open and not played. The thumb isn't used too often, but when it is, it's noted as T.

Now we have explained a little about what makes up an acoustic guitar chord now let us show you the positions you should place your fingers in order to play them. The first chord we are looking at is G-Major. To play this particular chord you need to place your middle finger on to the sixth string above the third fret. Then take your index finger and place this on to the fifth string above the second fret and finally take your ring finger and place this on the first string above the third fret. Once you have your fingers in place you need to play, each of the strings in the order shown one at the time (not altogether).

When you play each note, you make sure that you hear the sound that they are producing very clearly. If you do not or they make some kind of rattling or buzzing noise when being played you may find you need to press down on the fingerboard of the guitar a little harder or move the finger closer to the fret. Also as you play each note make sure that none of your fingers come into contact with each other as this can further cause the sound to be wrong. The other important thing to remember when learning to play the G-Major chord is that you never strum the strings together you should at all times play each one separately. Following these steps and you will ensure that you learn how to play this chord correctly.

The next acoustic guitar chord we're going to try is much easier on the fingering; E-minor. In this chord, you place your index finger on the second fret of the fifth string, and your middle finger on the second fret of the fourth string. Be sure to make enough room on the fret for both fingers without letting them touch each other. Try each of the notes out and adjust your fingering until you get the right sound. Strum the E-minor chord. Notice how the minor chord gives you a darker sound.

The other basic acoustic guitar chords that all would be guitarists should learn in the beginning are C-Major, D-Major, A-Major and A-Minor. As well as learning about positioning of the fingers in order to play these chords in order to become really proficient a person should spend a great deal of time practicing them. The more a person's practices then the more likely they are to get their fingers into the right position more quickly and fluidly and so the sound quality they produce as they play will be greatly improved.