Guitar Chords: Changes, Barre Chords, Power Chords
Chords are the foundation of accompaniment: with about ten shapes you can play hundreds of songs. This section covers which chords to learn first, how to get a clean sound, why barre chords will not come out, and how to change chords without pauses.
For electric guitar it also includes power chords, muting, and first riffs. Practice your changes in the Riffonic chord trainer: it sets the progression, tempo, and strumming while you work on the transitions.
Chords
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How to Change Chords Faster
Why slow chord changes aren't about finger speed, and how to fix them by training one problem pair with a measurable target.
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Why Your Chords Buzz and How to Fret Them Cleanly
Three fretting errors and one instrument-related cause of buzz, checked one string at a time.
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How to Learn Barre Chords
Why barre chords don't click right away and how to train them step by step without wrecking your hand.
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Which Chords to Learn First
Five open chords that unlock dozens of songs right away, and the order to learn them in.
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10 Chords That Unlock Hundreds of Songs
One set of open chords and where it actually takes you - from your first songs to a real repertoire.
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How to Change Chords Without Stopping the Strum
Why the hand "stumbles" on a chord change and how to train the transition inside a continuous strumming pattern.
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How to Press Guitar Chords So Every String Rings Clean
Fingertips, fret position, and hand arch - the basic mechanics of fretting that every clean chord is built on.
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How to Play Chords Without Looking at the Fretboard
Why watching the neck slows chord changes down, and how to train your fingers to find a shape by feel.
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How to Play the F Chord: From an Easy Version to a Full Barre
Three simplified versions of F for different stages of learning, and the path from them to a full barre chord.
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Why You Can't Play Barre Chords: 10 Common Mistakes
A concrete list of reasons a barre buzzes or exhausts the hand, and how to check each one on its own.
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Power Chords: How to Play Power Chords on Electric Guitar
What a power chord is, why it only has two notes - and how the same shape slides movably up and down the neck.
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Palm Muting: How to Mute Strings with Your Picking Hand
How the palm edge near the bridge shortens notes while preserving pitch and creates a chugging riff tone.
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How to Play Clean With Distortion, Without Extra Noise
How clean tone and distortion reveal different issues with attack, muting, and unwanted resonance.
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How to Mute Unused Strings on Electric Guitar
Both hands working at once - the palm on one side, fingertips on the other - so unwanted strings stay silent.
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How to Play Your First Electric Guitar Riffs
What a riff actually is, and the two building blocks worth starting with - the power chord and the pentatonic scale.
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How to Use a Capo and Understand the Real Chords
What a capo actually changes - and why a chord's 'shape' and its 'sound' become two different things once a capo is on.
Try it in practice
Open chord trainer