The following basic guitar chords on this free printable guitar chord chart are sometimes referred to as cowboy chords. Mainly because they are the basis of probably thousands of songs beginning with some simple yippy ti yi ya songs from the 1930's and before all the way up to and beyond Jimi Hendrix doing Wild Thing at the Monterrey Pop Festival.
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Printable Beginner Guitar Chord Chart
❱Download the PDF chord sheet here - good for A4 printing.
Or, see the 'poster' version below, best for viewing on yourscreen or larger scale printing (click the image to see fullsize)..
These are the basic open position chords most guitarists learnas beginners. They are divided into triads, major 7th, dominant 7th andminor 7th chord forms.
Don'tworry about what thesenames mean right now - as time goes on you'll either learn moreabout the theory behind their construction or you'll just learn toassociate the chordnames with their sound and the shapes they form on the guitar fretboard.
The Xon the charts means don't playthat string!
Major and Minor Open Chords
Also known as major and minor triads,because they only contain threenotes.
For example, even though the E major chord uses allsix strings, the only notes contained within the shape are E, B and G♯.
So notes in a chord shape may appear on multiple strings (for example, inE major, the note E appears three times - on the 6th, 4th and 1st string).
Note: We call these chord shapes 'open' or 'open position' because they include unfretted (open) strings.
Major 7th Open Chords
Major 7th (maj7 for short) chords add a little depth to the basic major triads above.
All we'redoingis adding an extra note (called the major 7th), giving us four notechords (triad + an extra note). This means you'll need toalter the fingering slightly to accommodate this new note.
Try and seehow the major chords above have been modified to create the major 7thchords below. It's just one note/fret difference.
Dominant 7th Chords
Likemajor 7th chords, four-note dominant 7th chords (indicated by a 7 after the chord letter) thicken up the basicmajor chord sound.
When playing the chords in the chart below, experiment with using themin a chord progression, along side standard major/minor chords andmajor 7th chords. Variety is a good thing!
Minor 7th Chords
Four-note minor chords built onthe basic minor triad chord forms from earlier.
The added (7th) tone is exactly the same as with dominant 7th chords, we're just adding it to minor chords this time, which gives them more colour.
Practicing These Chords
I know I've given you quite a lot of chords to learn, but I hope it'll encourage you to experiment with different chord combinations and create your own songs.
- Try replacing regular major chords with major 7th or dominant 7th chords.
- Try replacing regular minor chords with minor 7th chords.
- Remember you can also change between the chord types on the same root (e.g. Cmaj > Cmaj7 > C7 > Cmaj7)
- Trust your ears - if it sounds good, it is!
- Try both strumming and picking (one note at a time) these chords.
Thanks for your time!
Guitar tabs for beginners need to be easy and fun. In this free lesson you’ll learn some iconic riffs and licks. Let’s crank it up!
This free guitar lesson includes:
- 20 iconic guitar riffs which sound great and are easy to play
- 20 videos to help you master each tab
- These tabs cover a wide variety of genres and will help you develop your lead guitar skills
Ready? Let’s do it. 🙂
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Guitar tabs for beginners need to strike the right balance between simplicity and musicality; they have to be easy to play but sound good too.
It can be difficult to find tabs that match that criteria so we put together this list to make things easier for you. Enjoy!
Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson
This is one of the best guitar tabs for beginners because the riff is awesome and it’s not super-difficult to play. It’s uses our trusty Minor Pentatonic scale and sounds great.
Let’s listen to the track before we look at the tab.
The main riff looks like this:
Here’s a video explaining how to play it:
Notes on how to play this guitar tab
- Practice it SLOWLY. Get it right. Gradually increase the speed. Practicing slowly and correctly is the best way to build muscle memory.
- The tricky part with this riff is jumping from the A string to the G string, as you have to skip over the D string. Look at the strings while making this change.
- Practice playing the A string then go to the G string. This helps you get used to jump.
- Pay attention to whether you’re plucking up or down with the guitar pick. (For example, when going from the G to the D string you may find it easier to be plucking up, so the pick is travelling in the direction you need to go. Plucking away from the direction of travel can make things more difficult.)
Blurb booksmart templates. If you want to learn a lot more about lead guitar, check out this article:
Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ by Cream
This is one of the very best guitar tabs for beginners. A big fat iconic riff that’s easy to play. Call of duty black ops 4 mac free. Turn up your amp and channel Clapton in ’67!
Let’s listen to the riff before we look at the tab:
The part we’re going to focus on is the intro riff:
Watch Jack explain how to play this riff in this video:
Tab notes
- Practice it SLOWLY. Get it right. Gradually increase the speed. Practicing slowly and correctly is the best way to build muscle memory. (This is so important I thought I’d repeat it!)
- Pay attention to the bit when you cross strings.
- Make sure you take each part of the riff really slow.
Download our lead guitar cheat-sheet to make things easier
It can be disorientating for guitarists to understand which scales work with which keys.
With this in mind, we created a cheat-sheet; a key and scale-finder that you can use again and again. Omnisphere 1 and 2 torrent.
Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes
Here’s another awesome riff from a great rock band. (They made a lot of noise considering there was only two of them!)
This is one of my favourite guitar tabs for beginners because it sounds great and it’s all played on one string.
The riff we’re going to be focusing on is the main riff at the start. Here’s the tab:
In this video I explain a bit more about each part of the riff:
Notes on how to play this guitar tab
The tricky part of this riff is deciding which fingers you need to use, I tend to use my 1st finger on the 7th fret to start with, then stretch up to the tenth with my pinky, after this I use just my first finger on the rest of the riff.
However, if you’re a total guitar newbie you can certainly play it with just one finger. Try both and see what feels best for you!
Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Come As You Are’ by Nirvana
Guitar tabs for beginners don’t get much moodier than this. The main riff in this song is so cool.
Here’s the tab for the iconic riff:
Check out this video to see Jack explain how to play it:
Notes on how to play this guitar tab
- The tricky aspect of this riff is playing the 2nd fret then going to the open A string. Consider practicing just that part as it will increase your fluidity.
With any riff, it’s always really important to practice the parts you are struggling with, even though it may seem difficult you simply need to build the muscle memory.
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Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Day Tripper’ by The Beatles
Another one of my favourite guitar tabs for beginners, this one has a truly awesome riff. Dial up the gain on your amp and hear how wild it sounds. So cool.
This riff is quite similar to ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson and it uses the same scale and some open strings.
Free Printable Guitar Tablature Paper
Watch this video to see Jack explain how to play this riff:
Notes on how to play this guitar tab
As always: Practice it SLOWLY. Get it right. Gradually increase the speed. Practicing slowly and correctly is the best way to build muscle memory.
There are two elements to this riff which can be tricky:
- The first part is going between each string, your accuracy needs to be on point. When you first learn this riff, play SLOWLY.
- Secondly, when the riff goes from the 2nd fret on the A string to the 4th fret on the D string, this can be a bit of stretch, so make sure you take your time and relax with it.
You may need to move your wrist forwards or backwards to make this riff comfy. Make sure your forearm is free to move. (Not resting on your thigh or tucked into your torso. Remember, we play chords with our whole left arm, not just the fingers on our left hand.)
Check out this article from the NME with ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ featured in the Top 50 Greatest Guitar Riffs of all time. This is a cool article for inspiration: 50 Greatest Guitar Riffs Of All Time
Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Wonderful Tonight’ by Eric Clapton
This is a gorgeous riff…. Takes me back to when I first started to learn guitar.
This riff uses a few different lead techniques which makes it great for developing beginner guitarists.
This is one of the more difficult guitar tabs for beginners because the bends require control, but it’s a fantastic learning exercise so stick with it:
Here’s a video that will walk you through it:
The tricky part with this riff, is getting the bending right. Make sure you TARGET the notes you want to hit when you’re bending up the strings. Concentrate and LISTEN to ensure they’re in tune.
You can learn a lot more about lead guitar techniques in our guide: How To Play Lead Guitar: The Ultimate Guide
Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Iron Man’ by Black Sabbath
The next riff helped shape the start the metal genre. If you’re ready to rock this is the riff for you.
The riff we’re going to be focusing on is the main intro riff (after the weird robot stuff). It kicks in around 0.28. Here’s the tab:
Jack explains the riff in more detail in this video:
Notes on this tab
This can be pretty tricky once you get to the 10th and 9th fret. Those changes are quick! This is great practice for developing your picking speed.
Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd
This is a classic rock song, but this video is worth a watch purely for the OTT bass player at 0.46. I love it!
This is one of the weirder guitar tabs for beginners because there are multiple guitars on the ‘official’ recording. We’re going to look at the easiest part of the intro riff:
Here’s some more guidance from Jack:
Notes on this tab
This is one of the trickier guitar tabs for beginners because you need to know the chords before you attempt the lead work. Get these chords down, just strum them in time and THEN add in the fills.
If you don’t understand the chord diagrams below read this lesson: How To Read Guitar Chordboxes
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Learn more easy ways to play D in this lesson: 3 Easy Ways to Play the D Chord on Guitar
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Check out this article to learn lots of easy ways to play C: Easy Ways To Play The C Guitar Chord
G Major
G might be best guitar chord of all. So we’ve created a whole article talking about easy ways to voice it: 4 Easy Ways To Play The G Chord On Guitar
It’s vital we have these chords down as they underpin this entire song.
Free Printable Guitar Tabs For Run Run Away Slade
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Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Smoke On The Water’ by Deep Purple
This riff is pure rock n roll and nice and EASY, which is why it’s one of the very best guitar tabs for beginners. Let’s take a listen to the song:
This riff is super simple and is only played on one string:
This riff is pretty easy but Jack explains it further in this video:
Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica
Metal riffs are some of the very best guitar tabs for beginners. This one is another classic. (I remember learning this riff in my bedroom and rocking out to it for hours!)
Free Printable Guitar Tabs Popular Songs
We’re going to be focusing on the intro riff:
Tab notes
Watch out for those changes between strings and as always make sure you take it SLOW. Jack explains the riff in a bit more detail here: