How to play G Chord on Guitar Easily

The G chord for most beginner guitarists is certainly a challenge

Especially when it comes to making chord changes fast enough

This is due to it being spread over multiple strings and being bit of a stretch

Which consequently leaves beginner guitarists wondering, is there an easier way to play the G chord on guitar

For those of you after a quick win I’ve included a diagram that shows the easiest version of G chord possible

Yes practice will eventually help over come difficulties playing the G chord, but this will get you playing faster

For completeness I’ve also included other possible formations of the G chord

However do note that the main purpose of this article is to show you an easy way to play the G chord

The Most Common G Chord Formation

This is the most common form of the G chord which is in every beginners method book

The G chord is an extremely popular chord that’s used in a lot of songs, it is definitely one you want to master

If you are not familiar with reading chord diagrams then check out my beginners chords article

The black solid circles represent where to put your fingers

The 0 on the strings mean the string is played open

The X means on the string means that string isn’t played

How to Play G Chord on Guitar, Easy Version

Now you’re probably thinking, yep that first diagram is the G chord alright, but how can it get easier?

Well this is the easiest version of G you can play

All it takes is the third finger on the third fret of the first string

And then you strum the first 4 strings on the guitar

How is this possible you ask?

Well the G chord is only made up of three notes (G, A,D) and you can see by playing the easy version we are only playing 3 notes which happen to be the three notes that make up the G chord

Then why do the other version at all? It’s because the other version(s) give a fuller sound

You see, Chords are made up of lower and upper tetrachords covering the bass and treble

By playing the easy version we are playing the upper tetrachord which technically is still a G chord

In a lot of Jazz text books they call this chord formation the voicing of the chord

The black solid circles represent where to put your fingers

The 0 on the strings mean the string is played open

The X means on the string means that string isn’t played

Other G Chord formations

Believe it or not, the G chord can be played in other parts of the guitar

This is because the notes that make up G can be found all over the fretboard

These G Chord formations are much harder than what’s be discussed so far

However this article wouldn’t be complete unless I shared them with you

So finally, here they are: