Guitar Chords & Strumming for Absolute Beginners (Free Course)

New to guitar? This free, step-by-step course is made for absolute beginners. It’s about more than memorizing chord shapes: you’ll learn to play each chord with good technique, so it rings clearly and changes smoothly. You start with simple one-finger chords and build up to full strumming patterns, covering major chords, minor chords, 7ths, minor 7ths, major 7ths and suspended chords. New lessons come out on YouTube every Tuesday and Friday at 3 PM ET, and each one gets its own page here.

Already know a few chords? Skip ahead to Module 2 (Lesson 6, coming Fri Nov 6) and work on your technique.

Want all 26 lessons now, ad-free? See the complete course.

Free Chord Chart

Download the course chord chart (PDF)

Module 1: Introduction (Simple One-Finger Chords)

  • Lesson 1: One Finger Chords for Beginners – Simple Chords Exercise 1 (on YouTube Wed Oct 21, 3 PM ET)
  • Lesson 2: How to Strum the Chord Exercises + Play Along 35 & 55 BPM (coming Fri Oct 23)
  • Lesson 3: One Finger Chords Exercise 2 + Play Along 45 & 60 BPM (coming Tue Oct 27)
  • Lesson 4: One Finger Chords Exercise 3 + Play Along 40 & 60 BPM (coming Fri Oct 30)
  • Lesson 5: One Finger Chords Exercise 4 + Play Along 45 & 60 BPM (coming Tue Nov 3)

Module 2: Basic CAGED Chords

  • Lesson 6: Basic CAGED Chords Exercise 1 + Play Along 45 & 60 BPM (coming Fri Nov 6)
  • Lesson 7: Basic CAGED Chords Exercise 2 + Play Along 45-77 BPM (coming Tue Nov 10)
  • Lesson 8: Basic CAGED Chords Exercise 3 + Play Along 55 & 77 BPM (coming Fri Nov 13)

Module 3: 7th Chords

  • Lesson 9: 7th Chords Explained – Beginner Guitar Chords (coming Tue Nov 17)
  • Lesson 10: 7th Chords Exercise 1 + Play Along 55 & 80 BPM (coming Fri Nov 20)
  • Lesson 11: 7th Chords Exercise 2 + Play Along 45 & 60 BPM (coming Tue Nov 24)
  • Lesson 12: 7th Chords Exercise 3 + Play Along 60 BPM (coming Fri Nov 27)

Module 4: Minor & Minor 7th Chords

  • Lesson 13: Minor & Minor 7th Chords Explained – Beginner Guitar (coming Tue Dec 1)
  • Lesson 14: Minor Chords Exercise 1 + Play Along 60-125 BPM (coming Fri Dec 4)
  • Lesson 15: Minor Chords Exercise 2 + Play Along 60-125 BPM (coming Tue Dec 8)

Module 5: Major 7th Chords

  • Lesson 16: Major 7th Chords Explained – Beginner Guitar Chords (coming Fri Dec 11)
  • Lesson 17: Major 7th Chords Exercise 1 + Play Along 60-165 BPM (coming Tue Dec 15)
  • Lesson 18: Major 7th Chords Exercise 2 + Play Along 60-120 BPM (coming Fri Dec 18)
  • Lesson 19: Major 7th Chords Exercise 3 + Play Along 60 & 94 BPM (coming Tue Dec 22)

Module 6: Suspended (Sus) Chords

  • Lesson 20: Suspended (Sus) Chords Explained – Beginner Guitar (coming Tue Dec 29)
  • Lesson 21: Sus Chords Exercise 1 + Play Along 60-120 BPM (coming Tue Jan 5)
  • Lesson 22: Sus Chords Exercise 2 + Play Along 60-120 BPM (coming Fri Jan 8)

Module 7: Strumming Patterns

  • Lesson 23: How to Play the Strumming Pattern Exercises for Beginners (coming Tue Jan 12)
  • Lesson 24: Strumming Patterns for Beginners Play Along 60-120 BPM (coming Fri Jan 15)

Module 8: 'Hanging Out' Exercise

  • Lesson 25: 'Hanging Out' Exercise Explained + Play Along 60-120 BPM (coming Tue Jan 19)

Module 9: 'Just the Chords' Play Along

  • Lesson 26: 'Just the Chords' Play Along – Beginner Guitar Chords (coming Fri Jan 22)

Books by JC

Ready to go further? These books pick up where the course leaves off, and every one comes with free play-along tracks on this site.

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