Make Your Basic Guitar Chords Sound Beautiful (No Bar Chords Required!)

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Many guitar players are comfortable playing chords in the key of G major and the key of C major. That’s because these keys mostly contain chords that are easy to play. In this guitar lesson, I want to show you a trick for making the chords in the key of E major just as easy. We’ll do this by making use of our open E and B strings so that we don’t need to worry about playing bar chords. I’ll show you a couple different variations for every chord as well, so no matter where you’re at with your playing, you’re sure to get something out of this video.
Leave any questions you have in the comments. Thanks for watching!
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-- Referenced Videos --
Chords in G Major: • Easy But Beautiful Gui...
Where Chords Come From: • Where Do Chords Really...
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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:13 - Important theory lesson
2:06 - Why we can leave these strings open
3:11 - E major (version 1) - I chord
3:25 - A major (version 1) - IV chord
4:00 - B major (version 1) - V chord
5:25 - C# minor (version 1) - VI chord
6:11 - Progressions with these chords
6:46 - F# minor (version 1) - II chord
8:58 - G# minor (version 1) - III chord
10:21 - New versions of these chords
10:34 - E major (version 2) - I chord
12:02 - Recap
12:26 - F# minor, G# minor (version 2) - II, III chords
13:02 - A major, B major, C# minor (version 2) - IV, V, VI chords
15:18 - Recap
16:17 - The VII chord - D# (b6,b9,no3)
17:22 - John Mayer E chord - E add9
18:15 - John Mayer A chord - A Major 9
19:35 - A quick tip for cleaning up your chords
19:55 - Where to go from here?
20:32 - Relative minor keys (C# minor is the same key)
20:55 - Using a capo to play these chords in any key
23:34 - Summary & closing thoughts
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Music Credits:
Smoothie by Popoi | / popoimusic
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
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#guitarchords #emajor #guitarlesson #easyguitarchords

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Would you guys like to learn more chords that use open strings like these ones? There are plenty more in other keys as well. Let me know in the comments!

[@andrewokpeh5098]

Yes more please 🙏

[@Devon_Dan_Sailing]

Yes please Andrew. Loved this

[@johnshambor]

These are very good, but I really enjoy how you make music theory concepts easier to comprehend rather than playing chords

[@mckylecfc]

Great job helping make all this so approachable! Been stuck at pentatonic for years... Finally I can see a way past that rut! Keep em coming, you're a great teacher ! 🎵🎶🔥🎸🙌

[@kevinp_25]

Actually I'd be interested in movable chord shapes (especially 7th and 9th chords) that don't use any open strings. Seems like that would go really well with the roadmaps. (You may have that already, I just haven't seen it.)

[@ratna1779]

Thanks Andrew you really are a very good teacher

[@aegnira9222]

I really like your teaching very direct and informative

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Glad you liked the video! 😀

[@iamchica_music]

You are the best !!!! Finally I get it. Finding you in the middle of this huge ocean of music videos, was game Changing.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

That's so amazing to hear! I'm very happy I could help 😀

[@MichaelCoxIT]

Really good Andrew, open strings really sound prettier and light. Thanks especially for the Mayer chords, never seen those shapes before.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Yeah! The open strings aren't always going to be the right choice, but it's great to have some creative options. Glad you found the video helpful :)

[@AmbroseChan]

Amazing lesson, Andrew! Love the way you presented variations of the 'standard' way of playing chords in E major! Thank you so much for being such a wonderful teacher!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Glad you lked it! 😀

[@mrbadiuzzaman]

Thank you. This is probably one of your best lessons that was delivered in an essy to understand simple manner & yet covered a lot of grounds. Love how you took the lessons step by step from the std simple triad chords to the various other more beautiful enhanced versions without having to engage in their barre chord shapes. The use of the capo to change keys while maintaining the chord shapes was a light bulb moment for me. My only request wd be to have the individual strings to be labelled with their notes equivalent as you go through each shape to help with music theory training

[@shoots007]

yes please, more of that!! Great lesson

[@mrWorldwideJuan]

Just the lesson I needed. Recovery from a lesson and a period away from guitar. Very nice video to get back in the loop 🎉

[@sumairarif97]

Literally in the same boat as you. Thanks Andrew!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Excellent! Welcome back and thanks for watching :)

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

My pleasure, Sumair!

[@eidolon8816]

This was excellent, thank you. I love the sound of these chords!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Awesome! Thanks for watching :)

[@junker154]

Dude, your videos are spot on and helpful. They help me to contextualize my knowledge and learning new tricks. Great work.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

That's so great to hear. I'm happy to help :)

[@user-jm9qs9ph6b]

I luv ur videos so educative...am always waiting for u every week ur in my plans week jhus wonderful kip it up bro...❤

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

🙏🙏

[@saamegan2985]

Brilliant. Exactly what I needed to know. Bless you for all the hours you have put in to be able to pass your knowledge on so effectively . Glad I have found you. Looking forward to diving into your other lessons, and yes, I would like to learn more chords that use open strings!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching :)

[@cevinius]

I love your videos.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Well I appreciate you watching ☺

[@gengbuibonewmai6921]

my favourite key😂 open e major chord is my string tuning chord too.

[@musoal1]

Thanks Andrew. Keep 'em coming in other keys please.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

You're welcome! Will do.

[@FGalletta21]

I believe that E add9 voicing is used in John Mayer's Another Kind of Green.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Yes! It's definitely used in Another Kind of Green. Good catch!

[@alphanumeric1529]

I've been playing guitar, badly, for 6 years. I know intermediate music theory, but don't really use it, or try not to use it on the guitar... I use the guitar as a music befuddlement device, an instrument that obscures the underlying musical structure, mostly through the bewildering fretboard, the strings being spaced out by 4ths, and the funky G to B string thing... What I'm trying to say is that I use the guitar to come at music from a non-music theory angle. So, I can "write" by just discovering things - musical structures that work by my ear, by my taste, by my fingers, really, then labor endlessly, tirelessly, to find other musical structures that go together with the first discovered musical phrase. It takes a LOT of work, much like a monkey at a typewriter. But the monkey occasionally comes up with novel music, which is invaluable to the monkey, and potentially to the world, well the world populated by people who like novelty in music, rather than normalcy, or regularity. Of course, the world of those who value novelty is more of a moon, than a world, and that moon is sparsely populated, kind of a lunar Laos. BUT, I've been playing in C# minor a LOT for the past few years. I've kind of learned the layout of the neck through the key/scale of C# minor, despite my best intentions. What initially drew me to this scale/key is the open E and A, and B and E strings. I am very, VERY heavily drawn towards droning tones/notes. So, have been finding chord progressions that allow some of the strings to be played open. BUT, I have a lot, a LOT of different song fragments in the bag by now, perhaps you could call them disconnected verses and choruses, maybe some random prechoruses, bridges, intros, outros... but mostly all disconnected, like I have a verse but no chorus for it, while I'll have a chorus but no verse to go along with it (my defo of pop being songs with a general verse-chorus structure). So, it's like I've got a pool of amino acids, but no, or not much, life yet. I'm always looking for combinations that will come alive into songs, or playing verses that I've found, and trying to find chorus phrases that go along with them. Holy cow, can I get to the point? OKay, here it is: this unsuspecting, well intentioned video has revealed the musical theory underlying many of the phrases that I've found and like in C# minor, that I've accumulated over the years. It has named chords that I've found through endless trial and error of random combinations. But what’s more... it has suggested to me practical music theory based solutions to all of my unrequited verses and choruses. Lol, I'm a long winded b*st*rd. I've tried, but I can't, convey how mind blowing this video has been for me, it's like major Beautiful Mind type mind blowing, hundreds of arcane musical equations floating around my field of vision, solutions to long labored over problems, or open questions, countless lonely men and lonely women who just got a notion of their hoped for mate. Wow, dude, I can't express how helpful this video has been, for me, personally. I may now be able to construct full songs out of these disparate. unmatched fragments before I die... I may be able to birth all of these children before I expire, rather than having all of these half formed fetuses die in my womb, along with the death of my body. I can just punt and slap standard chord progressions onto the obverse unique and somewhat non-standard musical phrases that I've worked out and accumulated over these years. Sort of like Dinosaur Jr. type songs, like beautiful, and beautifully unique musical passages that are just slapped together with cowboy chords, or their droning open string analogs in my case, to form a whole "song" that is complete, with a definite beginning, middle and end. Thanks, and my deepest appreciation is all I can offer. Thank you!