The Second Basic Guitar Chord
D Guitar Chord

The second most often used chord is the D guitar chord or D major.

Use your first finger to fret the G string, directly behind the 2nd fret.

Use your second finger to fret the high E string at the second fret.

Use your third finger to fret the B string at the 3rd fret.

Note: the low E string and A string do not get played.

You Can Learn the Names of the Guitar Strings Quickly Here.

Place your pick on the D string and slowly pluck the strings toward the floor. Listen for and correct any mistakes with your finger placement until you can play the D guitar chord clearly.

Next ... practice the D chord fretting exercise for an additional five minutes ... no more.

The slash marks(/) in this example represent one strum. Fret the D chord and begin strumming along with the click of the metronome while counting.

Keep the D chord fretted during the whole exercise and strum the strings quickly and smoothly with your pick, while counting and keeping time with the metronome.

Practice this exercise for five minutes ... no longer.

Practice the following exercise for five minutes.

You'll notice there are some hyphens instead of slashes.

A hyphen represents a "rest", which means that no note gets played for that count.

To practice this exercise continue counting the beats as before.

Fret the D chord and keep it fretted while you strum along with the metronome ... in the measures with the hyphens, keep counting while you position your fingers for the G chord, then begin strumming it along with the beat.

Repeat this until you can switch between the chords cleanly without missing a beat.

Remember to keep breathing, it's common for people to hold their breath while doing something they feel is difficult. Relax.

After this next group of lessons and exercises, you will know how to play the three guitar chords with which you can play many thousands of popular songs.