I only need to learn 3 chords?
 

Hi guys, I'm trying to learn guitar. I'm brand new. I'm working on G, Em, C and D7th. I was searching on Google and found an article that says you only need to learn three chords and then you're set. Those chords are Major, minor, and dominant.

I'm completely lost. Aren't there many different major chords that are similar. So how does learning one Major chord help you learn the other major chords?

And the same with the other two, minor and dominant?

Does the article have it right? If so, why am I confused?

M:RS

I play piano, but, I'm pretty sure major, minor, 7th and so on, are only the basis to learn as a chord is made up of a root note, and then you add the 3rd and 5th degree on. That's a major chord, a minor, you sharpen or flatten the 3rd degree of the chord, a 7th, you play the seventh degree of the chord.

At least that's what I think.

no theres only 3 KINDS of chords
well theres more than 3 kinds but the best known are major, minor, and d7

you have

A major
A minor
B major
B minor
ect theres tons of chords

Yeah, but, I'm pretty sure I'm right. I never said there were only three chords.

Here's an excerpt of the article...
 

I see what you guys are saying. I don't think I explained it well though. Here's the excerpt from the article. Let me know if it makes sense to you, and thanks for the help.

Yeah, listen to Mission Rockstar. He explained it alot simpler.
By the way, I always wondered, you know you can get chords where you have to play the 7th degree of that chord? Can you have chords in which you play the 9th degree?

haha
 

But it was Mission Rock Star asking the question.

I was just quoting the article. I guess the portion of that article is self explanatory to someone who understands the fundamentals a bit better than me. I'm working on it.

Thanks for the help.

Don't get too tied up in music theory - JUST PLAY!!!
If it sounds good it is good, no matter what it's called.

uhm you have to have som ebasic understanding of music theory in order to play.. if you just wing-it you'll suck..

tell that to throbbing gristle and nurse with wound

"Fake it 'till you make it!" -- You gotta have fun first, eventually you will realize that you want to get better (a polite way of saying you can no longer entertain yourself with your own playing, or lack thereof). This will get you motivated to start learning some theory, technique, etc... Learn some stuff then go have fun again, repeat the process, then repeat the process, etc... Everyone is at a different cycle in the learning loop. What works for you may not work for others, you gotta find what turns you on musically and what makes you want to play. For me, the payoff is playing in a full band (rather than just jamming to recorded music).

there r some movable chords too, like A and E and the minors of those...play the bar chords up the neck and that's a lot more...it's not making sense with me typing it but you get it

Well first of all, there are more than 3 types of chords. Barred chords have certain finger patterns. So, barred chords can be moved up and down the fretboard. All you need to do, is find the finger patterns for those 3 types of chords and you should be set.

i basically started out learning the couple basic chords A, E, G, C, D. what i did was just play those chords over and over, figured out the variations myself (like how you can make a G into a G7 or a D into a Dm), played a lot of tablature (since i was and still am too lazy to read music), learned some bar chords and I was basically set to play anything I wanted. I guess what I'm saying is just play and you'll get it.