Find any major chord easily and quickly from the 5 string!
We know the C scale has no flats or sharps and also that we can play Major chords (triads) with the 1, 3 and 5 scale notes. We can figure that combination out from any note on the 5th string! For instance a C Major is made of a C, and E and a G (1,3 and 5): C D E F G A B C
We know that the “two strings up and two frets back” rule can give us the same note but an octave up. We can do that from the 6 string and the 5 string. Let’s concentrate on the 5 string first. So C on the 5 string is at the 3rd fret and consequently, on the 5th fret of the G string. That gives us our one note in two places!
Starting with C on the 3rd fret of the A string, we can see D on the open D string, E on the 2nd fret, F on the 3rd and G on the 5th. The G on the 5th fret is important to us! Now we have 1 and 5, we just need 3!
We already had our one note, using the “two string up and two frets back” idea, so that gives us another 1 note at the 5th fret. Excellent! But we still need our 3 note, so if we look at the open B (2) string, we can count up one fret to C then two frets to D and two more frets to E. And that’s all we need to make a C Major chord!
Find the root note (the name of the note) on the 5 string. Usually you can use your 1st finger for that. For the remaining notes in the major chord, you can use your 3rd finger, laid flat across all three strings. Practice this and get comfortable with it, and it will be a useful addition to your guitar playing toolbox!
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You might also be interested in my music theory for guitar players page and learning about musescore– both will be helpful on your path to learn to play guitar better, fellow guitarist!
