Everyone knows how to play an Amajor chord, right? At this point, you should probably be able to play the A major chord three ways - the open A major chord, and the two barre chord shapes (one with a root on sixth string, and one with root on fifth string). If you remember all three shapes, then that's terrific! But I've got news for you - there are many more ways to play A major, or any other major chord. In this lesson, we're just going to scratch the surface, and learn three new major chord shapes.

A Bit About Major Chords

Before we dive in, we should briefly explore what exactly a major chord is. Any major chord you have ever, or will ever play, contains only three different notes. Any more, and it becomes something else (like a major7 chord, or a major6 chord, etc.) Now, there are obviously a lot of times when more than three notes are strummed... an open Gmajor chord uses all six strings, for example. If you check each of the notes in that Gmajor chord, however, you'll find that there are only three DIFFERENT notes played. The remaining three strings played are merely repeated notes. The major chords we will explore today leave out any such repeated notes, so only three strings played in each chord.

6th, 5th, and 4th String Group Major Chords

Example: to play an Amajor chord using the above 6th, 5th, and 4th string voicings, the root position chord starts on the 5th fret of the 6th string. The first inversion chord starts on the 9th fret of the 6th string. And the second inversion chord starts on the 12th fret of the 6th string.

5th, 4th, and 3rd String Group Major Chords

When Can I Use These Chords?

Since all of the previously illustrated major chord voicings have the same notes as a "normal" major chord, you could theoretically insert any of them at a time you were required to play a major chord. This is where personal preference becomes your guide; some guitarists will elect to use these shapes all the time, while others will use them more sparingly.
There are circumstances where these new voicings will certainly sound out of place. Assume you are the lone guitarist in a "campfire situation", accompanying a group of people singing. You would certainly not want to choose the A major chord shape on the 16th fret of the fifth string, amidst a bunch of other "normal" open strummed chords. In that situation, you'd want the full sound of open chords. If you were the SECOND guitar in that situation, however, your role changes. In that circumstance, you could let the other guitarist play the open chords, and you could use some of these newly learned inversions. This would add a nice, fuller sound to the music. In any event, you'll need to let the musical situation dictate whether or not to use these major chord inversions.

How Do I Practice These Chords?

• Play the root position voicing of the first chord, then the root position voicing of the second chord. Repeat on each of the four string groups.
• Play the root position voicing of the first chord, then the root position, first inversion, and second inversion voicings for the second chord. Repeat on each string group. While you are playing the voicings for the second chord, remember where you played the root position voicing for the first chord.
• Play the root position voicing for the first chord, then move directly to the closest voicing (on the same string group) for the second chord, whether it be root position, first inversion, or second inversion. Repeat on each string group.
• Play the first inversion voicing for the first chord, then move directly to the closest voicing (on the same string group) for the second chord, whether it be root position, first inversion, or second inversion. Repeat on each string group.
• Repeat the above for the first second inversion voicing, on each string group.
• Play the lowest voicing available on a string group for the first voicing (whether that be root position, first, or second inversion). Move up the neck to the closest available inversion for the second chord. Move again up the neck to the next available inversion of the first chord. Repeat this process all the way up the neck, on each string group.