Most guitarists learn to play some basic open string chords and a handful of barre chords.

But have you ever thought about this?After this, the focus is usually pretty much just on songs.  In other words, most guitar players don’t learn any new chords unless they encounter them in a new song.

In most popular songs, about 80% of the guitar parts involve playing guitar chords. This means that the vast majority of your guitar playing is related to chords. This is especially true if you’re in a band, or want to be in one soon.

So doesn’t it make sense to devote some of your guitar practice time to learning new guitar chords?

The more guitar chords you learn, the faster you will learn songs.

If you write your own songs, or want to, knowing additional chord voicings will give you more compositional resources to draw from.

So if you want to improve your guitar playing and learn songs faster, spend some time working on new guitar chords.

Decide that you are going to learn 3 new chords every week. That means you will learn 12 new guitar chords every month. As you can guess, this will add up fast. In a year you have added 144 new guitar chords to your vocabulary.

Now here is an important point to keep in mind…

You do not have to learn every guitar chord under the sun!

However, the more chords you know, the faster you will learn songs.  Also, if you want to write your own songs, having a good chord vocabulary will help you immensely.

As your chord vocabulary improves, you can use all kinds of substitute chords in your own songs to add variety, freshness, and your own personal touch.

A good chord vocabulary will help you develop your own personal guitar style and sound.  Also, if you are doing cover songs and want to change things up a bit you can use substitute chords.

The key when you learn new guitar chords is that you MUST find a way to use them.  If you learn a new chord and don’t use it, it’s like learning a new word and never being able to use it in conversation. In a short period of time you will forget the word.

The same is true with guitar chords: if you don’t use them you will forget how to play them.  So use it or lose it.

To learn new guitar chords, and understand how they work, get started with Guitar Essentials: Chord Master Expanded Edition, or 7 Secrets to Learn any Guitar Chord Super-Fast
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